The spruce beetle, Dendroctonus rufipennis (Kirby), causes periodic, widespread mortality of mature spruce (Picea spp.) in western North America (Massey and Wygant 1954; Schmid and Frye 1977). In British Columbia, logging of infested stands and felling of trap trees are the commonly recommended methods for preventing or suppressing spruce beetle outbreaks. Implicit in these methods is the requirement of treating infested logging residue, and removal for processing of trap trees after the attack period of the spruce beetle. The usual treatment for infested logging residue, prescribed burning, is difficult to carry out in most years because of the generally wet climate of spruce forests during the growing season and the fall period. The forest industry questioned whether burying infested logging residue would be effective in preventing emergence by the spruce beetle. The work described herein addressed this question.

Dosage–mortality relationships were determined for 17 insecticides applied to first instar and second instar larvae of Heliothis zea (Boddie), derived from migratory moths. The synthetic pyrethroid insecticides, especially deltamethrin, were highly toxic to both stages. Methomyl and profenofos were also equally toxic to both stages, however all other insecticides were less effective against the later stage larvae. In these tests carbofuran, acephate, methamidophos, and carbaryl exhibited extremely low toxicity. One of the pyrethroids, parathion or methomyl, is suggested for protection of late-planted sweet corn against corn earworm.

Hylotrupes bajulus (L.) was successfully reared from egg to adult in 9 to 11 months on an artificial diet. The diet provided an adequate physical and nutritional environment for the development of old house borer larvae. Mortality and rearing time were reduced when larvae reared on artificial diet were compared with those reared by conventional methods.

The white cutworm, Euxoa scandens (Riley), is a sporadic pest of tobacco in Quebec (Mailloux and Desrosiers 1978), asparagus in Michigan (A. L. Wells, pers. comm.), and other vegetable crops grown in light sandy soils (Beirne 1971). The immature larvae overwinter and cause serious damage when they resume feeding in the spring (Hudson and Wood 1930). Moths emerge and oviposit from late June until late July (McLeod and Dupré 1981). An efficient monitoring method utilizing the female sex pheromone would be an important aid in estimating the size and distribution of the adult population and would help in planning insecticide control. We report here some results of electroantennogram screening of potential sex attractants and the results of field tests of the most active of these.

In 1958 I reported finding the European geometrid moth Perizoma alchemillata (L.) on the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland. This yas based on seven specimens collected in 1954 in the general vicinity of St. John's, but in places several miles apart, suggesting that the species was already well established. That was the first record of this species for North America. Morris and Bolte (1977) discussed its further spread in Newfoundland, summarized what was known about its food plants and distribution elsewhere, and gave illustrations of adults and genitalia. By 1975 it had become common on the Avalon Peninsula and was known from Lethbridge in central Newfoundland and Tompkins in western Newfoundland. Eleven adults were collected at Tompkins, 2-31 July 1975. Morris (1980: 241; pl. 29, fig. 26) again treated this species, adding Stephenville and St. Georges to the list of localities, indicating that additional material had been collected in southwest Newfoundland between 1975 and 1980. In 1959 and 1962 I collected intensively in the region of the Codroy Valley in southwest Newfoundland, covering the season from June to mid-August, and found no indication of its presence then; nor did I see it in a large collection made by Akira Mutuura in the Codroy Valley in July 1968 (Canadian National Collection).

Although several studies have been conducted on the mating habits of laboratory-reared onion maggots confusion exists as to whether the females mate more than once. In Holland, Ticheler and Noordink (1968) using a radio-tracer technique demonstrated a second mating in the female but later work by Robinson (1977) suggested that mating occurred only once. North American workers using whiteeyed mutants in crosses with red-eyed flies found that the female mates only once (Broersma and Luckman 1968) and earlier data developed in our laboratory support this finding (McEwen et al. 1973). That the female mates only once is suggested also by reports showing that increasing the ratio of males to females does not increase egg production and that the early removal or death of the males does not reduce the number of eggs laid or the percentage of hatch (Missonier and Stengel 1966; Robinson and Zurlini 1979).

Pharate adult (adult within the pupal cuticle) diapause was discovered in Barbara colfaxiana (Kft.) and is reported. This phenomenon is uncommon in insect development. It was also shown that both the termination of diapause and the subsequent advancement of pharate adult development can occur at 0 °C.

Carpenter ants are indigenous to holarctic forests. Nests in standing trees begin at wound sites, and expand rapidly as workers gnaw galleries in the heartwood (Graham 1918; Anderson 1960). In forests, carpenter ants have been implicated in wind breakage of standing trees (Felt 1928; Schread 1952), yet the exact extent and nature of this relationship remains undocumented.

Three previously unrecognized spittlebug species are described: Aphrophora ampliata n. sp. (Vancouver Island, B.C.), A. regina n. sp. (Queen Charlotte Islands, B.C.), and A. parallella Say (neotype from Ontario). Aphrophora gelida (Walker) is the correct name for A. signoretii of authors. A new subgenus, Pinimber, is described for the pine spittlebug, A. cribrata (Walker) = A. parallela of authors, nee Say.

Chrysomela scripta Fabricius adults showed a feeding preference for the youngest, most succulent leaves of tissue-cultured Populus × euramericana. Larvae fed equally on all leaves with water contents greater than 73%. Larvae chose shoot bark for feeding after all leaves with water contents greater that 70% had been consumed. Larvae reared on immature foliage had shorter developmental times and higher prepupal weights than those reared on mature foliage.

The external structure, cellular structure, and function of the tibial epiphysis of the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (L.), are described. Scanning electron micrographs and histological preparations indicate that the epiphysis of the male gypsy moth is an efficient antennal comb, but behavioral studies indicate it is not required for either precopulatory stimulation or for orientation to sex pheromones. The acanthae covering the inner surface of the epiphysis appear to have only a mechanical function.

At the beginning of July 1981 we were informed by plant pathologists conducting disease surveys on canola (= rapeseed) (Brassica campestris L. cvs. Candle, Torch, B. napus L. cvs. Altex, Regent, Tower) in Alberta of the presence of root maggots (Delia spp.) (= Hylemya spp.) in the crop. Although this is not the first observation of this genus infesting canola, no documented account of its geographic distribution or the significance of its damage was available. Canola is an oilseed crop which over the past 10 years has occupied, on average, 1.6 million hectares annually in the three prairie provinces. Therefore, we decided to (a) determine the extent of the damage in Alberta, and (b) collect and rear the insects from infested roots so they could be identified.

During a study of the effects of insecticides on cyclic nucleotide metabolism it was observed that moths (Mamestra conjgurata Wlk.) treated with the pyrethroids permethrin and deltamethrin often had grossly bloated abdomens several hours after treatment.

Two- to three-day-old moths were obtained from a laboratory culture of the bertha armyworm, M. configurata, reared on an artificial diet (Bucher and Bracken 1976). Initially, males and females were treated topically with insecticide in 5 μl of acetone applied to the thorax, head, or abdomen. Pyrethroid-treated moths developed abdominal bloat independent of the site of treatment, therefore the thorax was chosen for treatment. Treated moths were held at 20°C and examined twice daily for 3 days to determine the incidence of bloat and mortality.

During a 1981 study on possible insect vectors of a yeast in Saskatchewan mustard crops, several incidental observations of attack by the western damsel bug, Nabis alternatus Parshley, on adults of the flea beetle Phyllotreta cruciferae (Goeze) were made near Oxbow in the southeastern part of the province. This is the fourth record of insect predation on crucifer-feeding flea beetles in the Canadian prairie provinces. Previous records involved the beetle Collops vittatus Say (Gerber and Osgood 1975), a big-eyed bug, Geocoris bullatus (Say) (Burgess 1977), and larvae of the green lacewing, Chrysopa carnea Stephens (Burgess 1980).

Drooz and Solomon (1980) demonstrated that the thelyotokous egg parasite, Ooencyrtus ennomophagus Yoshimoto, could be reared on host eggs stored at −10°C for long periods but they did not investigate the relationship between the age of a multivoltine host's eggs prior to storage and production of parasites. For eggs not stored, Kaya and Anderson (1976) stated, “Only eggs collected before embryonation occurred produced O. ennomophagus.” Bustillo and Drooz (1977) showed a decline in production of the egg parasite Telenomus alsophilae Viereck as age of eggs of the multivoltine geometrid Oxydia trychiata (Guenée) increased. Fedde et al. (1979) also expressed the importance of using fresh host eggs to maintain high rates of parasitism by T. alsophilae on the multivoltine geometrid Eutrapela clemataria (J. E. Smith). We report here that cold treatment of the eggs of E. clemataria alters them, making them more suitable for mass rearing of O. ennomophagus after embryonation has begun.

In Canada and Its Insect Fauna, Scheller (1979) reported that no species of Pauropoda have been discovered in Canada. However, Hilton (1931) reported collecting “about” 10 specimens of Stylopauropus dawsoni near Dawson in the Yukon Territories. Scheller (1981, pers. comm.) discounts this report because the specimens have since been lost. Pauropods have been recorded from several border states including New York (Hilton 1930), Alaska (Hilton 1931), Michigan (Remy 1954), and Ohio (Williams and Hefner 1928). Starling (1943) reviewed early American records of Pauropoda.

During studies of the attractiveness of essential oils to insects associated with Douglas-fir cones, traps baited with citronellol attracted male Prenolepis imparis (Say), the small honey ant. Citronellol was previously reported as present in the mandibular glands of worker and male ants (Law et al. 1965; Blum et al. 1968).

The small honey ant is a ground nesting species frequently encountered in woodlands and noted for tending plant-sucking insects. Behavior of colonies has not been intensively studied, but it is known that alate ants leave the colony in March and April for a nuptial flight (Smith 1965).

In Quebec apple orchards, pheromones are used to monitor a number of pest species (Rivard et al. 1978; Paradis et al. 1979). However, few studies have looked for the presence of sex pheromones in mirids. Scales (1968) detected the presence of sex pheromone in a mirid, Lygus lineolaris (P. de B.), as did Strong et al. (1970) for Lygus hesperus Knight. Subsequently, the daily and annual cycles of pheromone emission in Distantiella theobroma (Dist.) (King 1973) and Helopeltis clavifer (Walker) (Smith 1977) were established.

No reports have been published about symbiotic penicillate millipeds living in arboreal ant nests, though Donisthorpe (1927) reported those in edaphic ant nests. Therefore, we tried to determine the species and numbers of symbiotic penicillate millipeds in arboreal ant nests.

An investigation of the symbiotic penicillate millipeds was conducted in both the maritime forest (Daphniphyllum teijsmannii Zoll., Pinus thunbergii Parl.) and the mountain forest (Machilus thunbergii Sieb. et Zucc., Castanopsis cuspidata Schottky var. sieboldii Nakai) on Miyakejima Island (about N 34°05′, E 139°30′) in the Pacific Ocean, 28 March 1980. As a result, we found symbiotic penicillate millipeds of the family Polyxenidae only in the maritime forest.