Zetterstedt (1838-1855) described 11 species of Lonchaeidae from the Palaearctic region: Lonchaea albitarsis, L. crassinervis, L. deutschi, L. flavidipennis, L. hirticeps, L. hyalipennis, Earomyia lonchaeoides, L. metallica, L. pallipennis, L. palposa, and L. parvula. He erected the genus Earomyia for lonchaeoides when he described that species but assigned all of the other species he dealt with to the genus Lonchaea Fall.

The Pyralidae described by Lederer in Wiener Ent. Monatschr. 7: 331-502 (1863) came mainly from the Imperial collections in Vienna and from the private collections of Zeller, Kaden and Felder. Of these, the Zeller and Felder collections are now in the British Museum (Natural History), but the Lederer types contained in them have not previously been segregated or marked. I have therefore systematically done this, marking holotypes or selecting lectotypes where this was necessary and suitable material is present. The species are listed below in the order in which Lederer gives them, with page references. Homalochroa aestivalis, p, 332. Lederer does not state the source of his mateiial.

The time required for passage of food through various segments of the alimentary canal is important in understanding the process of digestion in insects. Abbott (1926) gave some information on this subject in connection with his study of the physiology of digestion in the Australian roach, Perqlaneta australasiae Fab. Snipes and Tauber (1937), have recorded the time required for passage and ejection of one type of food in the American cockroach, P. americana L. Later Day and Powning (1949) studied the time taken for starch paste to reach different parts of the alimentary canal of the German cockroach, Blattella germmica (L.). But any information in this respect seems to be lacking in numerous species of insects other than the cockroach. This study was undertaken to determine the time required to reach various points of the gut of small stored grain beetles, to find out the difference in the time requirement between two closely related species living on same diet and between large and small insects. Investigations were also made to locate the region of mixing in the gut of two subsequent meals, to understand the significance of certain anatomical structures in the gut in relation to the movement of food. The adult beetles used in these experiments were, Tribolium confusum Duv., T. castaneum Herbst (Fam. Tenebrionidae), Oryzaephilus surinamensis (L.), O. mercator (Fauval) and Laemophloeus pusilloides Steel and Howe (Fam. Cucujidae).

This technique was developed to discover whether a tyroglyphid mite, Tyrophagus castellanii Hirst, was feeding on moulds growing on a food medium rather than on the food medium itself. Later on the technique was also found satisfactory for obtaining, under controlled temperature and humidity conditions, individual development records for all stages of the life-cycle of the mite.

During 1950 and 1951 the writer collaborated with officers of the Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control in studies of the predators of Adelges (Dreyfusia) piceae (Ratz.) and Adelges (Dreyfusia) nüsslini (Börner) in Europe. These studies preceded the importation of the more important predacious species into Canada and their release against A. piceae. Observations on one of these predators, Aphidecta obliterata (L.) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), are given in this paper.

Biological studies of tetranychid mites have been hampered by lack of suitable techniques for studying and handling the mites in the field and laboratory. Common entomological methods are not readily adaptable for studying these minute animals. During population studies of orchard mites in British Columbia, the authors devised some field and laboratory techniques for studying the lifehistories of the brown mite, Bryobia arborea Morgan and Anderson, the clover mite, B. praetiosa Koch, and the European red mite, Metatetranychus ulmi (Koch).

The sex of the western pine beetle (Dendroctonus brevicomis Lec.) and the mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus monticolae Hopk.) can be ascertained easily and with 100 percent accuracy by means of a secondary sex character on the seventh abdominal tergite of the male. This character can probably be used with equal accuracy to identify sex in all species of the genus Dendroctonus.

The need to distinguish between the sexes of adult bark beetles often arises in studies of biology, behavior, or response. The sexing procedure is laborious when large numbers of beetles are involved and external markings of sex are not known. It is then necessary to dissect each beetle to check the genitalia. Dissection is impossible when iniury to the insect must be avoided.

The relation of host density to reproduction of the chalcid parasite Dahlbominus fuscipennis (Zett.) was examined in a previous study (Burnett, 1954). When the parasite searched in a naturally varying physical environment for hosts–cocoons of sawflies that attack conifers–distributed over plots on a grass lawn, the influence of host density on parasitism was similar to that obtained in laboratory experiments. As the irregularities of the meteorological factors did not appreciably alter the relation of parasitism to host density it was of interest to determine whether the additional discontinuities of a natural environment would.

The value of woodpeckers in insect control has been recognized by entomologists for many years. Woodpeckers seek out and destroy many of the hidden insect pests of forest, shade and fruit trees and in the stalks or stems of agricultural crops. In forest trees, these birds have been reported destroying buprestid larvae and prepupae (1, 4, 16), cerambycid larvae and pupae (9, 10), and scolytid beetles (11-15, 18).

In Eastern Canada four species of aphids, Macrosiphum solanifolii (Ashm.), Myzus persicae (Sulz.), Aulacorthum solani (Kltb.), and Aphis abbreviata Patch infest potatoes. Since 1953 it has been possible to rear the four species in the greenhouse throughout the year (MacGillivray, 1955).

The life-histories of these species have been discussed by Patch (1925). The asexual phase of M. persicae has been studied by Horsfall (1924), Weed (1927), Bonnemaison (1951), and Sylvester (1954), and that of M. solanifolii by Smith (1919).

During the summer of 1957, collections of insects from burrows of the woodchuck, Marmota monax, were made hv the senior author in the vicinity of London, Ontario. The collector obtained the insects by reaching into a burrow for a distance of about one yard and scraping out by hand the loose soil at the bottom of the burrow from the outer one yard of the length of the burrow. The accumulation of soil and debris thus obtained was combed over and insects were removed from it. By this method insects were collected from thirty burrows, and these were sorted according to order and family and sent to taxonomic specialists for identification.

This is a report on field trials near Lethbridge, Alberta, in 1954, to determine whether the artificial distribution of the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Schroeter) Migula would contribute to the biological control of a natural population of grasshoppers. This bacterium was isolated from laboratory-reared grasshoppers, and Bucher and Stephens (1957) showed it to be relatively virulent when experimentally fed to grasshoppers but very susceptible to desiccation. Unpublished information from Miss Stephens indicated that the addition of sucrose (5.0 per cent), casein (1.0 per cent), and gastric mucin (1.0 per cent) to suspensions of P. aeruginosa helped to preserve the viability of the bacteria when dried in thin films. Therefore, these substances were incorporated in all formulations used in the field experiments.

Several methods of storing insect specimens in liquid preservatives have been used at the Forest Biology Laboratory at Victoria, all of them unsatisfactory to a varying degree. The method described herein was devised by the author and has proved successful during the past year.

Homeopathic vials approximately 62 mm. overall outside length × 15 mm. greatest outside diameter × 11 mm. inside neck measurement, with 000 rubber stoppers, are the most suitable size for insect specimens. The different stages of nearly any of the species of insects encountered by the Forest Insect Survey can be easily accommodated in a single vial of this size. Small shell vials may be used for double mounts when tiny insects are involved which might otherwise be lost in the larger vials. For material too large for the 11 mm. neck of the homeopathic vial, shell vials 65 mm. × 15 mm. can be used with serum sleeve-type stoppers. All but mass collections and a few of the larvae can be preserved in these sizes. Both types of rubber stoppers are satisfactory, although the sleeve type requires more effort to put on and seal, and also conceals the top of the vial. Air bubbles can be removed from the latter by inserting a hypodermic needle through the top of the stopper.

The genus Symballophthalmus Becker, 1889 (= Marcroptera Becker, 1889, preocc.), was erected for Tachydromia dissimilis Fallén (= M. pictipes Becker). This species, known from central and northern Europe, has been the only one definitely referred to the genus.

In 1954 and 1955, two male and two female specimens referable to this genus were collected in the vicinity of a spruce bog near Ottawa, Ontario, and five females were collected in Michigan during several years. These agree very well with the description of the type species except in the bristling of the front legs of the male and in details of the hypopygium.

It was observed that populations of Tyrophagus castellanii (Hirst) reared on cereal flakes and yeast for studies of predator-prey interactions were feeding on moulds rather than on the food material, and that an increase in humidity increased their rates of development. To discover whether this was caused by the direct effect of humidity on the mites or by a greater supply of fresh food brought about by an increase in humidity, rearings were made with a technique developed by Rivard (1958). The mites were reared exclusively on mould cultures under controlled temperature and humidity conditions. It was also possible with this technique to regdate modd growth to some extent, so that a supply of fresh food was always available to the mites. This is a report on the influence of various humidities on mortality and rate of development of the immature stages of T. castellanii at a constant temperature.

A number of techniques have been developed for rearing cutworms of economic importance. Most of those that were developed primarily for lifehistory studies (Crumb, 1929; Hocking, 1952; King and Atkinson, 1927; Satterthwait, 1933; Snyder, 1954) are unsatisfactory for mass rearing. Mass rearing techniques have been developed for several cutworms of economic importance (Jacobson and Blakeley, 1957; Swingle et al., 1941; Waters, 1937; and Wylie and Palm, 1940). However, the black cutworm, Agrotis ypsilon (Rott.), is difficult to rear because of cannibalism.

Bryobia praetiosa Koch (1836) was formerly regarded as a complex of closely related species or races similar in morphological characters but varying widely in life-history, host plant specificity, and habits. The authors (30) have recently shown that two species, the clover mite, B. praetiosa Koch, and the brown mite, B. arborea Morgan and Anderson, can be distinguished in British Columbia on the basis of morphological characters. This paper presents ecological data in support of the morphological evidence.

Crosby and Bishop (1925) published a comprehensive revision of the New World genus Ceraticelus, and from time to time other species have been described as they appeared. The following descriptions of two additional species were based upon specimens in the American Museum of Natural History in New York. All type material was deposited in that institution.

When a crop has been destroyed by the pale western cutworm, Agrotis orthogonia Morr., one to two weeks may elapse before plants of the second seeding emerge. During this time the larvae may be starved or, at least, subjected to a suboptimum food supply. Frequently the second seeding may be of a different crop from the one that was destroyed.

A previous investigation (Jacobson, 1952) showed that mortality of the starved larvae varied directly with temperature and inversely with size of larvae. Seamans and McMillan (1935) reported that, when the larvae were fed various foods, differences were found in the rate of development and survival.

Three species of Spilomyia from western North America have been in the Canadian National Collection under the name Spilomyia interrupta Williston, 1882. Two of these are described below as new. Through the co-operation of Mr. Paul Arnaud, then of the U.S. National Museum, I examined the two female syntypes of interrupta and four other specimens of the group. One syntype, labelled “W.J.; Acc. 19702, Williston; Type No. 875, U.S.N.M.; Spilomyia interrupta Will.” on four labels is hereby designated as lectotype; it has been so labelled. The other syntype is a specimen of the species described below as Spilomyia citima n.sp. The other four specimens in the U.S.N.M. are all of interrupta: 1 ♂, Hopland, Calif., Sept.; 1 ♂, Mountains near Claremont, Calif.; 1 ♀, Tuolumne, Calif.; 1 ♀, Medford, Oreg. The C.N.C. contains two specimens of interrupta: 1 ♂, Hopland, Calif., Sept.; 1 ♀, Rowena, Oreg., Sept. 1, 1923 (on flowers of Eriogonum umbellatum). Mr. R. H. Foxlee of Robson, B.C., kindly sent me several specimens for study and donated most of them to the C.N.C.; it gives me pleasure to dedicate one of the new species to him.