Results of previous research revealed that the effect of Bacillus thuringiensis on spruce budworm was a septicemia enterotoxicosis dependent on the ability of spores to penetrate to the insect hemolymph. Some scientists still maintain that the role of B. thuringiensis crystals (endotoxin) is primordial and is by itself responsible, by toxemia, for mortality in Choristoneura fumiferana. Consequently, new studies were undertaken to confirm the role of spores in B. thuringiensis infection of this insect. Infection tests were carried out with normal, irradiated, acrystalliferous and non-sporogenous strains of B. thuringiensis, with purified and semi-purified crystals, with pure spore preparations of B. thuringiensis and with enomopathogenic Bacillus cereus. The results of these tests revealed that acrystalliferous strains of B. thuringiensis and B. cereus infected larvae of C. fumiferana more successfully than purified or semi-purified crystals.

Entomophthora crustosa n. sp. pathogenic for Malacosoma species (principally M. disstria Hbn.), is described. It is characterized in the conidial state by a hymenial coating which, at maturity, forms a crust-like covering, cinnamon brown, over the surface of infected insects, and by conidial size. In the resting spore (zygospore) state the distinguishing attributes are ornamentation of the zygospores and their mode of development. The pathogen grows readily on coagulated egg-yolk media.

The fungus is briefly compared with 10 other closely related Entomophthora species. Entomophthora crustosa seems to be of widespread occurrence in eastern North America.

To discover measurable parameters for detecting quality differences (with respect to reproduction) in insect populations, variations in temperature were utilized to obtain manifestation of quality at different levels. Rates of reproductive and associated processes such as yolk deposition, gallery excavation, and oviposition were measured in Dendroctonus rufipennis (Kirby) at four temperatures. Information presented here allows an estimation of D. rufipennis reproduction as affected by temperature. Among the various parameters measured the length of initial egg-free gallery and the number of eggs/unit productive gallery length and yolk deposition rate could be used to discriminate bark-beetle population quality. Rates of yolk deposition appeared most useful and widely applicable for this purpose.

Blacklight traps were used for monitoring flight activity of Phyllophaga anxia (LeConte) in southern Quebec. Adults began flying during the last 3 weeks of May and flight terminated about the end of June, depending on the season and the locality. The adults required approximately 176 degree-days accumulated above a base of 5 °C for flying to commence. Peak flight occurred late in May or in early June. Both sexes were attracted to blacklight traps.

Several of the “subspecies” and “forms” of Acrididae listed but not named by Brooks are discussed and a subspecies of Melanoplus packardii is named. Subspecies of Melanoplus sanguinipes and Pardalophora apiculata proposed by Brooks are not recognized. Trimerotropis longicornis E.M. Walker is removed from synomymy with T. campestris McNeill, as the names apply to different taxa.

A theory for the population behavior of the eastern blackheaded budworm is presented. The qualitative properties and key processes of the system are identified and a description of the theory as a simulation model is given. Two domains of stability exist for the insect; one is caused by bird predation, the second by the effects of food limitation. The model predicts that the budworm’s cyclical population fluctuations are produced by the disappearance and reappearance of these stable domains and consequent movement of densities to new levels. Parasitism is identified as the principal mechanism causing this behavior. A qualitative comparison of model behavior with historical behavior is made and a critical field experiment to test the validity of the theory is proposed. Finally it is suggested that the population behavior of many forest defoliators may be explained using this theory.

The pea aphid parasite Aphidius smithi Sharma & Subba Rao has four larval instars. The first and the fourth instars are mandibulate. The second instar possesses oral lobes but not mandibles. A bilobed feeding structure on the ventral side of the head of the third instar could function as a pharyngeal pump. The chief diagnostic features of each instar are illustrated with scanning electron micrographs. Variability in the number of larval instars among species of Aphidiidae is discussed.

The posterior apophyses in terminal abdominal segments of female moths form part of the sex pheromone gland in each of three species examined (Choristoneura fumiferana (Clem.) (Tortricidae), Trichoplusia ni (Hübner) (Noctuidae), Orgyia leucosligma (J.E. Smith) (Lymantriidae)). Four groups of paired dorsolateral muscles are attached to the anterior or posterior apophysis and the integument. An additional group is attached to the anterior and posterior apophyses. The probable relationship of these muscles to the eversion, or protrusion, and inversion of sex pheromone glands is discussed.

The life stages, feeding habits, and some aspects of natural control of Symmerista leucitys Franclemont, a univoltine defoliator of sugar maple, are described.

The antler moth, Cerapteryx graminis (L.), first discovered in Newfoundland in 1966, has now successfully established itself over an area of approximately 60 km in the greater St. John’s area and surrounding localities. It has become a pest of limited economic importance in hay and pasture fields, and lawns. Black light traps, operated at Mt. Pearl and Kilbride during 1966–1978, were used to monitor population build-up. Notes on the life history of the antler moth in Newfoundland, with some comparisons with that in Great Britain and Europe, are provided. Natural controls are also discussed.

The pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris), infests alfalfa in southern Alberta and is known to reduce yield and quality of the crop (Harper 1972). From the literature on the pea aphid, recently reviewed by Harper et al. (1978), there do not appear to be any publications on the effect of the pea aphid on cold-hardiness of alfalfa or other host crops. Harper and Lilly (1966), however, found that some aphid-infested plants that were clipped in late fall did not survive the winter. We have observed that numbers of pea aphids often reach high levels on alfalfa in Alberta late in the growing season.

Strong westerly winds occurring during autumnal migration of the eastern population of the monarch butterfly in North America, affect those butterflies migrating from areas east of long. 90°. The following aberrant migratory routes are presented: (1) Migrants moving down the Atlantic coast pass through the Florida peninsula to western Cuba thence to the overwintering site in Guatemala and Honduras; (2) migrants forced over the Atlantic ocean eventually reach the Bahama islands and thence to Yucatan, or Honduras via Jamaica and other islands of the Caribbean Sea, to the overwintering site in Guatemala and Honduras; (3) migrants arriving in the eastern islands of the Greater Antilles may eventually arrive in the Cordilleran mountains of Columbia and northwestern Venezuela; (4) migrants from the Lesser Antilles may return, along with members of a first generation, in the spring without establishing an overwintering site—the fate of these few occasional spring migrants is unknown.

Survey counts of spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana (Clem.), female pupae, and eggs recorded annually at about 1000 sample points in New Brunswick from 1960 to 1975 provided ratios of eggs to females (E/F ratios) which are a measure of apparent reproduction. The 10-fold variation in the ratios was inversely associated with the frequency of July storm tracks. A positive relationship between E/F ratios and changes in the area of the budworm infestation in the province was also shown.

An annotated list is given of 48 species of aphids collected 1974–1977 at Churchill, Manitoba. Four new species are described: Acyrthosiphon churchillense new species from Oxytropis hudsonica (Greene) Fern, Aphis madderae new species from Taraxacum lacerum Greene, Capitophorus hudsonicus new species (collected by sweeping), and Macrosiphum subarcticum new species from Epilobium angustifolium L. It is suggested that Macrosiphum valerianae (Clarke) be declared a nomen dubium.

The toxicities of 14 insecticides to selected larval stages of the Douglas-fir tussock moth were determined with a laboratory spray chamber. The toxicities of 10 were also determined in feeding bioassays. Younger instars were, in general, more susceptible to the toxicants. Significant differences in population response from 1973 to 1977 precluded a rigid interpretation of relative toxicity values in relation to the standard for comparison, DDT. Spray volume, formulation, and the presence of rhodamine B dye significantly affected toxicities of two of the materials, carbaryl and trichlorfon. The degree of exposure of larvae to bioethanomethrin and carbaryl significantly affected mortality.

Scanning electron micrographs of balsam wooly aphid, Adelges piceae Ratz., show ribbon-like wax secretion in the dorso-median, marginal, and inter-tergal regions. Longitudinal grooves in the ribbons indicate that secretions from a row of cells fuse together to form bands of wax. Most of the ribbons appear as extensions of the tergal sclerites. Post-notal plates are conspicuous in the dormant first instar, and in the adults characteristic wax plates with crater-like pits are evident. The chemistry of wax in related species and a rationale for control using juvenile hormone analogs are discussed.

The importance of pleural characters in Scelionidae is discussed and assessed. Two new terms, peculiar to some Scelionidae, are proposed, viz. the netrion for a specialized area on sides of pronotum, and mesopleural carina for a diagonal keel on mesopleuron (mesepisternum). Netrion and mesopleural carina are considered important characters for higher classification of the Scelionidae. The proposed characters are reviewed in the suprageneric categories (tribes and subfamilies) of the Scelionidae. The tribe Tiphodytini n. stat. is reinstated and removed from the synonymy with Thoronini, partly on account of the pleural characters.

Chemical treatments to kill male San Jose scale, Quadraspidiotus perniciosus (Comstock), were applied to apples, pears, and peaches in Washington, Oregon, and California respectively. Dilute sprays of diazinon applied just prior to or at first emergence of overwintered males and 7 or 14 days thereafter were compared with normal sprays directed against scale crawlers. In all instances, treatments for male scale gave control equal to that provided by a single spray timed to control first generation crawlers.

Although the male sprays were effective, they do not fit well into current pest management programs. Complications with the male sprays included timing that coincided with petal fall on earlier varieties or full bloom on later varieties with potential for kill of pollinators; possible disruption of adult predators stressed by overwintering, and russeting of Golden Delicious apples from immediate post-bloom sprays. In all three crops, post-bloom male sprays would also be an added seasonal treatment. Current practices utilize pre-bloom sprays, or combine scale crawler control with sprays for codling moth, Laspeyresia pomonella (L.), peach twig borer, Anarsia lineateila Zeller, and/or mites in June.

A modified Ladell apparatus is described which offers a low cost and efficient method of wetland macroinvertebrate extraction. Soil and leaf litter samples, immersed in Mg2SO4 solution, are subjected to agitation and bubbling to promote the extraction of macroinvertebrates. A further modification provides salt solution recycling. Fourteen floodplain taxa were recovered with extraction efficiencies ranging from 80 to 100% at a cost of 15–20 cents (U.S.) per sample.

Megastigmus grandiosus n. sp., reared from pine cones from Mexico, is described and illustrated.The genus Megastigmus Dahlbom contains many species occurring throughout the world. They are generally phytophagous on seeds of pine cones and entomophagous on insects associated with plant galls.A new species, Megastigmus grandiosus, was reared from the cones of Pinus montezumae Lamb., P. rudis Endl., P. ayacahuite Ehremb., and P. hartwegii Lindl. (Pinaceae: Gymnospermae). The specimens were taken at Calpulalpam, Tlaxcala, Mexico, and sent to me by Dr A. Hedlin, Pacific Forest Research Centre, Canadian Forestry Service, Victoria, B.C. I am describing this new species here so that it may be included in the publication by the North American Forestry Commission, FAO, on conè and seed insects of North America.