Acrobasis comptoniella Hulst is univoltine in Michigan. Adults emerge in early July and the females deposit small egg clusters usually on the underside of the leaves of sweet-fern (Comptonia peregrina (L.) Coult.). Larval eclosion occurs about 2 weeks later; there are five instars. The young larvae construct small silken cases and feed on the epidermis and mesophyll of the leaf until late October. Then the larvae, mostly second instars, move to the stems and construct hibernacula in which they overwinter. They vacate the hibernacula in late April, construct frass-covered silken cases, and feed on the leaves until mid-June. Pupation occurs inside the silken case in mid-June. At least 19 species of parasites have been reared from A. comptoniella.

The flea beetle Altica carduorum Guer. was released in four provinces in Canada to aid in the control of Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop, but did not survive in open fields with the exception of a small colony at Lacombe, Alta. It thrived, however, at four locations in different climates when protected by field cages. The mortality of the eggs and(or) the larvae reached 91%, that of the overwintering adults 83%. The mortality of the immature stages was apparently mainly due to predation and at a release site near Belleville Leptus sp. near curtipes Schweizer and Sphaerolophus sp. (Erythraeidae: Acarina) were implicated in tests with A. carduorum eggs labelled with P32. Field and laboratory experiments showed that dry continental summers, such as occur at Summerland, B.C., and Lacombe, Alta., were probably not detrimental to either egg development or pupation.

Two new species of Forcipomyia (Lasiohelea) and three new species of Forcipomyia (Thyridomyia) are described in all stages.Saunders’ "Lasiohelea complex" is reviewed and is here suggested to be restricted to Kieffer’s Lasiohelea (s. lat.) and to comprise the following Forcipomyia subgenera: Synthyridomyia, Thyridomyia, Lasiohelea, Dacnoforcipomyia and the subgenus represented by Lane’s Lasiohelea stylifer Lutz.It is also suggested, pending further evidence, that Lasiohelea be returned to its original generic status.

The following new taxa are described: Limbobotys n. gen., type-species Botys limbolalis Moore; L. hainanensis n. sp., Hainan; L. foochowensis n. sp., Foochow; Nephelobotys n. gen., type-species Pionea nephelistalis Hampson; Circobotys malaisei n. sp., N. Burma; Vittabotys n. gen., type-species V. mediomaculalis n. sp., Kwangtung and Fukien.

A rod-shaped noninclusion virus infects the European red mite, Panonychus ulmi (Koch), in Ontario. Infection and death can occur in any postovarial stage. Most infected mites contain, in the midgut, more or less spheroidal inclusions with a radiating crystalline structure. Infected mites deposit inoculum on the leaves, probably in excreta or oral secretions at feeding sites, which is picked up orally by uninfected mites while feeding. The inoculum on the leaves is very unstable, seldom remaining infective for more than a week and being almost immediately inactivated after exposure to water. Suspensions of infected mites, triturated in water or various solutions, were inefficient inocula.Introduction of virus into orchard populations of P. ulmi induced epizootics that rapidly reduced the population density. Natural epizootics were found only in dense populations.

Samples were taken weekly from 11 June to 1 October 1968 from brown slime fluxes occurring on trees (mostly elms) in Rockport, Mass., and in central and eastern areas of Connecticut and held in the laboratory for the emergence of adult insects.The most common emergents were Aulacigaster leucopeza (Meigen) and its parasite, Aphaereta colei Marsh, Mycetobia divergens (Walker), and Dasyhelea oppressa Thomsen. The only drosophilid reared from brown slime flux was Drosophila robusta Sturtevant, a species that was not particularly common.A comparison of the brown flux fauna of Great Britain with that of New England shows that some cosmopolitan species occur in flux in both countries. Species whose distribution is limited to only one of the countries are represented in the other country by closely related species (ecological homologues).The relationship between climatological factors and the fluxing condition of trees is discussed. The factor considered most important in continuing the fluxing state is rainfall during the late summer months.

Four new species of Trigonotylus Fieber are described from North America: brooksi from British Columbia and Saskatchewan; flavicornis from Saskatchewan and Manitoba; canadensis from Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba; and antennatus from British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and California. The genitalia of the species are illustrated.

Heliothis stombleri, recently described as a new species from California, is shown to be an aberration of the corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie). The aborted condition of the genitalia in the form is probably under genetic control.

Fossil puparia from the Edmonton Formation (Upper Cretaceous, about 70,000,000 years) at Drumheller, Alta., are assigned to the family Calliphoridae and described as Cretaphormia fowleri new genus, new species. This is the first pre-Tertiary record of muscoid flies.

A female Priacma serrata (LeConte) was collected near Procter, B.C., and kept alive for 63 days. It mated and produced 1,463 eggs. Egg and first-instar larva are described briefly.

Biosynthesis by the larva of the dipeptide β-alanyl-L-tyrosine may be a useful taxonomic criterion for distinguishing members of the genus Sarcophaga. An application of this criterion to a sarcophagid parasite (currently known as Pseudosarcophaga affinis auct. nec Fallén) of controversial taxonomic and nomenclatural history is illustrated.

The occurrence of Dioryctria ametella (Hulst) (Lepidoptera: Phycitidae) as well as several other insect inhabitants of Cronartium fusiforme Hedgc. and Hunt cankers was investigated. A species of Pissodes (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) and Eurytoma sciromatis Bugbee (Hymenoptera: Eurytomidae) were found to be winter inhabitants of the cankers. The importance of the cankers as an overwintering habitat for D. amatella was also considered.

A scheme for the evolution of the methods of spermatophore formation among pterygotan insects is proposed. There appear to be four methods of spermatophore formation, two male-determined and two female-determined. The male-determined methods are characteristic of the less advanced pterygotans that have fairly complex spermatophores, and the female-determined types are typical of more advanced insects in which the spermatophores are often reduced.

The song of Metrioptera sphagnorum (F. Walker) is a prolonged trill alternating regularly between two intensities. Oscilloscope analyses reveal two stridulation modes corresponding to the two intensity levels. These two modes are described in terms of pulse structure.Characteristic frequency spectrograms are associated with each mode. In one mode audio frequencies are emphasized; the other mode is dominated by high intensity ultrasonic frequencies. At the approach of a conspecific male, singers were observed to prolong the audio-dominated stridulation mode.

The head and neck muscles of the spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana (Clem.), are reported. Thirty-nine muscles with their origins, insertions, and functions are described. This forms part of a study on the brain and suboesophageal ganglionic mass of the same species.