The history of this insect is so involved that perhaps the simplest method of attempting to find out how to arrive at its correct name will be to start with a chronological list of the references involved.

This species is found on most of the islands of the Seychelles archipelago including the sand cays of the Amirantes group. It is said to have been introduced about sixty years ago to prey on the Coccid pest Icerya seychellarum, which is reported to have been the most serious pest of coconuts in the Colony at that time. The Icerya is the only prey of R. chermesina, and the latter has evidently kept the former in check on coconut but is unable to prevent occasional damage being done to fruit and other trees. The plants most frequently damaged by Icerya are:—Jak fruit, bread fruit, banana, avocado, citrus and forest tree seedlings, notably Eucalyptus, Albizzia and Casuarina. On certain islands where Rodolia is not present Icerya still occasionally damages coconut. Vedalia cardinalis, the famous predator of Icerya purchasi, also feeds on Icerya seychellarum in captivity, but, to date, liberations have failed to establish this species in Seychelles. Hence R. chermesina remains the most effective known predator of I. seychellarum under Seychelles conditions. No parasites are known from R. chermesina in Seychelles, but the black ant, Technomyrmex albipes, which constantly attends Icerya in large numbers, drives away the Coccinellid.

The types of the new species described in the following pages are in the British Museum (Natural History).

On the basis of ecological data, breeding experiments, and activity trials, the two species of red spiders (Anychus orientalis, Zacher and Epitetranychus althaeae, Hanst.) found in Palestine are differentiated. The reason for the different distribution of the two species throughout the world is explained. The common red species is found to be a cosmopolitan, the Oriental red spider a subtropical element.

A new species of Cataenococcus Ferris, C. larai, is described from material obtained from banana fruits in Costa Rica. A key is provided to the five known N. American species of Cataenococcus.

The small tomato borer, Neoleucinodes elegantalis (Guenée, 1854) is a multivoltine pest of tomato and other cultivated solanaceous plants. The knowledge on how N. elegantalis respond to temperature may help in the development of pest management strategies, and in the understanding of the effects of climate change on its voltinism. In this context, this study aimed to select models to describe the temperature-dependent development rate of N. elegantalis and apply the best models to evaluate the impacts of climate change on pest voltinism. Voltinism was estimated with the best fit non-linear model and the degree-day approach using future climate change scenarios representing intermediary and high greenhouse gas emission rates. Two out of the six models assessed showed a good fit to the observed data and accurately estimated the thermal thresholds of N. elegantalis. The degree-day and the non-linear model estimated more generations in the warmer regions and fewer generations in the colder areas, but differences of up to 41% between models were recorded mainly in the warmer regions. In general, both models predicted an increase in the voltinism of N. elegantalis in most of the study area, and this increase was more pronounced in the scenarios with high emission of greenhouse gases. The mathematical model (74.8%) and the location (9.8%) were the factors that mostly contributed to the observed variation in pest voltinism. Our findings highlight the impact of climate change on the voltinism of N. elegantalis and indicate that an increase in its population growth is expected in most regions of the study area.

Most oviposition by Helicoverpa zea (Boddie) occurs near the top of the canopy in soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merr, and larval abundance is influenced by the growth habit of plants. However, the vertical distribution of larvae within the canopy is not as well known. We evaluated the vertical distribution of H. zea larvae in determinate and indeterminate varieties, hypothesizing that larval distribution in the canopy would vary between these two growth habits and over time. We tested this hypothesis in a naturally infested replicated field experiment and two experimentally manipulated cage experiments. In the field experiment, flowering time was synchronized between the varieties by manipulating planting date, while infestation timing was manipulated in the cage experiments. Larvae were recovered using destructive sampling of individual soybean plants, and their vertical distribution by instar was recorded from three sampling points over time in each experiment. While larval population growth and development varied between the determinate and indeterminate varieties within and among experiments, we found little evidence that larvae have preference for different vertical locations in the canopy. This study lends support to the hypothesis that larval movement and location within soybean canopies do not result entirely from oviposition location and nutritional requirements.

For the mounting of mosquito larvae a fluid medium which combines the qualities of fixing, clearing, and preserving offers many advantages over those of a semi-solid consistency. The objection to using a fluid mountant is the difficulty of rendering the preparation permanent. To overcome this difficulty a search was made for a simple and effective method.

During recent years banana plantations in some parts of tropical America have suffered somewhat severely from attacks of a Eumolpid beetle, Colaspis hyperchlora, Lefevre (1878). This species has up to now been recorded from the following countries : Colombia (type locality), British Guiana, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, British Honduras and Mexico.

The egg is pale lemon-yellow in colour, becoming brownish as the embryo approaches maturity, and broadly oval in shape with one end slightly more acute than the other ; length, 1·2 mm. The larva is whitish, with the head somewhat amber-coloured, the body being slender and hairy ; length, 1–1·5 mm. The pupa is dirty yellow, becoming darker as the adult becomes ready to emerge.

The eggs are deposited singly or in clusters varying in number from 5 to 45, in cavities gnawed by the female in the leaf-sheath of bananas near the crown just above the surface of the ground, on the surface roots in natural depressions or in cavities made by the female, and on the surface roots of the old “ mats.” The duration of the egg stage is from 7 to 9 days.

The larvae feed on the young roots, gnawing the soft epidermal tissues of the older roots, into which they tunnel. The duration of the larval stage is from 20 to 22 days.

Green (in Stebbing, 1902) described a species collected by Stebbing at Dehra Dun in 1899 as Monophlebus stebbingi. The principal diagnostic character of this species was the presence of six fleshy tassels at the caudal extremity of the male (fig. 1, a). Green (in Stebbing, 1903) proposed the name Monophlebus stebbingi var. mangiferae for a form found on mango in the Shalimar Gardens near Lahore in which the adult male carried eight fleshy caudal tassels. Later (1908) he described material from the Shalimar Gardens on mango as Monophlebus stebbingi var. octocaudata.

Interference with reproduction in Glossina morsitans morsitans Westw. by diflubenzuron depends on a variety of factors that influence its uptake and loss from the female fly. The duration of its eftect depends on the site and method of application to the fly as well as the amount of material applied. In nulliparous females, loss of diflubenzuron was by excretion, but as the fly aged approximately 50% of the material remaining within the fly was lost with each larviposition. Following injection, the rate of loss of diflubenzuron by excretion was twice that from flies treated topically, but in neither was it directly related to the amount of diflubenzuron within the fly. Loss to the in utero larva, however, was governed by the amount of material within the fly, at least 9 ng diflubenzuron being necessary for production of an abnormal offspring. In injected flies, the overall loss was twice that from flies treated topically on the dorsal thorax and similar to those treated topically on the ventral abdomen. This difference in the rate of loss from topically-treated flies seems to be related to the amount of material available on the surface of the fly, the cuticle apparently acting as a storage site from which there is a gradual release of diflubenzuron into the fly.

The great increase, in recent years, in the number of contact insecticides has created a demand for methods whereby the content of active substance in samples of these insecticides may be estimated quantitatively in a simple manner. Such methods are important, because on the one hand the producer wishes to know if his product meets the necessary requirements and on the other hand the official services concerned with the control of insect pests must be able to test the fundamental value of commercial preparations. Moreover quantitative methods for the estimation of contact insecticides are useful for scientific research in this field.

Parasitoid wasps are key agents for controlling insect pests in integrated pest management programs. Although many studies have revealed that the behavior of parasitic wasps can be influenced by insecticides, the strategies of patch time allocation and oviposition have received less attention. In the present study, we forced the endoparasitoid Meteorus pulchricornis to phoxim exposure at the LC30 and tested the foraging behavior within patches with different densities of the host, the larvae of the tobacco cutworm Spodoptera litura. The results showed that phoxim treatment can significantly increase the patch-leaving tendency of female wasps, while host density had no impact. The number of oviposition and the number of previous patch visits also significantly influenced the patch time allocation decisions. The occurrence of oviposition behavior was negatively affected by phoxim exposure; however, progeny production was similar among patches with different host densities. Phoxim exposure shaped the offspring fitness correlates, including longer durations from cocoon to adult wasps, smaller body size, and shorter longevity. The findings of the present study highlight the sublethal effects that reduce the patch residence time and the fitness of parasitoid offspring, suggesting that the application of phoxim in association with M. pulchricornis should be carefully schemed in agroecosystems.

Dieldrin, γ BHC, DDT, Telodrin and Baytex have been applied topically in oil solutions to G. swynnertoni Aust. caught as wild adults. The order of toxicity of these compounds was the same as that to laboratory-emerged G. morsitans Westw. and all were relatively more effective. Wild females were 2–3 times as tolerant of the chlorinated hydrocarbons as the males, and pregnant females required nine times as much DDT as the males. Greater tolerance to Baytex did not exceed the difference in body weights between the sexes. These results confirm those obtained with G. morsitans and are attributed to the increased tolerance to chlorinated-hydrocarbon insecticides shown by females as they age and become fertilised and pregnant.

There is no such increase in tolerance of females to Baytex and the importance of this in planning practical control measures is indicated.

The following report has been drawn up mainly from collections received through the Imperial Bureau of Entomology from Messrs. C. French and G. F. Hill. I have also included some records resulting from an examination of collections made by Dr. F. R. Rodway and Mr. R. Kelly, while E. E. Green, who has always been very ready to render every assistance, very kindly turned over to me for description several species which he had under manuscript names. Figures of previously described species have been added where considered necessary ; those given by Maskell are often, it must be confessed, misleading, while those used by Froggatt in his Catalogue are illustrations mainly of the external appearance, and, though excellent in their way, are not altogether satsifactory for the critical determination of species. Leonardi in his Monograph of the genus Lepidosaphes was content, where he gave an illustration at all, with one of the pygidial fringe, but there are other characters to be found in the pygidium, and for a full appreciation and understanding of these, this area requires to be figured in entirety. The whole of the Australian Coccid fauna, so distinctive in many respects, requires to be re-examined and fresh descriptions, based on morphological characters, drawn up. Of the numerous genera erected by MacGillivray I have accepted only one in the present paper ; as he based his genera on descriptions only, I prefer to express no opinion on the standing of the others he erected until I have examined a more extensive series of species.

Mosquito larvae derived from eggs laid in earthenware pots in various habitats on the site of University College, Ibadan, in Nigeria were collected over a period of 26 months.

Anopheles gambiae Giles, Aëdes aegypti (L.) and Culex (Lutzia) tigripes Grp. were the species most frequently collected.

The relation of these results to the fluctuation in the populations of the species concerned is discussed. It seems unlikely that pot collections give results which can be directly related to the numbers of mosquitos in the field, but they can elucidate questions of mosquito biology and behaviour.

Two Polygonaceae weeds, Rumex dentatus L. and Polygonum glabrum Willd. are abundant in wheat- and rice-fields, respectively, in India. Galerucella placida Baly (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) is a biocontrol agent of these two weeds. The importance of long-chain alkanes and free fatty acids present in leaf surface waxes of these weeds was assessed as short-range attractant and ovipositional stimulant in G. placida females. Extraction, TLC, GC-MS and GC-FID analyses demonstrated 19 n-alkanes from n-C14 to n-C35 and 14 free fatty acids from C12:0 to C22:0 in leaf surface waxes. Hentriacontane was predominant among alkanes in both weeds, while oleic acid and docosanoic acid were predominant among free fatty acids in R. dentatus and P. glabrum, respectively. Females of G. placida were attracted toward one leaf equivalent surface wax of both weeds against the control solvent (petroleum ether) in a short Y-tube olfactometer bioassay. But, the insect could not differentiate between one leaf equivalent surface wax of R. dentatus and P. glabrum, indicating that both weed leaves were equally attractive in females. A synthetic blend of either 2.44, 35.57 and 23.58 μg ml−1 of octadecane, heptacosane and nonacosane, respectively, resembling the amounts present in one leaf equivalent surface wax of R. dentatus or 4.08, 19.54 and 23.58 μg ml−1 of octadecane, palmitoleic acid and docosanoic acid, respectively, resembling the amounts present in one leaf equivalent surface wax of P. glabrum acted as short-range attractant and ovipositional stimulant in G. placida. These results could be a basis for host plant specificity of the biocontrol agent.

In studies in Western Australia, temperatures in air and one- and two-litre pads of cattle dung set out weekly and ranging from one to 20 days old were measured hourly for 438 days over all seasons, producing 1437 day x dung-pad observations. Daily maximum temperatures (and hence thermal accumulation) in cattle dung pads could not be accurately predicted using meteorological data alone. An accurate predictor of daily maximum dung temperature, using multiple regression analysis, required measurement of the following factors: maximum air temperature, hours of sunshine, rainfall, a seasonal factor (the day number derived from a linear interpolation of day number from day 0 at the winter solstice to day 182 at the preceding and following summer solstices) and a dung-pad age-specific intercept term, giving an equation that explained a 91·4% of the variation in maximum dung temperature. Daily maximum temperature in two-litre dung pads was 0·6°C cooler than in one-litre pads. Daily minimum dung temperature equalled minimum air temperature, and daily minimum dung temperatures occurred at 05.00 h and maximum temperatures at 14.00 h for one-litre and 14.30 h for two-litre pads. Thus, thermal summation in a dung pad above any threshold temperature can be computed using a skewed sine curve fitted to daily minimum air temperature and the calculated maximum dung temperature.

Fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (Smith), is one of the major pests targeted by transgenic crops expressing insecticidal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Berliner. However, FAW presents a high capacity to develop resistance to Bt protein-expressing crop lines, as reported in Brazil, Argentina, Puerto Rico and the southeastern U.S. Here, FAW genotypes resistant to pyramided maize events expressing Cry1F/Cry1A.105/Cry2Ab2 (P-R genotype) and Cry1A.105/Cry2Ab2 (Y-R genotype) from Brazil were used to investigate the interactions between non-Bt hosts (non-Bt maize, non-Bt cotton, millet and sorghum) and fitness costs. We also tested a FAW genotype susceptible to Bt maize and F1 hybrids of the resistant and susceptible genotypes (heterozygotes). Recessive fitness costs (i.e., costs affecting the resistant insects) were observed for pupal and neonate to adult survival of the P-R genotype on non-Bt cotton; larval developmental time of the P-R genotype on millet and sorghum; larval and neonate-to-adult developmental time of the Y-R genotype on non-Bt cotton and sorghum; the fecundity of the Y-R genotype on non-Bt cotton; and mean generation time of both resistant genotypes. However, on non-Bt cotton and non-Bt maize, the P-R genotype had a higher fitness (i.e., fitness benefits), displaying greater fecundity and rates of population increases than the Sus genotype. Non-recessive fitness costs (i.e., costs affecting heterozygotes) were found for fecundity and population increases on millet and sorghum. These findings suggest that, regardless of the disadvantages of the resistant genotypes in some hosts, the resistance of FAW to Cry1 and Cry2 Bt proteins is not linked with substantial fitness costs, and may persist in field conditions once present.

Hybrids of Nephotettix virescens (Dist.) and N. nigropictus (Stål) have been bred in the laboratory, and they could transmit rice tungro virus even though only one of the parents is a vector. In the present paper, evidence is presented based on coloration and on male genitalia that suggests that such hybrids occur in nature. The potential danger from such hybrid vectors is pointed out, and taxonomists are alerted to the risk of accepting such hybrids as new species, thus completely hiding their potential as vectors.