Ceratovacuna and Pseudoregma are important groups in Cerataphidini (Hemiptera, Hormaphidinae) that not only produce soldier aphids in galls on the primary hosts but also produce horned soldiers on the herbaceous secondary hosts. However, due to sampling bias in previous studies, the phylogenetic relationships of these two genera remain inconclusive. In this study, based on more extensive sampling and examination of both mitochondrial (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI); cytochrome b (Cytb)) and nuclear (elongation factor-1α (EF-1α); long-wavelength opsin (LWO)) genes, we reconstructed the phylogenetic relationships of Ceratovacuna and Pseudoregma. Phylogenetic analyses, along with morphological evidence, suggested that these two genera belong to the paraphyletic groups with species clustered into three main groups. The monophyly of Ceratovacuna and Pseudoregma as a whole was generally supported by all analyses. Monophyly of Pseudoregma was also supported. The estimated divergence times demonstrated that diversification of Ceratovacuna and Pseudoregma occurred approximately at 10 mya. The relatively low resolution for the basal relationships of the three main clades may indicate that these two genera have experienced a rapid radiation along with speciation burst of their secondary hosts during the late Tertiary.

During the campaign in Abyssinia and British Somaliland, the writer was able to collect a few Simuliid flies during the course of mosquito surveys. All the specimens collected were submitted to the late E. G. Gibbins of Uganda, who kindly determined them, and at his suggestion I record the four species found, as it is believed that these constitute the first records of these species from the two territories.

Among the injurious insects with which the entomologist attempting to utilise the methods of biological control has to deal, there are many which live in such a way that a considerable proportion of their population is practically inaccessible to parasites and predators, even during the stages when they are attractive to their enemies. Insects of this type are not infrequently transported in their animal or vegetable food materials into other territories, escape attention during the process of inspection, and develop in their new homes into devastating pests. The Mediterranean Fruit Fly, the Codling Moth, and the European Corn Borer are familiar examples of this class of pest.

August 17th, 1910. Between Lupitanguo Pool and Namiwawa (1).* Bright day; steady easterly breeze; fly scarce, though present throughout journey; more plentiful by pools in shade. Country thickly wooded. Water plentiful. Buffalo country.

Ipobracon peronatus, Cam.

Iphiaulax peronatus, Cameron, Biol. Cent.-Amer., Hym., i, 1887, p. 337.

Trinidad : 3 ♀♀, 25.xi.1928, 5.xii.l928, 21.ii.1929 (J. G. Myers).

Host. Dr. Myers considers this parasite to be associated with the Cerambycid beetle, Stirastoma depressum, L., infesting cacao logs.

These specimens agree absolutely with the type (which is in the British Museum) with the possible exception that they appear to have the 2nd cubital cell relatively somewhat longer ; this difference, however, is so minute that it is a character upon which I am not prepared to describe a new species.

Ipobracon peronatus is easily separable from the two other recorded Braconine parasites of Stirastoma, as follows : From Cyanopterus depressi, Vier., by the thorax and legs, the colour of which in this latter species is black throughout ; and from Cyanopterus steirastomae, Vier., by the nature of the 2nd tergite, which from Viereck's description would appear to be fine and smooth.

Most of the mosquitos described here were collected by Dr. H. de Rook and the author during a tour of investigation of filariasis in the eastern part of the Malay Archipelago. The tour was undertaken with a grant from the “Koningin Wilhelmina Jubileum-Stichting” in Batavia.

The local blowflies were sampled by bait-trapping at a number of stations in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland and their western seaboard, the Western Isles and eastern and southern England, to supplement the results of an earlier survey of the distribution of Calliphorine blowflies in Great Britain.

Of the species of Lucilia, L. richardsi Collin was as numerous as L. scricata (Mg.) in the south-east, but relatively infrequent further north, and was not found in the Northwest Highlands or Islands. L. ampullacea Villen. and L. silvarum (Mg.), though earlier found in the eastern part of the Northwest Highlands, are rare or absent on the western seaboard and in the Western Isles. L. illustris (Mg.) is relatively infrequent in the Northwest Highlands and Islands, but in these regions was found as far north as Lairg, and in the Outer and Inner Hebrides.

Of the species of Calliphora, neither C. loewi End. nor C. uralensis Villen. were found in any of the eight stations in eastern and southern England. C. uralensis was common in the Western Isles and on the northwest seaboard. C. loewi more common in the Central Highlands and apparently absent from the Islands.

Acrophaga subalpina (Ringdahl) was not taken in the stations in the east and south of England, Cynomyia mortuorum (L.) only in the three more northerly of these, north and west of the Wash, and Phormia terraenovae R.-D. at onlv one station further south, Wye.

The validity of the MLD (Minimum Lethal Dose) as a practical concept for measuring toxicity, despite its obvious lack of precision, is discussed. Its use has justification.

The 48-hour MLD of acetone-water suspensions and oil films of DDT and dieldrin for early fourth-stage larvae of Anopheles gambiae Giles have been measured.

The results show A. gambiae to be relatively resistant to DDT.

In acetone-water suspension dieldrin appears to be about six times as toxic as DDT. In oil solutions this difference is more marked, the ratio being in the neighbourhood of 20:1.

Eight strains of Boophilus decoloratus (Koch) are described from farms in the High veld area of Rhodesia. All eight strains showed resistance to a number of organophosphorus ixodicides and four showed additional resistance to the carbamate, carbaryl. This is the first recorded resistance to these two groups of ixodicides in Rhodesia.

Biochemical studies on the Alicedale West Farm strain indicated a level of resistance between that of the Berlin strain of B. decoloratus and the Biarra strain of B. microplus (Can.).

Further experiments have been carried out to investigate how a coarse aerosol, released from a low-flying aircraft, is deposited upon the ground in open country. The aerosol had a mass median diameter of approximately 80 microns, and was produced by a boom-and-nozzle apparatus.

The aircraft height was 65 ft. It is shown that the rate of deposition is related to the degree of atmospheric turbulence, of which a simple and easily measured parameter is given. The rate of deposition is greatest when there is a large temperature inversion and a low wind speed.

A comparison is made with previous work where the aircraft height was 30 ft. Within the limits investigated, an increase in aircraft height reduces the deposits near the line of emission, but does not greatly affect the total amount that deposits within 150–200 seconds of production of the aerosol.

The mouth-parts of male mosquitos are referred to in many text-books, but the descriptions given by various authors differ to a quite remarkable extent. This fact is particularly noticeable in regard to the maxillae and the mandibles. It is usually (and correctly) pointed out that maxillae are present in the male proboscis ; but the statements made by different observers concerning the length of these organs are extremely discordant. As to whether the male proboscis contains mandibles in addition to maxillae, opinions are sharply divided, the majority of writers asserting (as we shall see, incorrectly) that such is not the case.

During a recent visit to Samoa the senior author had an opportunity to collect a few COCCIDAE. No time was available to make a systematic search for these insects and the specimens collected were only such as were seen in the course of other work. As a list of these has been asked for, it seems desirable to publish the following brief notes with the descriptions of the three apparently undescribed species.

To render the study of Mosquitoes practically useful to the sanitary officer, it should be made possible upon catching an adult mosquito anywhere, to say : this mosquito was bred in a water-butt, puddle, bamboo, empty tin, etc. It would thus be only necessary to find and destroy the breeding-place.

Bagged maize stored in large stacks on the Kenya coast is subject to reinvasion by stored-products pests following successful fumigation with methylbromide, and treatment of the stack surfaces with insecticidal sprays has been unsatisfactory in preventing reinfestation.

Further tests are described of different methods of applying insecticides to small experimental stacks, each composed of ten 200-lb. bags of maize, exposed within a warehouse, after fumigation, to reinfestation from a large bulk of maize heavily infested with Tribolium castaneum (Hbst.). Populations of adults and pre-adult stages of T. castaneum were recorded from samples of grain obtained by a sampling spear from each bag at intervals.

In the first of two experiments, single applications of malathion in a spray at 100 and 150 mg. per sq. ft. to the entire external surface of each bag during the construction of the stack did not give good control of reinfestation in the six months after fumigation, but were not significantly worse, respectively, than a dust containing 1 per cent. lindane similarly applied to the upper surface of each bag and, four weeks later, to the outside of the stack at the rates of 3 and 6 oz. per bag. When the malathion treatments were followed by 24, 12 or 8 applications, at intervals of 1, 2 or 3 weeks, respectively, of sprays containing malathion to give 100 and 150 mg. per sq. ft. over the whole external surface of the stack, good control of T. castaneum was obtained with all treatments.

Mean residues of malathion in the outer inch of maize in the bags six months after the start of the experiment varied from 3 to about 19 p.p.m., according to treatment, suggesting that little penetrated through the bag wall and that after thorough mixing of the grain before use the malathion content would not exceed the permissible limit.

In the second experiment, an admixture of malathion dust with the maize before bagging to give 8 p.p.m. active ingredient gave almost complete control of larvae and pupae, and application of 3 oz. 0·5 per cent, malathion dust, or a spray affording 400 mg. malathion per sq. ft., to the upper surface of each bag during stacking gave highly significant reductions in numbers of T. castaneum in the pre-adult stages. The last of these treatments, followed, after fumigation, by malathion applied in a spray at 150 mg. per sq. ft. every three weeks to the external surfaces of the stack, is recommended for large-scale trial.

In describing the following new species from West Africa, some words of explanation are needed as to the generic names used. In the first place, it is necessary to say that the writer follows Messrs. Dyar and Knab in considering that most of the genera into which Meigen's genus Anopheles has recently been split up are not genera in any accepted sense, and should sink under the old name Anopheles. Provisionally, however, Stethomyia, Chagasia, Calvertina and Bironella are considered as distinct; as none of these genera are African, this will not affect the present paper. Lieut.-Col. A. Alcock, of the London School of Tropical Medicine, has kindly allowed me to see the manuscript of a paper on the classification of Anopheles, which he is about to publish in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History, and I have been able to concur entirely with his views; he recognises only five sub-genera of Anopheles, the sub-genus Nyssorhynchus including all those species with flat scales on thorax and abdomen, i.e., the genera Nyssorhynchus, Cellia and Neocellia of Theobald's Monograph.

In this paper I am redescribing and giving some interesting, new, biological information with regard to two species of Apanteles, of which one, A. compressiventris, has not previously been recorded in the Old World, and the other, A. plutellae, not previously recorded from the Western Palaearctic Region; and I believe that it is better to communicate this information at this time rather than to wait until the completion of the monograph upon which it is known that I am engaged, a matter yet of some years.

Specimens of a Stenodiplosis were received early in 1942 from Mr. A. Moutia labelled “no. 73, ex inflorescence of Stenotaphrum dimidiatum, Mauritius (Reduit), xii.1940.” In a subsequent letter, dated 25th May, 1942, Mr. Moutia stated that the midges were reared in the laboratory from material collected in the fields. He also gave the information that the grass, S. dimidiatum, forms about 40–50 per cent. of the pastures in Mauritius and, though its main mode of reproduction is by its root stock and cuttings, the dispersion of its seeds may to some extent help in bringing a profuse and thick layer of growth.

1. Carabunia myersi is an extraordinarily efficient internal parasite of the nymphs of Clastoptera undulata and Clastoptera sp. in Cuba, and of a third species in the mountains of Haiti.

2. The rate of parasitism is from 65 to nearly 100 per cent.

3. The egg is laid in nymphs of about the second instar, the female wasp negotiating the covering spittle-mass with great ease.

4. There are three larval stadia, and pupation takes place within the indurated larval skin of the last larval instar, inside the abdomen of the still active host.

5. The spiracles of this Hymenopterous puparium achieve connections with certain of the abdominal tracheae of the host and by this means supply air to the pupa.

6. Dissection and experiment showed that Carabunia is not actually, nor is it likely to become, a parasite of froghoppers of the genus Tomaspis (Monecphora) to which the Trinidad cane pest belongs.

I desire especially to thank my wife for assistance in every part of the investigation.

Eurygaster integriceps is a serious pest of wheat in Syria against which various methods of control have been tried.

Laboratory tests with a 0·8 per cent. parathion dust applied at the rate of 0·1 mg./sq. cm. are described.

Three sets of field experiments were carried out with 0·75 per cent. and 0·8 per cent. parathion dust. Applied at a rate of 75 kg. /ha. these were very efficient but not economical. Applications of 0·8 per cent. dust with a knapsack duster at between 15 and 17·5 kg. /ha. gave about a 20 per cent. reduction in the infestation. A larger experiment in which 0·75 per cent. dust at a rate of 48 kg. /ha. was applied to a hectare of wheat, by means of a 6 h.p. duster mounted on a Jeep fitted with a drag sheet, gave a 70 per cent. control.

The Solomon Islands lie to the east of New Guinea and consist of an archipelago a thousand miles in length and about half this distance in breadth. They are divided politically into the Northern Solomons (formerly German but now administered under Mandate by Australia), and the British Solomon Islands Protectorate. This latter lies roughly between five and twelve degrees south of the equator and is believed to have been united both to New Guinea and Australia from at least the Triassic to the early Tertiary. As there is now a deep sea between the archipelago and the two land-masses, the former falls into the ancient section of the continental islands of Wallace.

The rainfall averages 150 inches, the maximum shade temperature has a mean of 90°F., and the relative atmospheric humidity averages 92 per cent.

The Group consists of six large islands ranging from 60 to 120 miles in length and many smaller ones, including the isolated Santa Cruz group to the east. The main islands are composed of both coralline and volcanic (chiefly diorite) rocks and hence exhibit a wide range of soil-types from coralline sands and red clay to alluvium. Evidence of former extensive elevation is provided in raised coral-beaches. The islands are generally covered with jungle and densely wooded to their summits which rise in places to over 8,000 feet. An exception to this is the central and western portions of the northern coast of Guadalcanal, which consist of grass plains and undulating downland.