The pale western cutworm, Agrotis orthogonia Morr., has been a major pest of cereals in the prairie region of Western Canada since 1911. Present control measures consist of (a) cultural measures that inhibit oviposition in fields being summer-fallowed and (b) starvation of the young larvae by destroying the volunteer plant growth by means of cultivation at a critical period. Cultural operations to minimize oviposition in fields being summer-fallowed have become accepted procedure throughout the area. Control by starvation is practised during outbreak years in fields that have-been “stubbled in” or in those tilled during the moth flight. This procedure has been recommended generally throughout potentially infested areas, but more precise methods of evaluating larval numbers are required so that control may be used only where critical populations are present.

Fulgorids of the genus Epiptera Metcalf are well represented in the Canadian fauna, probably because they are associated with conifers. Metcalf (1938. Gen. Cat. Hemip. IV, Part 10) listed 12 North American species, of which seven had been recorded from Canada. Ten species are represented by specimens from Canada in the Canadian National Collection. Two of these are previously undescribed. As there has been much confusion among certain species of this genus, due partly to misinterpretations of some of the original descriptions, it is probable that previous Canadian records for some species were based on mis-identifications. The species show external characters that are usually of good specific value, although there is some variation. The colour and type of markings of the face and the shape of the vertex are of particular value. The male genitalia exhihit good specific characters in the form and structure of the acdoeagus (Figs. 8-12).

During the past four years Mr. Douglas C. Ferguson has collected dragonflies in Nova Scotia thereby greatly increasing our knowledge of the geographical distribution of these insects within the province. He very generously presented to the writer his entire collections comprising 327 specimens of 51 species, four of these being new records for the Maritime Provinces and two others being new for Nova Scotia. In the annotated list of species below these new records are indicated as follows: New records for the Maritime Provinces are indicated by a double asterisk (**). Records which are new for Nova Scotia only, are indicated by a single asterisk (*). A better representation of the widely distributed northern genus Somatochlora whould have been expected in a collection of this size made from the territory covered, in view of the fact that at least eight species are known to occur in thls territory. The reasons for their escaping capture is doubtless due, in part, to the restricted habitat occupied by many of the species, and in part to the difficulty of collecting specimens.

During field studies of the behaviour of larvae in colonies of Malacosoma disstria Hbn., it was observed that two species of ants, Camponotus herculeanus ligniperdus (Latr.) and Formica fusca L., were common on the twigs of the small trees, Populus tremuloides Michx., on which the caterpillars were established. Ant nests were common near the bases of trees, and the worker ants climbed the trunks and moved along the branches either to forage or to tend aphid colonies. When the tent caterpillars were small, they were frequently attacked by the ants. There were two distinct types of attack: one the result of foraging by worker ants and the other the result of defence of aphid colonies by the ants.

Last year a short note (Musgrave, 1949) described the possibilities of fluorescein for marking insects. The method has since been adopted and much elaborated by the Apiculture Department here (Townsend, 1950).

But another and very interesting question remained insufficiently answered: was it possible to dust a growing crop with fluorescein (and presumably, certain other solids) in such a way that visiting bees alighting on the crop would pick up the dust and carry it back to the hive an their bodies in detectable quantities? If it were then a very useful tool in field research in Entomology generally might well be available. During the summer of 1950 an experiment was devised to answer this question.