Descriptions are presented for 86 new Lonchaeidae as follows: Silba Macquart, 19 species: 7 from Australia, 6 from Africa, 3 from Madagascar, and 3 from the Solomon Islands.; Lonchaea Fallén, 67 species: 50 from North America, 6 from Africa, 3 from Australia, 2 from Colombia, 2 from the Caroline Islands, and one from each of the following: New Hebrides Islands, India, Fiji Islands and France.

A study was made of the resistance to cyclodiene insecticides in the root maggots H. cilicrura and H. liturata infesting tobacco in southwestern Ontario; the resistance tests were made with dieldrin by the WHO impregnated-paper method. Field-collected adults classifiable as H. liturata showed a dieldrin-resistance which did not extend to DDT; the few F1 offspring obtainable by laboratory rearing were highly dieldrin-resistant. A strain of H. cilicrura originating from a collection of both species made at Delhi in 1960, and considered at the time to be dieldrin-resistant, proved to be just as susceptible to dieldrin as the Chatham laboratory strain. Individuals of H. cilicrura admixed with dieldrin-resistant H. liturata in a collection made at St. Thomas in August 1962 were all susceptible. The hypothesis is offered that the reversal in the proportions of the two species on tobacco in recent years is partly due to a difference between them in that H. liturata is capable of cyclodiene-resistance whereas H. cilicrura is not.

Page 490, insert at bottom of page, “for most of its length, but becomes oval upon passing between the muscle layers”.

Pine leaf aphid infestation produces not only a general reduction in radial growth of white pine but also a modification of the normal pattern of annual radial increment along the length of the stem. The greatest growth reduction occurs in the lower stem with proportionately less in the midcrown area and least in the top. This appears to reflect the distribution of branch mortality which is greatest in the mid- and lower crown. Several defoliators studied by other workers produce the greatest effect on radial growth and on foliage survival in the tops of the tree.

Stem elongation reduction occurs only after crown damage and aphid infestation becomes extreme. Lighter infestations are reflected, however, in reduced needle length in the year of attack followed by reduced branch elongation in the year following attack. The combination of stunted and normal needles alternating with stunted and normal branch internodes is probably a unique characteristic of pine leaf aphid damage.

The European spruce sawfly, Diprion hercyniae (Htg.), was first discovered in Canada in 1930 and in the next few years attained outbreak proportions in spruce forests over large areas in the Gaspé Peninsula and New Brunswick. The accidental introduction of a polyhedrosis in the early 1930’s was responsible for the rapid decline of the infestation, and under the influence of both disease and introduced parasites, densities throughout the range of the sawfly have been fluctuating at very low levels for the past 20 years. Population studies have been conducted on this insect in New Brunswick since 1938 and data are now available for 50 consecutive generations over a 25-year period. Morris’ key-factor approach, using parasites, disease and weather as the key factors, has been used in the analyses of the data. Although disease obscured the effect of other control factors, during high sawfly densities, larval parasites have been largely responsible for maintaining the low densities experienced in New Brunswick for the past 20 years. A pronounced change in the relative importance of the different parasite species and in the amount of cocoon predation attributable to small mammals and wireworms has occurred during the change from high to low host densities.

During cocoon construction the predominant movement made by larvae of the three honey bee castes is a forward somersault which is made dorsal side outermost. Worker, drone, and queen larvae complete one somersault in 52, 46 or 67 (at two different times), and 32 minutes respectively with the total number of somersaults made during cocoon construction being 27-37, 40-50, and 40-80 respectively; the larvae take 37, 54, and 30 hours respectively to complete their cocoons. Weight changes of larvae before and after the cocoons are made are given.

Worker and drone larvae build completely enclosed cocoons directly on the side walls and end walls of cells, but queen larvae leave spaces between the cappings and the cocoons and do not cover the bases of their cells with cocoon material.

Cocoons consist of silk gland secretion (in thin sheets and threads), a colourless material, a light yellow material, and a more solid brown material (faeces); the last three are discharged from the larval anus. When, how, and where these various secretions and excretions are placed in the cocoon, and their probable origins, are described. Possibly some brood food is incorporated into the cocoon but skin secretions or larval blood are not.

The grey larch budmoth, Zeiraphera griseana Hb., defoliates the extensive larch forests of the European Alps at intervals of from six to eight years. Historical records on the development of visible damage for ten gradations, together with quantitative results on the population dynamics of the last full gradation, provide the explanation of this cyclic phenomenon. Average weather conditions allowing a steady population increase, the deciduous habit of the host tree, and a high rate of increase constitute a simple ecological situation which results in regular oscillations of populations of this insect.

A unique problem involving borborid infestations in modern septic sewage-disposal tanks is described. Two species, Leptocera (Leptocera) caenosa (Rondani) and L. (Limosina) empirica (Hutton) are new to North America. A third, yet undetermined, is related to L. (Limosina) gracilipennis Spul.

Adults emerging from tanks in new schools sometimes blackened lavatory windows. Domestic septic tanks were seldom infested and chemical tanks never infested. Factors responsible, prevention and control are discussed. The main pest species, L. caenosa, was cultured. At about 72°F. the egg stage lasted about 48 hrs. and the larval and pupal stages 7 or more days each. In a humid atmosphere males survived up to 32 days and females 79 days. Fertile eggs were laid as late as 47 days after mating, with a maximum of more than 1300 eggs per female. Observations, including olfactometer tests, indicated that L. caenosa should not initiate a public health problem.

This report constitutes the first mention of Chlamisus cribripennis (Lec.) in Nova Scotia and its first mention as an economically important pest of blueberries in Canada. Also included are observations on the life history, parasitism, and laboratory rearing of this species.

Laboratory studies showed that the emergence of Rhagoletis pomonella is affected by the relative humidity of the environment. When pupae were incubated at 77° F. and relative humidities of 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 the percentages of emergence were 0, 0, 4, 81 and 70 respectively.

One of the most unusual results of intensive collecting in southern Manitoba in. 1958 was the discovery of this striking representative of a dominantly coastal genus of Ephydridae. It ivas collected at several times but in only the one locality, the Bald Head Hills, a region of active sand dunes in the largely stabilized, spruce-covered area representing the shores of the Pleistocene Lake Agassiz. The species is strikingly different from other species of the genus in its thoracic and wing pattern, hut in structural characters it is fairly typical.