Seed growers in Alberta must rely to a great extent on leaf-cutter bees, Megachile Latr., and bumble bees, Bombus Latr., to pollinate alfalfa and red clover. Depending largely on the lengths of their proboscises, certain species of leaf-cutter bees and bumble bees are valuable pollinators of these crops (Hobbs et al., 1961, Hobbs, 1962). The leaf-cutter bees are solitary, non-gregarious species and are, therefore, difficult to manage. Because bumble bees are colonial and are more prolific than leaf-cutter bees, and because suitable species for the pollination of alfalfa and of red clover are found in most regions of Alberta, efforts are presently being made to manage bumble bees.

In June 1922, Hearst Hall, the women's gymnasium on the Berkeley Campus of the University of California, burned to the ground. The heat therefrom caused the deaths of three fine specimens of Monterey Cypress growing nearby, thus setting the stage for a local episode in the interaction between a wood-wasp of the genus Sirex and a parasitic wasp of the genus Ibalia. This particular host-parasite interaction is a widespread one of very ancient origin. The 1922 episode of this interaction was manifested as soon as the three dead cypress trees lhad attained a condition which was particularly attractive to the females of Sirex and the females of Ibalia. The larvae of Sirex burrow in and feed upon the timber of coniferous trees; the larvae of Ibalia live parasitically within the Sirex larvae and ultimately destroy them.

Five new species are described in the present paper. All of these represent extensions of the known range for the genus. All have nine-segmented antennae, two having a three-segmented club, one a four-segmented club, and wo 3 five-segmented club. The latter three, all of which occur in Sonora, are of particular interest, since they are the first species with more than three segments in the antennal club known to occur outside of Baja California.

The control of bud infesting insects presents a problem to which the systemic insecticides theoretically offer a promise of solution. The systemic action of some organophosphorus insecticides has been well demonstrated on many agricultural crops. An excellent bibliography on these and other systemic insecticides has been compiled bv Giang (1954). Anderson (1955), reported mortality of eastern tent caterpillars, Malacosoma americanum (F.) when fed on leaves from wild cherry seedlings grown in soil treated with parathion. Recently, Norris (1960) and coppel and Norris (1960, 1961), reported that some of the newer organophosphorus insecticides show a high degree of insecticidal action in both elm and white pine. In 1960 Dever and Davis reported success of phosphamidon against gypsy moth larvae feeding on white pine. This gave further indication that a systemic insecticide might be effective to defoliators on other conifers. Other investigators have shown that the absorption characteristics of systemic insecticides vary greatly with the soil type, absorption being greatest in sandy soils (Getzin and Chapman 1959, 1960), Zaki and Reynolds (1961)). These findings may be of practical importance in forest insect control since many forest sites are either rocky, sandy, or submarginal agricultural lands, and hence insecticide spray residues of this type may be reabsorbed into the tree.

This is the third paper in a series dealing with investigations, initiated in 1956, to determine if the codling moth, Carpocapsa pomonella (L.), might be eradicated in the Okanagan and Similkameen Vallevs of British Columbia by the release of sexually sterile moths. In the first twoe papers exposure to heat (Proverbs and Newton, 1962) and to gamma radiation (Proverbs and Newton, 1962a) were examined as methods of inducing sexual sterility. Heat was not satisfactory. However, exposure of fully developed pupae to 40,000 rads of gamma radiation induced almost complete sexual sterility (used in the broad sense) in the male moth without causing undesirable side effects. The female was more easily sterilized than the male.

Cremifania nigrocellulata Cz. is one of the complex of predators that attacks A. piceae (Ratz.) in Europe. After studies on its morphology, biology, and distribution were made by Delucchi and Pschorn-Walcher (1954), C. nigrocellulata was reared in Europe by the Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control and introduced into New Brunswick via the Entomology Research Institute for Biological Control, Belleville, Ontario.

The three new species described here were discovered in recent years in the course of forest aphid studies in central Canada.

Measurements used in this paper are in millimetres. The number of specimens of each form of the aphid measured is shown and the range of measurements given in parentheses. The single measurement preceding the parentheses is not an average, but refers to a single representative specimen.

The black cutworm, Agrotis ipsilon (Hufnagel), is of major economic importance in many areas of the world. In recent years, adequate methods for assessing the toxicity of insecticides to the black cutworm have been developed (Begg and Harris, 1958; Begg et al., in preparation; Harris and Mazurek, 1961). However, with the exception of the works by Crumb (1929) and Satterthwait (1933), less research has been devoted to the life history of this insect.

Summer larvae of the eye-spotted bud moth, Spilonota ocellana (D. and S.), appeared in unequal densities on certain portions of apple trees in Door County, Wisconsin. The resulting non-random distribution introduced a bias in data obtained of the summer larvae. This phenomenon has been reported in Quebec apple orchards (LeRoux and Reimer, 1959) where densities of summer larvae were consistently greater in the upper than in the lower tree levels, and quadrant differences often occurred in the number of eggs parasitized, spring and summer larval shelters, and pupal shelters. The present study was initiated to determine the extent of the uneven distribution of summer eye-spotted bud moth larvae and nests on young, non-bearing apple trees. Summer larvae appear shortly after the first of August when eggs begin to hatch (Oatman, 1960).

A generation of wingless females of Adelges cooleyi (Gill.) is widespread on the needles of planted spruce in the Prairie Provinces of Canada and occurs on native spruces in the boreal region and in the Rocky Mountains. In order to distinguish this generation from the polymorphic cycle, it is referred to here as a ‘monomorphic cycle’.

Large and small strains of the rice weevil Sitophilus oryza (L.) (Calandra oryzae (L.) of authors following European usage) have been reported from several localities (Birch, 1944 in Australia; Kiritani, 1956 in Japan; Kono, 1955 in Nepal; Richards 1944 in Britain; and Utida, 1958, in Canada, Japan and U.S.A.). Birch and Richards both seem to have considered it probable that the two strains were separate species: but they did not make the separation. Floyd and Newsom (1960), after careful work on both strains found in the U.S. and reared in the laboratory on a variety of materials, decided that the small strain could be validly made a separate species, thus agreeing with Takahashi who, according to Floyd and Newsom (1960), had elevated this strain to species rank as Calandra sasakii. In conformity with modern North American usage Floyd and Newsom refer to this small species as Sitophilus sasakii (Tak.). In addition to differences in size, they found differences in the male and female genitalia, interstrain sterility and various ecological differences. There were also differences in pronotal markings as had been, according to Kono (1953), noted by Takahashi (1928). Kono states “…the adult of the large strain has pits dotted densely on the central part of the pronotum, the small strain does not, and, furthermore the shape and size of the pits differ distinctly”.

During investigations of lepidopterous needle-miners and bud-borers on spruce in the Province of Quebec between 1956 and 1959, four closely-related species belonging to the family Gelechiidae were found. One of the species, atrupictella, is the type of the genus Eucordylea Dietz (1900); a second, piceaella (Kft.) has been formerly assigned to the genus Recurvaria Haworth, and the remaining two were undescribed entities. In this paper, the four species are assumed to be congeneric and are tentatively assigned to Eucordylea Dietz. However, there is considerable confusion regarding the taxonomic status of this group and further generic divisions may be justified in future (Freeman 1960).

Bembecia marginata (Harr.), commonly called the raspberry crown borer, raspberry root borer, or blackberry crown borer, is native to North America. Harris (1839) first recorded it from New Hampshire as Trochilium marginata Harr. Edwards (1881) first named it Bembecia marginata (Harr.). Beutenmüller (1901) summarized its many synonyms.

With increased acreage of cultivated cane fruits in Canada this insect has become a serious agricultural pest. It does not occur in outbreaks, but builds up slowly over a period of years and gradually reduces the vigour and yield of plantings. Damage is caused by the larvae which undermine the new buds at the base of the plants in the spring and girdle the new canes during the summer. Especially affected are young plantings which produce only a few canes at first.

In British Columbia the control of phytophagous mites, especially the European red mite, Panonychus ulmi (Koch), and the McDaniel spider mite, Tetranychus mcdanieli McG., is becoming increasingly difficult, mainly because of the mites' ability to develop resistance to most acaricides in a relatively short time (3). Because of this, methods of control other than strictly chemical are examined at every opportunity.

Proper association of males with females of the bee family Halictidae presents difficulties not found in most insect groups. In the north temperate zone males emerge in late summer, mate with the females and then die, only females surviving over winter. Collecting in spring and early summer therefore yields only females and only in the later collections do males appear.

Correct association between males and females may be secured by excavating burrows after males have emerged from the pupae, by collecting mating pairs or by making such extensive collections in a limited area that statistical evidence may be secured to support conclusions based on morphological features. This technique was used by the junior author in his original studies of Andrenidae and Halictidae (Atwood, 1933) but is by no means a universal practice. Consequently, many species names in the Halictidae are based on descriptions of one sex only while in other instances the association between male and female rests upon a very shaky foundation. This paper is designed to clarify the status of two species which are now in the above categories.

Tiger beetles of the Genus Cicindela (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) apparently have few natural enemies. About seven per cent of the larvae of Cicindela scutellaris lecontei Hald, are parasitized by larvae of Spongostylum anale Say (Diptera: Bombyliidae) according to Shelford (1909, 1913). Frick (1957) notes egg deposirion by a “small black bombyliid fly” in the larval burrows of Cicindela in Washington State. Wallis (196l) has seen large asilid flies capture tiger beetles on the wing. He believes that the asilids attack only while the Cicindela are in flight and vulnerable areas are exposed; the beak is inserted in the softer parts just behind the scutellum.