The embryonic development of the bertha armyworm is traced from the time of oviposition until blastokinesis. The following are described: the egg; fertilization and cleavage; formation of blastoderm, serosa, and amnion; the germ band; formation and differentiation of the lower layer; germ layers and derivatives; blastokinesis.

Study of the series placed in the Canadian National Collection as Nymphula badiusalis (Walker) revealed that it consisted of specimens of two closely similar species. The original descriptions are sufficiently detailed to indicate that one of these is N. badiusalis and that the other is N. curviferalis (Walker), which has been considered a synonym of N. badiusalis. The following brief descriptions will permit separation of the species.

In connection with an attempt at the biological control of the weed Cordia macrostachya in Mauritius (see Simmonds 1948) information was required as to the effect on the plant of periodic defoliation similar to that caused by leaf-eating beetles, two species of which showed promise for introduction from the West Indies against the weed. In spite of the obvious general importance of the effect that defoliation by insects has on plants very little work has been done to determine in any particular case the manner in which a plant reacts to damage of this nature. With Cordia it was particularly important to ascertain what effect, if any, defoliation has on inflorescence and seed production.