The introduction of natural enemies of an insect pest from foreign countries is one method of biological control which relies on the addition of missing factors to increase pest mortality. The Research Institute, Belleville is the Canadian agent that obtains and provides biological control information and material required anywhere in Canada from foreign countries. This is usually done through the Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control.

A standardized technique for establishing the susceptibility levels of adult stages of stored product pests to residual contact insecticides has been designed using disposable containers, standard kits and standard procedures. Filter papers are impregnated with a series of concentrations of the material being tested. Acetone is the preferred solvent for impregnation. Sufficiently non-volatile materials are supplied on the papers. Volatile materials are applied by the testers using standard solutions and papers, a ‘bed-of-nails’ and a hypodermic syringe. Paper cups with perforated lids serve as both exposure and holding cages and are then destroyed. Fittcd glass rings keep exposure areas constant and prevent insect escape. When an anaesthetic is required carbon dioxide is employed. Pre-exposure holding (i.e. starvation or other procedures), lengths of exposure periods, duration of holding or recovery period and other pertinent points are established for all common pests. Data forms are supplied to cooperators. Calculated probit-log-dosage regression lines and LD50's obtained therefrom indicate susceptibility levels and allow for comparisons between populations separated both in time and space.

Adults attracted to heap-traps are normally mixed with a large quantity of hay trash which makes the recovery of beetles tedious and difficult. To facilitate this work, an insect sorting box was designed and built. To recover the beetles, the heaps are shaken above the cover of the box and the insects with the trash fall into the box through the wire mesh. The beetles run in all directions to avoid daylight and finally enter one of the darkened compartments where they drop through the funnel opening into the attached glass jar. The beetles are then recovered from the jars and separated out under clean conditions within a very short time.

Solid-stemmed varieties of common wheat are more resistant than hollowstemmed varieties to the wheat stem sawfly, Cephus cinctus Nort. If closely related lines of wheat with a considerable range of sawfly-resistance and stem solidness were available, entomologists could use them to analyse some of the mechanisms of resistance.

A display that exemplifies relationships between mites and insects is especially appropriate for an exhibit of acarology at the Centennial of Entomology in Canada. Mites of some 15 genera in ten families are associated with bark beetles. Those of a species group in the genus Tarsonemoides (Acarina: Tarsonemidae) are specialized as egg parasites of Ips (Scolytidae). This exhibit is based on research by Lindquist and Bedard (1961: Canad. Ent. 93: 982-999) on species of Tarsonemoides with Ips in California and is illustrated with similar material from Toronto.

Soil micro-arthropods, as such, have hitherto been little studied in North America. Investigations, particularly of woodland soils, near Ste Anne de Bellevue, Quebec, have, however, been in progress for several years. Micro-arthropods are present in very large numbers in most soils. They include mites, Collembola, Diplura, Protura, Symphyla, Pauropoda and pseudoscorpions.

The Northwestern Queen Elizabeth Islands, i.e., Meighen, Ellef Ringnes, Amund Ringnes, King Christian, Lougheed, Borden, Mackenzie King, and Brock, constitute the most barren part of the high arctic fell field. Within this group, the richest area is at Isachsen on Ellef Ringnes Island; there the relief is higher and the variety of habitats greater and richer than at any other place on any of these islands. Despite this relative richness, however, Isachsen has the coldest summer climate of any arctic weather station (July mean, about 38°F.) and the smallest arthropod fauna (55 species of spiders, mites, collemboles and insects, according to studies conducted there in 1960) of any locality investigated during the Northern Insect Survey.

To minimize travel to light traps sited at a considerable distance from headquarters, the authors have developed a battery of seven light traps, to keep nightly catohes separate and in good condition for a period of up to one week.

The 100-watt clear, incandescent attractant lights are switched on in succession by a programmed multiple switch based on a seven-day, clock-driven thermograph drum. Seven cams are fitted at intervals equivalent to 24 hours on the drum surface, each of arc length to keep one of the seven roller lever actuator switches closed for the night hours of orie dav per week.

In biochemical studies of resistance of plants to insects knowledge of the nutritional needs of the insect is required. Some methods that have been developed or were adapted from studies with large animals are displayed.

Larvae of the pale western cutworm, Agrotis orthogonia Morr., have been reared on diets prepared from wheat sprouts that have been lyophilized and ground to a fine meal. Diets may be prepared by adding water (two parts) to the meal (one part), packaging in aluminum foil, and storing in the frozen state. By lyophilization, other plant tissues have also been preserved successfully for periods up to one year. The lyophilized tissue provides a uniform dietary medium that can be readily extracted or supplemented in nutritional studies.

One aspect of lepidopterous taxonomy concerns the adult; of at least equal importance is that concerning the larva, the destructive stage of a butterfly or moth. There are many reports in the literature whose value has been reduced, if not nullified, by failure to recognize the larvae of the one or more species involved. Yet there are, to-day, no truly satisfactory family keys to the l'arvae of Lepidoptera, and no keys to the early instars of any one family. There are workable keys to the late instars of only two or three families in this order of insects, and these are far from complete on a world or even a continental basis. An example of the last are those of the Tortricidae (MacKay 1959, 1962), and a plea is extended to our entomological colleagues for correctly associated larval material (much of which can be obtained so easily where it is common or when its biology is being examined) to serve as a basis lor the necessary similar studies in other families.

Parasitic Hymenoptera in all parts of the world exhibit many striking color patterns. These patterns are differentiated into groups according to the locality, size and habits of the insect.

The really small species, i.e. those under 4 mm. long, can hardly be said to have a color pattern at all, and have virtually no regional differentiation anywhere except for a general prevalence of darker coloration in cool climates and paler in warm climates. In tropical regions many of the smaller Hymenoptera are confined to the shady interior of forests. These species often exhibit a disruptive pattern consisting of white spots at the tip of the antennae and the tip of the hind legs or ovipositor. These white spots show strikingly against a dark forest background and serve to draw attention away from the body of the insect itself. Such disruptive patterns are seldom found in temperate fhest species of the smallest sizes but are common in large sized forest-dwelling ichneumonids in all parts of the world.

The organization of the Forest Insect and Disease Survey, a continuing project of the Forest Entomology and Pathology Branch, Department of Forestry,was reviewed. Typical field and laboratlory operations in entomology at regional survey units were shown. The specific subject matter of the display included: a pictorial review of field sampling and insectary procedures; aids to identification of immature insects; a method of aerial survey wing an operational recorder; the life histories of seven species of defoliators; the establishment and spread of winter moth in the Maritimes and satin moth in British Columbia; and finally, machine methods of recording Survey data and procedures used in preparing the current series of national compilation of Forest Lepidoptera of Canada.

In research on fumigants it was found that variations in the proportions and amounts of the normal atmospheric gases (oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide), both during and after exposure to the toxicant, had profound effects on the mortality responses of the insects.

At reduced pressures (vacuum fumigation) the mortality response of the insects is complex (Monro 1959). With certain insects at least four zones of differing susceptibility were found. These are typified by the case of the cadelle, Tenebroides mauritanicus L.

Application of 5 Ibs. toxicant Ileptachlor or aldrin per acre placed in a 4- to 5-inch hand about 1½ inches below the surface of the soil in a ridged seeding drill have controlled infestations of the cabbage root maggot, Hylemya brassicae (Bouche) in cabbage and rutabagas for eight consecutive years on one farm in Prince Edward Island without detectable indications of resktance. The insecticide is so placed in the soil as to be most concentrated against the young root maggot larvae and least concentrated against the following predators and parasites: Coenosia tigrina (Fall.) and Scatophaga stercoraria. (L.), which attack and destroy H. brassicae flies in flight, on the soil surface, or on plant foliage; various species of Carabid beetles which destroy H. brassicae eggs at or near the soil surface, Trybliographa rapae (L.), the larvae of which parasitize and destroy H. brassicae larvae in the plant roots; and Aleochara bilineata (Gyll.), with adults destroying H. brassicae eggs or young larvae near the soil surface, and larvae in the plant roots, and the larvae parasitising H. brassicae puparia and destroying the pupae. Records of field observations, supplemented with data obtained on green-house determinations of the potential reproduction of both predators and host, indicate that any one of these predators could theoretically eliminate the pest population from an area in two to three generations. They do not eliminate or even give apparent economic control of the pest because a) the aerial attackers do not find and destroy adults of the pest before many eggs are deposited in the soil; b) many eggs are hidden in the soil by wind and rain and thus protected from discovery by predators; and c) larval and puparial parasites attack after the pest has injured the crop.

Integrated taxonomy, as understood by the authors, brings together all available knowledge regarding many aspects of a single group of species so as to form a comprehensive picture of the degree and kind of similarities and differences that are to be found within such a proup. Comparative studies of developmental rates, egg physiology, nutrition, embryology, nymphal development, cytology, and minute anatomy are being applied to three species-complexes of crickets: the Gryllus complex of Sorth America, the Teleogryllus complex of eastern Asia and Australia, and the Acheta complex of North Africa and Southwestern Asia.

The work of the Northern Insect survey and of the Northern Biting Fly Program brought to light many interesting questions concerning the habits and ecology of northern insects and it seemed desirable to set up more detailed studies that would be continued for a number of years at a chosen site. Through the courtesy of Dr. G. Hattersley-Smith and of the Defence Research Board such a program has been established at Hazen Camp, on the northern shore of Lake Hazen, Ellesmere Island (81° 49′ N., 71° 18′ W.). D. R. Oliver spent seven weeks at Hazen Camp in 1961, and in 1962 a party of six entomologists, a nematologist and a botanist worked there for 2½ months, almost the whole of the growing season. A smaller group is continuing the work in 1963.

Many of the Arctic species live above timberline in mountainous areas far to the south of the Arctic. We have made collections in such areas a t two places in North America, the Front Range of Colorado and the Banff National Park area in Alberta.

Because of a geological accident, the existence of hundreds of square miles of peneplain at and above timberline (11,500 to 13,000 ft.), Colorado has a very extensive Arctic fauna. However, the main mountain mass in Colorado is far removed from the Arctic and isolated by at least a hundred miles of prairie and forest. The fauna above timberline in colorado is composed of about one third truly Arctic species, one half widespread Cordilleran species, and a small number of endemic species derived from the local fauna in Colorado. Perhaps the most characteristic difference between the insect fauna of the Colorado tundra and that of the Canadian Arctic tundra is the occurrence of a rich fauna of Heteroptera in the Colorado tundra, contrasting with an almost total lack of this group in the Canadian Arctic. Vegetationally the story is similar, the outstanding characteristic of the Colorado tundra being the almost complete lack of Ericaceae.

A spray tower apparatus was developed to emit a constant volume of a solution onto a moving belt of chromatographic paper. A metering and fluid mixing device operating on the principle of continual dilution enables an exponentially varying spectrum of chemical dosages to be sprayed onto the paper strip. The degree of deposit and concentration per unit area on the paper can be altered by nozzle setting and adjustment of the linear speed of the paper strip. The excess spray droplets are removed from the spray chamber by vacuum control.

The heteropteran cephalic endoskeleton is difficult to study in dissections, due to its small size and to the delicacy of many of its membranous components. These difficulties are less of a handicap in dissections of the giant water bug Lethocerus (Belostomatidae), and it is possible to observe, in this insect, details of the salivary pumping apparatus which are difficult or impossible to see in smaller bugs. This apparatus consists of a cup-shaped, two-layered pump, two afferent ducts from the salivary glands, and an efferent duct. The latter runs from the pump to the tip of the hypopharyngeal lobe, and leads into the salivary channel formed by the apposed maxillary stylets in the labium.

A. The effect of 6 annual systemic insecticide treatments on cattle grub infestation was ohserved in a range herd of beef cattle that are isolated during the fly oviposition period by at least 10 miles from areas where adjacent herds could have dropped pupae. The herd is ranged throughout the year on a large and rugged semi-mountainous area, and was increased during the study from 1200 to 1600 animals. Bulls were the only imports made into the herd. Beef and cull females were marketed in late autumn. Treatments were applied in early December during the annual weaning-culling gather of the herd. Treatments in 1957, 1958 and 1959 were with Trolene boluses and each animal was weighed before treatment. Treatments in 1960, 1961 and 1962 were with Ruelene pour-on and weights were estimated. Annually a randomly selected group of calves was left untreated, and grubs were removed from chis and a similar group of treated calves at intervals throughout the grub season. By comparison of the untreated and treated samples, the insecticides produced the following grub reductions: 1957 − 76.8%, 1958 − 89.0%, 1959 − 87.5%, 1960 − 91.7%, 1961 − 91.0% and 1962 − 100.0%. The average numbers of grubs per untreated calf were: 1957 − 30.2, 1958 − 14.5, 1959 − 1.6, 1960 − 2.5, 1961 − 2.7, and 1962 − 0.2. Prior to these treatments gadding had seriously disrupted summer management of the herd but it has not occurred since 1957. The quality of the herd has improved, but because of changes in management and bull quality, the precise effect of the treatments cannot be assessed. (G.B.R.)