In recent years considerable work has been devoted to the Bacillus species which are pathogenic for insects. Some of these produce a proteinaceous parasporal body or crystal (8) which is toxic to a large number of insect species (11, 13). The effect of a paralytic toxin derived from cultures of Bacillus thuringiensis var. sotto on the silkworm (Bombyx mori L.) has been studied in some detail (2, 3, 4). A similar toxin has been extracted from Bacillus thuringiensis var. alesti by Fitz-James et al. (5), from B. thuringiensis var. thuringiensis by Hannay and Fitz-James (personal communication), and Bacillus entomocidus var. entomocidus Heimpel and Angus (12, also unpublished results).

The “spinach leaf miner” – referred to in North American literature consistently as Pegomyia hyoscymi (Panzer) or, in early years, as P. vicina Lintner and in European literature under a variety of names (hyoscyami, atriplicis Goureau, chenopodii Rondani, betae Curtis, spinaciae Holmgren, etc.) – is known to represent a complex in Europe of at least two species, with different morphology and host preferences. The present paper records the presence of these two species in North America. points out the recognition characters of the Nearctic forms, and summarizes the known ecological and outbreak data for the species in Canada

In July, 1956, studies on mortality factors affecting abundance of immature stages of the eye-spotted bud moth, Spilonota ocellana (D. & S.), and the pistol casebearer, Coleophora serratella (L.), on apple were initiated in permanent orchard plots at Rougemont, Que. The object was to prepare life tables (Morris and Miller, 1954) for successive generations of each species through the rise and fall of a local epidemic. In preparing such tables, sound sampling techniques are necessary (Morris, 1955). This is a report on variation in samples, and in some mortality factors, of immature stages of the two species for the years 1956 to 1959, and on sampling recommendations.

Gall midges have been reported from cones of western red cedar, Thuja plicata Donn., but none have been described. Keen (1958) reported the occurrence in Washington and Oregon of a cone midge which was credited with destroying 90 per cent of the seed. In 1940 Prebble and Graham reported a midge in cones of western red cedar at Cowichan Lake, B.C. These reports almost certainly refer to the midge described here. The only other species taken from red cedar cones was Lestodiplosis taxiconis Foote, but it occurred in verysmall numbers; previously it has been reported only from cones of Douglas fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco (Foote, 1956).

In June of 1955 and 1956 a chrysomelid beetle was observed feeding on Duchess and Fameuse apple trees, wild grape, Vitis vulpina L., and red osier, Cornus stolonifera Michx., in an apple orchard at St. Jacques, Laprairie County, Que. The infestation was limited to approximately 100 apple trees in this orchard and the insect was not observed in other apple-growing districts of southwestern Quebec. Specimens of the pest were identified as of Rhabdopterus praetextus (Say) by Mr. W. J. Brown, Entomology Division, Ottawa. Infestations by this pest on apple in the province of Quebec have only once before been reported, by C. E. Petch in 1924 (Petch, 1925).

Old grassland in Nova Scotia frequently harbours comparatively high populations of wireworms. One such field near Hall's Harbour, Kings County, was found to be mainly infested with the wheat wireworm, Agriotes mancus (Say), with Hypolithus abbreviatus (Say), Dalopius pallidus Brown, and Ctenicera cylindriformis (Herbst) forming three, one, and 0.5 per cent of the total population respectively. During 1953-58, for various reasons, a total of 1,216 samples of soil each six by six by eight inches deep with adhering sod were taken from this field. The samples were sifted through ¼-inch mesh screen and the number of wireworms found in each was recorded. The number taken from an area flooded by melted snow and rain for at least three weeks each spring was compared with the number from the surrounding unflooded area. It was found that the average number per square foot in the flooded area was 11.8 and that in the unflooded was 9.2; the difference is significant at the one per cent level of probability. Rather scant records showed that carabid larvae were less numerous in the flooded area and it may be possible that a reduced number of these predators permits a greater survival of wireworms.

Since 1946, a major project at the Vineland Station laboratory has been one on the indirect effects of pesticides on populations of injurious arthropods in peach orchards of the Niagara Peninsula. Plant-feeding mites have been the most readily affected. This paper describes the gross changes in mite populations produced by the pesticides and considers their economic importance and the possibility of reducing their injurious effects. The controversial problem of the means whereby some pesticides, particularly DDT, promote mite increase is still under study and will be treated in later papers.

Three specimens of a species of leafhopper new to the Niagara Peninsula were collected during 1956 along the wooded bank of Niagara River below Queenston, Ontario; they were identified by Mrs. C. J. Williams, Entomology Division, Ottawa, as Orientus ishidae (Mat.) and are in the Canadian National Collection. According to Oman (1949), this is an introduced Japanese species which lives on willow and is widely distributed. Presumably Oman's statement is based on collections made in the United States as Mrs. Williams stated (in litt.) that this was the first record from Canada.

This paper is one in a series on techniques used in estimating populations of various stages of the larch sawfly (Ives, 1955b; Ives and Prentice, 1958). This insect spends most of the year in cocoons in the soil beneath the host tree. The objective of accurate estimation of the cocoon population is to provide a basis for the evaluation of mortality factors affecting this stage. Two methods of estimation are considered in this paper. One is based on soil sampling (Part I) and the other on the number of cocoons formed in traps for falling larvae (Part 11).

Records on Megachile centuncularis (Linn.) were obtained in connection with research on pollination of alfalfa in Wisconsin. At no time abundant, specimens were collected while tripping alfalfa flowers in Bayfield, Brown and Dane Counties. One bee tripped 95 per cent of the alfalfa flowers visitedand the earliest record was June 9th in Dane Co. Other flower records included fireweed, Epilobium angustifoliurn L., and goldenrod, Solidago sp. In Ontario, Pengelly (1953) found a female on sow thistle at Guelph, and observed a few specimens on alfalfa at Cayuga; alfalfa flowers were visited at the rate of 26-28 per minute and tripping efficiency was 99-100 per cent. Mitchell (1935) listed flower records that indicated a generalized habit, but the bee showed preference for composites

In the description of the Byron Bog (Judd, 1957a) it was pointed out that the pitcher-plant, Sarracenia purpurea L., is to be found in the Chamaedaphnetum calyculatae association in the bog. The period of blooming of this plant in 1956 was from June 13 to June 22(Judd, 1958). In that year rearings were made of larvae of the moth Exyra rolandiana on the flowers and leaves of the plant (Judd, 1957b). Also in 1956 a study of the inquilines and victimsto be found in the leaves of the plant was undertaken, based upon a series of daily collections of insects and other arthropods from the leaves. The present paper is a report on this project.

Frons and scape rosy pink; vertex yellowish buff; labial palpus on outer surface rosy pink, on inner surface yellowish buff; maxillary palpus yellowish buff; antenna of male very narrowly bipectinate, light buff; thorax and abdomen above rosy pink with some buff scales; body beneath whitish buff; legs light yellowish buff. Forewing above light yellowish buff; costa broadly pink in basal third; sparse fuscous dusting in basal angle; traces of a fuscous discocellular bar; a fuscous postmedial line, concave outward opposite cell, convex and wavy from M2, to Cu2, then retracted nearly to base of Cu2, then wavy and oblique inward to inner margin; entire space beyond postmedial line deep rosy pink except for a narrow yellow crescent on outer margin in front of tornus; fringe yellow. Hind wing above yellowish buff; a small fuscous sub-basal patch; a fuscous postmedial line, excurved to Cu1, then broken, irregular and obsolescent; space beyond postmedial line rosy pink from apex to Cu1. Markings of under surface like those of upper surface, but pink areas replaced by violaceous grey. Expanse 19 mm.

The first North American collection of the European pine sawfly, Neodiprion sertifer (Geoff.), was made in Somerset County, New Jersey, in 1925 (Hamilton, 1943). It was first recorded in Canada near Windsor, Ontario, in 1939 (Raizenne, 1957), and by 1946 it had spread as far east as London (Watson, 1946). This serious pest of pines has continued to spread, and is now found throughout most of southwestern Ontario (Fig. 1) (Sippell and MacDonald, 1958). This is the only infestation of this species in Canada.

An abnormal adult male of Lamachus sp., with a single eye, was reared in the summer of 1939 at Belleville, Ont., from a second-generation cocoon of the spruce sawfly, Diprion polytomum (Htg.), collected at Milicin, Czechoslovakia, in September, 1938. The eye (Figs. 1 and 2) occupies the normal position on either side of the head but is continuous over the vertex and extends anteriorly to the antenna1 sutures. The bases of the antennae are closer together than, and arise from the head in a position slightly ventral to, normal. There are no ocelli present. The head is about three-quarters the length and five-eighths the width of that of an average normal specimen, and gives the appearance of being globular in shape. The other appendages of the head appear normai in shape and position.

Several species of syrphids are common predators on the balsam woolly aphid, Adelges aiceae (Ratz.). in eastern Canada. Larvae are found on infested trees throughout the summer in a certain sequence of species. Occasionally adult syrphids are collected while ovipositing.

Attempts have been made to rear the larvae in the laboratory on small pieces of infested bark but the difficulty of keeping the bark moist and preventing the growth of mould and of transferring the larvae to fresh bark made this method unsatisfactory. The prey died before rearing was complete. Rearing the larvae in the field appeared to be the solution to this problem and a suitable cage was designed which was simple to make, install, and examine (Fig. 1).

The screw worm, Callitroga hominivorax (Coquerel), can be sterilized by irradiation in such a way that the viability and sexual behaviour of the male are not seriously affected by the treatment. If such flies are released into a wild population, many of the males will mate with the native females which, since they mate only once, will become permanently infertile. Thus in proportion to the numbers released the numbers of fertile egg-masses produced by the population will be reduced; and if the numbers released are sufficient the population, failing rapid and extensive relief from a density-dependent controlling factor, could be eradicated in a few generations. This eradication has in fact been achieved on the island of Curacao; and the prognosis for the much larger undertaking now in progress in Florida is very favourable (see Lindquist and Knipling, 1957, for discussion and references).

The two species described herein bring the total number of known species of New World Cyrtinini to 17. Since the descriptions are scattered and no key to these species Gas previously available, a brief key to the genera and species in the tribe is presented, being based in part on the descriptions only. I examined the species of Haldeman and Fisher, but not those described by Pascoe, Gahan, Hope, Bates, and Cameron. References to the original descriptions are given by Leng (1920, p. 281) and Blackwelder (1946, pp. 619, 620, and 1957). In Blackwelder's 1946 work the date given for the description of Sciocyrtinus Fisher on page 620 should read 1935 instead of 1934. I wish to thank Mr. W. S. Fisher, Washington, D.C., for checking the key and examining specimens of the new species.

Because black flies are active for only a few months each year in the vicinity of this laboratory, methods for collecting, extracting, sterilizing, and storing eggs were devised to facilitate a year around program of research. These methods were developed partly from existing entomological and limnological techniques.

In a survey of infestation by the European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilatis (Hbn.), in Essex County, Ontario, in 1957, officers of the Chatham laboratory found several hymenopterous pupae associated with dead borers. Adults emerged in the laboratory and were identified by Mr. G. S. Walley, Entomology Division, Ottawa, as of Horogenes punctorius (Roman), an imported parasite of the borer. This is the first record of its establishment in Canada.

The following new species are described to make names available for publications by other entomologists.

Apanteles salalicus n.sp.

This keys to couplet 72 or 74 in Muesebeck's revision (Proc. U.S. Natl. Mus. 58: 483-576, 1921.) but differs from both species there in its solitary habits, strongly exserted ovipositor sheaths, large and acutely pointed hypopygium, elevated and very coarsely sculptured abdominal tergites, and yellow hind coxae.