On June 2, 1946, I was digging into a compost heap, made of weeds and sods in 1945, and soon came upon a bumble bee's nest. It was in a clean and apparently unused mouse nest, eight inches from the surface of the pile, and entered by a tunnel opening on the northwest corner. There were seven cells, two of them empty.

Machaerilaemus Harrison: Parasitology, VII, p. 389 (1915).

Machaerilaemus Harrison: Harrison, Parasitology, IX, p. 60 (1916)

Hirundoecus Ewing: Proc. U. S. N. M., LXXVII, Art. 20, p. 12 (1931).

Machaerilaemus Harrison: Bedford, 18th Rept. Dir. Vet. Serv. and Anim. Ind. Un. S. Africa, p. 377 (1932).

Hirundoecus Ewing: Bedford, ibid, p. 380.

In the course ot laboratory tests with insecticides, some interesting data were obtained relative to the effect of certain materials upon the over-wintering egg masses of the Eastern tent caterpillar. The data appear to be of sufficient interest to warrant further study and are presented here with that purpose in mind.

A number of egg masses was collected. These were brought into the laboratory, were examined and sorted into lots roughly comparable in numbers. The twigs to be sprayed were segregated. Solutions of the following insecticides were then prepared.

Farmers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan have reported considerable losses of sweet clover from the attacks of a small, dark grey weevil, Sitona cylindricollis Fahr. This insect is widely distributed in central and southern Europe and occurs in Ireland, England, Germany and France. It is not known when it was first introduced to the North American continent. Brown (2) found it abundant in 1927 from Montreal, Que., to a point on the International Boundary near Hemmingford, Que., and the Canadian National Collection contains specimens taken at Hemmingford in 1924 and 1925. Brown also reports that this species, was very abundant in the Ottawa, Ont., district in 1928 and that he took it at Shediac, N. B., in 1939. Hyslop (6) wrote thal S. cylindricollis was first found in the United States in 1933 at Middlebury, Vt., and that it was collected at Storrs, Conn., Amherst, Mass., and on the New York side of Lake Champlain Valley. In 1935 Caesar (3) found it near Lindsay and Newmarket, Ont., where it war causing severe damage to sweet clover. It was first recorded in Manitoba in 1939 when a widespread infestation occurred. In 1940 it completely defoliated a field of sweet clover near Waldeck, Sask., and by 1943 it was abundant at Medicine Hat, Alta. Following this rapid spread through the continent it has shown periodic fluctuations. Severe damage occurred in Manitoba in 1939 and 1940. In 1941 and 1942 it was somewhat reduced, becomming severe again in 1943, 1944 and 1945.

This is the second of this series (1) of notes discussing certain phases of Coleopterology. The present paper again deals with the family Silphidae and is a continuation of the first. In this note two species are discussed as well as the synonymy of some species of Nicrophorus and notes on the family in general.

In the district around Belleville, Ontario, the eggs of Mantis religiosa are deposited during the end of August and throughout September. Some embryonic growth occurs after the eggs are laid and before they enter diapause for the winter. Many of the eggs which have over-wintered, however, fail to continue their development so that the percentage of hatch in the following spring is often greatly reduced. This egg mortality varies from year to year. Records obtainrd between 1940 and 1946 by the dissection and incubation of current oothecae collected at the end of March have indicated mortalities ranging from 15.6 to 86.4 per cent. Such mortality has been generally attributed to low winter temperatures although there was also evidence that eggs could be exposed to a temperature as low as−20°C without injury.

It is generally considered that the smaller the particle size of insecticides applied as solids, the greater is their effectiveness. Smith and Goodhue (1) arrived at his conclusion after a review of the literature. Woodruff and Turner (4) showed that decrease in particle size of DDT wettable powders increased the toxicity of the residues against house flies, and that correspondingly better results were obtained from the residues of smallest particle size in a field test against potato leafhopper and fleabeetles. Steiner et al. (2), who have done much work on the effect of DDT particle size on codling moth control, stated that for this purpose the optimum surface mean particle diameter for DDT lies between 2.5 and 5 microns.

The preceding part under this title was published in 1947 (Can. Ent., 78: 155-159). At this time I am describing four species of the genus Tipula from Arizona and California, the types being preserved in my collection except where indicated to the contrary in the text.

This is the first of a series of papers dealing with the Menoponidae of North America, in which it is hoped that each genus can be discussed and illustrated. The author wishes to acknowedge the kindness of Dr. G. F. Ferris in lending the Stanford Collection, containing V. L. Kellogg's type material, which is being used in these studies; and of Dr. C. F. Mr. Musebeck, for the loan of material from the United States National Museum.

Some geometrid larvae exhibit dimorphism in colour. Several interesting observations of this phenomenon were made during the study of larvae of the species, Semiothisa sexmaculata Pack., Dysmigia loricaria Evers., and Nepytia canosaria Wlk.

In these observations, certain points stand out. Although larvae of S. sexmaculata are always green until they reach the last instar, both brown and green phases occur in that stage. After the last larval moult, a transition period of approximately two days is required for larvae to acquire the colouring of the brown phase. On the other hand, specimens of D. loricaria may pass their entire larval period in either a brown or a green phase (as do the larvae of N. canosaria, descriptions of which may be found in Can. Ent. 75: 186-189) or they may change (as do some larvae of S. sexmaculata) from the green phase to the brown phase in the last larval instar. For Dysmigia larvae to undergo this transformation, approximately three days are required.

During the past several years a number of interesting collections of Hydroptilidae were made in the southern states, particularly in Louisiana, Georgia and Florida. These collections have now been examined and found to contain several new species and new distributional records of this little known family of “micro” caddis flies.

Unless designated otherwise types of new species described herein are in the author's collection at the University of Wyoming.

Seed growers at Grand Forks, B. C., on the suggestion of Henry Wiebe, Manager, Grand Forks Co-operative Growers' Exchange, used DDT as an emergency measure to control cutworms during the month of May, 1946, after supplies of bait ingredients had been exhausted in that district. The species involved were determined by K. M. King as Euxoa ochrogaster (Gn). with a few E. tessellata (Harr.) , and other related species.

For a long time, the order Orthoptera was a loosely interpreted group which has now been restricted to more homogeneous forms. The well known cockroaches which formed the family Blattidae are now considered as a séparate order under the name of Blattaria.

The cockroaches are so well known that there is no need for a detailed description of their morphology. They are easily separated from the other insects by their soft bodies, by their oval and flattened form; the antennae are often longer than the body and are composed of many short segments; the head when at rest, is bent under and almost concealed by the pronotum, so that the mouth projects back to the base of the front legs.

The meteorological program of the Sault Ste. Marie Forest Insect Laborarory was inauguraced during 1946, with the establishment of stations at Sault Ste. Marie and Black Sturgeon Lake, for the study of the spruce budworm,Choristoneura fumiferana (Clem.) (vide Freeman, 1947) as its first subject. During 1946 and 1947, joint field and laboratory studies have been concerned primarily with the effects of evaporation, temperature, light and air currents upon the behaviour and activity of the insect. Recently, the work has been extended to include studies of the stages which can be dispersed by air currents and studies of certain aspects of the microclimates of the habitat.

The structure of the proventriculus of a ground beetle of the genus Chlaenius is described. It is similar to the proventriculi of ground bettles studied by other authors, in that its sclerotized intima is organized in the form of four longitudinal folds alternating with four longitudinal ridges.

In 1875 (Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. N. Y. XI, 108) Grote erecied the new genus Agrotiphila, based on a male specimen collected by Theo. Mead in Colorado and which he had determined as montana Morr. (1875, Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. N. Y. XI, 95). His characterization of the genus is as follows: “All the tibiae are spinose. The shape of the abdomen and habitus is as in Anarta. The eyes are naked, encroached upon by the caputal tegument, ovate, narrowed, fringed with lashes, the thorax is thickly and coarsely haired, without tufts. The maxillae are stout. The antennae are simple, thickly ciliate beneath in the male.” Under the specific heading he notes that “my specimen, numbered 28, agrees very well with Mr. Morrison's description, except that the whitish orbicular is open superiorly, somewhat trianqulate, and that the discall marks beneath and on the hind wings above are illegible.” (The italics are mine).

On July 30, 1947, what appeared to be the nuptial flight of the above species occurred in the home of a resident of Windsor, Ontario. Hundreds of males and females appeared suddenly from the base of the toilet in the bathroom on the ground floor of the cottage and flew to the open screened window. Dr. William S. Creighton, who identified the species, has remarked that the choice of such a nesting site was certainly unusual for an ant which normally nests outdoors.

On October 8, I was collecting insects from under stones by a little pond on the Commonage road near Vernon. B. C. Small, shiny, black carabids were common, and several were picked up with tweezers and dropped into a vial of alcohol. Though the day was cold and windy, a smell of acetic acid was noticed and traced to the tweezers. The next carabid taken I incautiously held close to my nose: the odor it emitted choked me and made my eyes smart for a second. Other specimens were tested with due caution, and nearly all produced a puff or spray of acid. The smell was as pungent as ever I have experienced when disturbing a colony of red ants.

The literature dealing with the methods by which the larvae and adults of tachinid parasites escape from sawfly cocoons indicates in certain cases that only circumstantial evidence is available concerning the formation of the exit hole in nature. Among these parasites a large number leave their hosts while the sawflies are in the larval stages. The larvae make their escape as mature maggots through a hole gnawed in the soft host integument. A few species, however, continue to develop within the host after the host cocoon has been formed. Some of these cut through the cocoon as mature larvae and later pupate in a suitable medium, while others form their puparial cases within the host cocoons, the adults later escaping from both the puparial cases and from the sawfly cocoons. The only escape mcchanism possessed by an adult tachinid fly consists ot the alternate expansion and contraction of the ptilinum against the surrounding wall. Since the cocoon is usually quite tough and leathery it is essential that some provision be made in advance to enable the adult to escape. This seemed to occur with adults of Phorocera hamata A. and W. which emerge from their puparia within the host cocoon and then escape from the cocoon proper, leaving a characteristic round cap which appears to have been cut (Fig. 1, C). The method of formation of this cap has been the subject of discussion by several authors.