The life history of the army cutworm moth (Chorizagrotis auxiliaris Grote), the larvae of which over-winter in the soil and mature early in the spring, is characterized by a spring flight in June, their almost complete disappearance during the early part of July and re-appearance during the latter part of August. The period during which they disappear is termed by other workers as an aestivation.

Certain of the nesting habits of the wasp, Sphex xanthopterus (Cam.), have been observed at and near Los Angeles, California. The insect nests for the most part in the moist or wet, sandy soil of the river bed. It digs a short tunnel and enlarges it into a cell at the end. Into this is stored a stung lepidopterous larva, often the young of the moth, Zale lunata (Drury) and its varieties, to the side of which is fastened the egg of the wasp. The entrance to the tunnel and nest is then closed and in due time, if all goes well the egg hatches, the larva devours the prey, spins its cocoon, pupates, and later emerges an adult wasp. A more detailed account of some of the facts in its nesting habits and life history is given below.

Very common in the orchards of the Central Experimental Farm at Ottawa, Ont. Branches of many varieties of apple trees were found infested throughout the summer. In the tunnels frequently were observed specimens of Salpingus virescens Lec. (det. W. J. Brown).

During the summer of 1930 it was observed that large numbers of eggs of the Oriental fruit moth (Laspeyresia molesta Busck.) were being destroyed by some enemy which pierced the shell and sucked out the contents. The presence of many chrysopid larvae on the trees indicated that these might be responsible for the destruction of the eggs.

In recent years there has been a growing tendency on the part of several eastern writers to place in synonymy races of our North American butterflies from widely separated localities. The attempt at simplifying our crowded check list is to be commended, but we do not see the advantage gained where such simplification is at the expense of the geographical race-concept.

Dr. H. T. Fernald (4) gives as synonyms of Sphex aberti (Hald) the names Ammophila yarrowi Cress. and A. moontezuma Cam. This species was one of the first of our wasps to which has been ascribed the rernarkable habit of using a pebble or other suitable object as a tool. The observation was made by Dr. S. W. Williston (9) in 1892 on specimens determined as A. yarrowi. He considered the habit so unusual that he refrained publication for a time thinking the act might be doubted. It is now an accepted fact, though somewhat variously interpreted, and has been witnessed by a number of careful and accurate observers in this and other species.

We shall return later to the pessimism expressed in the last sentence of that quotation from Maeterlink, a pessimism which seems to have caught the popular fancy, but let us first consider some of the rather startling things that make recently been discovered about the biology of that group of animals that make up three-fourths of the animal kingdom even though they are usually not represented in zoological gardens, are the Cinderellas of most zoological museums, and are a part of the great unknown to most university professors of zoology.

When the European pine shoot moth was first found in North America in 1914, considerable interest was aroused by the discovery and no less fear regarding the potentiality of the insect as a menace to native forests and pine plantations. As the years went by and the pest appeared to be confined mostly to nursery stock and ornamentals, much of the original interest waned only to be rather suddenly revived by recent reports of widespread damage to certain pine plantations both in Canada and the United States.

That, my friends, completes the serious part of what I came all the way from New York to say. Our ignorance concerning insects does not depress me because I feel certain that we shall learn. The insect menace does not frighten me because I believe that we can overcome it if we stop our calamity howling and get dorvn to constructive fundamental rvork. In what follows I invite you to join with me in some of the excursions of a museum man who has had the curious Museum experience of having had charge for more than twenty years of a large taxonomic collection without ever describing a new species or changing the name of an old one.

In all the quantitative studies of the forest floor, sod, and soil faunas, the Acarina or mites have been grouped under one head as useful in reducing dead leaves and twigs to crude mineral matter, in spite of the fact that it is well known that some of the floor Acarina are eaters of mildews and moulds (minute fungi), some are predaceous, and some feed on living plant tissue.

Choosing the title of a talk is often a difficult task.

Being naturally optimistic, I wanted to speak concerning some recent advances in our knowledge of insects. But coming to Canada with a talk bearing such a title would seem like carrying coals to Newcastle, since many of the recent American advances in entomological knowledge have been made on this side of the line, and, in the English-speaking world as a whole, most of the advances have been made under the British flag. Furthermore, being naturally a timid soul, I feared discrimination in the selection of examples.

In a recent number of the “Canadian Entomologist” (LXII, 75, 1930) the writer reported on a collection of Heteroptera made on the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence during the summer of 1929, by Mr. W. J. Brown. From collections made in the same region during 1930, fifteen additional species were obtained. These additions are given below following which is a complete list of Homoptera obtained during the two summers, 1929 and 1930. All localities cited are within the Province of Quebec.

Oeneis semplei Holl. As far as can be judged by a study of a figure of the underside of the male type (Butt. Book, Pl. LXIIi, fig. 3) this is the species referred to by Benjamin and myself as melissa Fabr. (Can. Ent. 1925, Vol. LVII, p. 58). In the series of four males and four females from the east coast of Labrador in the Canadian National Collection it is true that none show quite as definite a subapical ocellus as figured by Holland for the female of semplei but in two instances indications of this ocellus are clearly visible on the underside; in other respects the maculation appears to be identical. A slide of the genitalia should settle the question.

The lined grasshopper, Schistocerca lineata Scud., is the only one of the genus met with in the Prairie Provinces, although it has as relations, several famous locusts of the Old World and South America including the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria Forst., and S. paranensis Burm. Indeed there is something in the flight and other actions of this insect which separates it from its associates as an aristocrat and most of us seeing it for the first time would readily proclaim “This is a locust”. Despite its aristocratic ancestry, however, the lined grasshopper is little better than a hermit, and in Canada it is restricted in distribution to the southern slopes of a few hot coulies in Alberta.

It is generally admitted that the primitive position of the Arthropod mouth and its associated appendages is ventral, this position being evident in the early embryonic stages of all groups and retained in the adult stages of many forms, particularly among the Crustacea. It is by no means to be inferred from this, however, that this ventral position of the mouth is the primitive one in the Insecta as a class. Great variability exists among insects in the postembryonic stages in respect of this feature. The mouth and jaws are usually directed more or less forward and downward but vary from a wholly anterior position to a definitely ventral one, or they may even be directed posteriorly.

In view of the general uncertainty in regard to the species of Perimegatoma Horn, the following notes may assist in the determination of the species.

Moderately slender, parallel, black, the apices of the last two ventral segments narrowly nebulouslly paler; legs pale testaceous; surface shining, the abdomen rather less so, pubescence somewhat obscure in color.

Head with a few coarse punctures mostly postero-laterally, with much finer ones sparsely dispersed. Eyes not quite attaining the basal nrargin of the head. Antennae of the usual type, outer joints decreasing in length but all perceptibly longer than wide.

Rather slender bodied. Head shining, punctate, punctures unevenly distributed, widely separated on clypeus; more dense on tumid portion of frons below antennae, in malar space and between ocelli and antennae; ocellocular space polished, impunctate; cheeks and temples obscurely punctate. Clypeus poorly defined at base, apically broadly rounded, slightly angulate and elevated at middle of free edge.

At the time of writing my “Synonymic Notes on Canadian Eupithecias” (1929, “Canadian Entomologist”, lxi, 49) I omitted, through ignorance of the types, any reference to the following two species. Recently through the kindness of Mr. S. Cassino, in whose collection the types are, I have been permitted to study them and make slides of the genitalia with the following results.”