In 1948, the Mississagi region of northern Ontario was swept by a niajor conflagration that began on May 25 and which, because of dry weather conditions, was not brought under control until July 23. When the fire had been extinguished, it was found to have spread over 57 townships, or 281,388 acres in all. Officers of the Ontario Department of Lands and Forests estimated that approximately 75 per cent of the fire area bore mature stands of eastern white pine (Pinus strobus L.), red pine (P. resinosa Ait.) and jack pine (P. banksiana Lamb.). Salvage operations began immediately in an effort to save this vast amount of valuable timber.

The tribe Xyloterini is widely distributed in the Holarctic realm. It is comprised of three rather small but well known genera. The largest of these, Trypodendron Stephens, consists of about a dozen species and occurs throughout the Holarctic realm; five of these species occur in North America. Dendrotrypum Schedl contains six species that are known only from eastern Asia. Xyloterinus Swaine contains one species from eastern North America.

Biologists in general, and entomologists in particular, have published many data of the ‘percentage mortality’ type. It appears to be a natural tendency in the ecological study of an insect to attempt to measure the degree of mortality caused bv difierent factors. Early publications listed many figures on ‘percentage age parasitism’ because it was one of the easiest mortalities to measure. More recently, as betrcr techniques were developed for population sampling and mortality assessment, it has been possible to derive mortality data for other factors. Notable progress has even been made with such difficult problems as measuring the mortality caused by avian, mammalian, and invertebrate predators. Despite these developments, life tables generally show some residual mortality that cannot be attributed to a specific factor. Frequent population measurement can establish the exact time of such mortality, however, while concomitant work on behaviour, physical ecology, and inherent factors can provide very useful clues as to what intrinsic or extrinsic factors it may be related. Fairly complete life tables are already available for natural populations of a few species, and will no doubt become available for additional species from time to time.

In 1951 to 1955 Mr. N. H. Anderson of the Belleville laboratory, and Mr. C. V. G. Morgan, Entomology Laboratory, Summerland, B.C., collected plant material in southern British Columbia to investigate the distribution there of phytoseiid mites. Many phytoseiids in this material were apparently undescribed, and in 1956 the author collected further specimens. Nine undescribed forms were found; descriptions of these are given below, with a key for identifying the adult females of all phytoseiid species known to occur in British Columbia. The new species all are of the genus Typhlodromus Scheuten, 1957, as defined by Chant (in preparation). The mites were cleared in chloral hydrate or lactic acid and mointed in Berlese's fluid; but some were mounted directly in De Faure's fluid. The measurements given are of the greatest lengths and widths of the dorsal and ventri-anal shields, and whenever possible are the means for 10 specimens. The setal terminology of Garman (1948) and Nesbitt (1951) is followed. All specimens referred to were collected in British Columbia unless otherwise stated.

Nutritional studies (House, 1954, a-d; House and Barlow, 1956) with the sarcophagid Pseudosarcophaga affinis (Fall.) have been in progress for a number of years at the Belleville laboratory. Recently a new technique was developed for the care of large numbers of small lots of P. affinis. This makes use of a convenient holder for larval rearing tubes; a cage assembly for rearing pupae and flies; and a rack to hold a large number of cages, each easily accessible and uniformly illuminated, in a minimum of space. When this equipment is used, the treatment of the insects is more uniform and less time-consuming than with the equipment previously used. The new technique and equipment are described in this paper.

An earlier report on summit ant swarms (Chapman, 1954b) presented data and observations based on first-hand studies and results from 256 questionnaires returned, in 1952, from observers at mountain-top fire lookout stations in the western U.S.A. (Fig. 1). In 1953, questionnaires were again sent to fire lookout observers, including some in western Canada, together with specimen boxes for samples from summit ant swarms. A total of 318 of these forms were returned, of which 235 were accompanied by samples of ants. This is a final report on the material supplied by lookout observers, together with a few additional comments on the phenomenon.

Early in the present century the balsam woolly aphid, Adelges piceae (Ratz.), was introduced accidentally into North America. The history of its development and spread in the United States and Canada has been described by Balch (1952). At the present time, the adelgid occurs in eastern Canada over approximately the southern half of New Brunswick with an extension of the range in the extreme northeastern part of the Province, throughout Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and in some areas of the southwestern and southeastern parts of Newfoundland.

Animals are capable of multiplying their numbers by some form of reproduction; but they are hindered by natural means from multiplying to the point of committing collective suicide by exhausting the resources of this planet. Animals are also subject to having their numbers decreased; but, likewise, their decrease to extinction is hindered by natural means. The question of these natural means of limiting increase and decrease of numbers is a fundamental problem of Ecology: the problem of the mechanism of natural control of populations. The solution of this problem has, of course, great practical interest because man suffers from some animals being too few (beneficial species) and others too numerous (pests).

The investigation reported in this series was carried out with the object of determining the bark-beetle complex associated with slash accumulated under different cutting methods and the hiolosies, distribution, and abundance of the more important bark-beetle parasites and predators throughout the experimental area. This area is in the region termed by Halliday (1937), the B19 or foot-hills section of the Boreal Forest. The experimental area contained a pure stand of even-aged (80 years) lodgepole pine, Pinus contorta Dougl., var. latifolia Engelm., and is located near Strachan, approximately 20 miles southwest of Rocky Mountain House, Alberta.

In 1950 work was started in New Brunswick to obtain information on the biology, control, and damage caused by the arborvitae leaf miners. At that time all damage was attributed to the arborvitae leaf miner, Argyresthia thiella (Pack.). After the first season's work four species were recognized. Adults submitted to the Systematic Unit, Entomology Division, Ottawa, were identified as Argyresthia thuiella (Pack.), A. freyella Wlshm., Recurvaria thujaella Kft., and a new species of Argyresthia later described by Brower (1) as aureoargentella. With the exception of A. thuiella, insufficient material was available for complete morphological studies, so work was based on finding suitable characters to separate the species in the late larval, pupal, and adult stages.

Tick paralysis continues to be one of the most baffling and fascinating tickborne diseases in Canada. It was first reported in this country by Todd in 1912. Since then about 250 human cases, including 28 deaths, have been recorded from British Columbia. Outbreaks in cattle have affected up to 400 animals at a time, with losses in a herd as high as 65 head. Although the disease is most common in the Pacific northwest, where it is caused by the Rocky Mountain wood tick, Dermacentor andersoni Stiles, it has lately been reported as far south as Florida and has been produced by Dermacentor variabilis Say, Amblyomma maculatum Koch, and A. americanum (L.) (Gregson, 1953). The symptoms include a gradual ascending symmetrical flaccid paralysis. Apparently only man, sheep, cattle, dogs, and buffalo (one known instance) are susceptible, but even these may not necessarily be paralysed.

The clover, or brown, mite, Bryobia praetiosa Koch, was described in 1836 from specimens collected an shrubbery in Germany. The systematics of the species is complex and confusing. By 1838, Koch had described four species in the genus Bryobia but he preserved no type specimens and his descriptions do not agree with his illustrations (7, 12). Subsequent workers either placed Koch's species in synonomy nor described new species. Two species, speciosa Koch and ribis Thomas, have created the most controversv. B. speciosa was accepted as valid by Koch, Berlese, Canestrini and Fanzago, ind Oudemans, but rejected by von Hanstein and Trägårdh (2, 12). The gooseberry mite, B. ribis, was recognized as a valid species by Thomas and von Hanstein but Oudemans and Trägårdh placed it in synonomy with B. praetiosa (12). Further confusion was caused by the descriptions of additional new species of Bryobia and by descriptions of immature stages of B. praetiosa (8). The following taxonomic characters used by early acarologists in describing species of Bryobia have since been considered too variable for distinguishing species: number of femoral and tarsal hairs on the foreleg, body size, concavity of dorsum, and size and shape of cephalothoracic plate (7, 8, 12). Consequently, taxonomists have been at a loss to interpret Koch's original descriptions and subsequent redescriptions became inevitable. Because of the lack of morphological distinctions the modern trend has been to group all previously proposed species into one valid species (7, 8). As a result, 20 synonyms are now recognized for B. praetiosa (8).

This paper introduces new names and synonymies to North American workers and corrects a few errors in the literature involving North American species of Scolytidae. A few distributional records are included to support some of the proposed synonymies. For convenience of reference the names of the species involved are arranged alphabetically.

During the course of control investigations on the black-headed budworm, Acleris variana (Fern.), a preliminary difficulty occurred in the mass rearing of budworm larvae under laboratory conditions. In the forest the eggs are laid on the needles of hemlock and balsam fir trees in late summer. The young larvae emerge the following spring and migrate to the growing buds where they commence active feeding. Under laboratory conditions, however, cut hemlock twigs shed their needles in a very few days and thus the budworm eggs are shed with the needles and exposed to desiccation.

On the warm morning of May 27, 1956 at the Trinity Valley field station near Lumby, B.C., some laundry hanging out to dry attracted large numbers of a strange Cerambycid-like beetle. Closer examination showed this insect to be Priacma serrata (Lec.) of the family Cupesidae (Fig. 1), an interesting and infrequently collected species.

The family Cupesidae seems to have no economic importance, having only two genera and five species in North America that have been described (Blatchley, 1910). The larvae are reported to live in rotten wood; dissection of some adults collected at this time produced an entirely empty and deflated gut. The females and larvae of the closely related Micromalthus debilis Lec. are found in rotting wood in North America and were reported from decaying mine timbers far under ground in Johannesburg.

The broad study of factors responsible for poor seed production by red pines (Pinus resinosae Ait.) in central and southern Ontario has been concerned with the seed production capacity and efficiency of sound cones (1) and the description, life history, behaviour, and natural control of cone-inhabiting insects (2, 3, 4). The present contribution, which concludes the four-part series on red pine cone insects, deals with the time and duration of cone attack by the various insect species and the variability in the intensity of cone damage from year to year and from one locality to another. As an aid to the field diagnosis of the cause of cone damage, keys based on the appearance of mature larvae and injured cones are included.

This paper describes the seasonal history and habits of the less important red pine cone insects, and presents notes on the predators, scavengers, and other insects that commonly inhabit infested cones. During 1950-1954, Eucosma monitorana Hein., Laspeyresia toreuta Groté, and Rubsaamenia sp. were rarely as abundant as the cone beetle, Conophthorus resinosae Hopk., (10) or Dioryctria spp. (11), although they contributed significantly to seed loss. Owing to the scarcity of these insects, some of the life history details remain incomplete.

In July, 1956, a pupa of the imported cabbageworm, Pieris rapae (L.), was found attached to the undersurface of a corn leaf in experimental plots at St. Jean. After the pupa had been incubated at 75°F. for six months, a dipterous parasitic larva emerged and pupated immediately; a tachinid fly emerged two weeks later. The parasite was identified by Mr. J. G. T. Chillcott, Entomology Division, Ottawa, as Phryxe vulgaris (Fall.). P. vulgaris has been reported as a parasite of Pieris rapae, P. brassicae (L.), P. napi (L.), and Vanessa urticae (L.) from many central and northern European countries (Thompson, 1946, pp. 467-469; 1947, p. 598). Aldrich and Webber (1924), Chittenden (1926), and Schaffner and Griswold (1934) reported this parasite from P. rapae in the United States. P. vulgaris has been reported from Canada only on larvae of the armyworm, Pseudaletia unipuncta (Haw.), in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick (Gibson, 1915, p. 14).

Genetically-marked virgin queen honey bees were located at various distances up to 14.0 miles from an apiary stocked with genetically-marked drones in an area containing only these experimental bees.

Some matings occurred across distances up to 10.1 miles. With increasing distances from the drone source a decreasing percentage of queens mated successfully. Queens located at the drone source, 3.8 and 6.1 miles distant, began laying at approximately the same time. Those located 8.0 miles distant began laying later and those at 10.1 miles later still.

Representatives of the families Braconidae and Pteromalidae were present in association with broods of Ips pini Say and Ips perroti Sw. The identifications and information on distribution and hosts were kindly supplied by O. Peck and W. R. M. Mason of the Systematic Entomology Unit in Ottawa. Additional information on hosts and distribution were obtained from Hymenoptera of America by Muesebeck, Krombein, Towns, et al. (1951).