This contribution is the eighth in a series of papers on sampling techniques used in population studies of the larch sawfly (Ives, 1955; Ives and Prentice, 1958; Buckner, 1959; Ives, 1959; Ives and Prentice, 1959; Ives and Turnock, 1959; and Turnock, 1960). Although the greatest proportionate mortality usually occurs in the cocoon stage of this insect, the largest amount of mortality in terms of absolute numbers occurs between oviposition and the completion of larval feeding. This paper presents a method for estimating seasonal increments to the egg and larval populations and alternative methods for estimating mortality during these stages. Examples are also provided of the integration of these methods with previously developed techniques for estimating egg populations and foliage weight.

During my recent studies on the lepidopterous miners in the needles of various conifers, I have found several undescribed species. One of them occurs near Ottawa, Ontario, and in Nova Scotia. It was also found in Quebec by Dr. J. M. McLeod and Mr. J. A. R. Ducharme, Forest Research Laboratory, Sillery, Quebec. I describe this species here, to enable those officers to report on the immature stages and life history in a companion paper that follows.

The Douglas-fir cone midge (Contarinia oregonensis Foote) causes serious losses to Douglas-fir seed. In many areas it is considered the most damaging Douglas-fir seed insect (Johnson, 1958). Although its importance only recently has been recognized, its biology has alreadv been studied in both the United States (Johnson and Heilkkenen, 1958; Johnson and Winjum, 1960) and Canada (Hedlin, 1959, 1961). The overwintering habits of the larvae, however, have yet to be described. The purpose of this paper is to report upon their distribution in the forest litter over winter. The information provided may be of immediate practical use in developing cultural or chemical control and in sampling the larval population.

The European pine shoot moth (Rhyacionia buoliana (Schiff.)) attacks pine species grown in Michigan for forestry, Christmas tree, and ornamental purposes. Much research has been carried out on life history and direct insecticide control, (Butcher and Haynes 1960; Donley 1960) in efforts to minimize injury. As a result of these studies, practical control methods have been developed for intensively managed stands such as Christmas trees and nursery stock. While the need for a better understanding of shoot moth biology and ecology is generally accepted, the inability of foresters and entomologists to obtain satisfactory shoot moth control with low gallonage insecticide applications under forestry conditions has given impetus to studies on host preference and the influence of the host on shoot moth success and development. Such information, when available, might conceivably suggest planting and management steps that foresters could take in order to minimize attack and injury by this pest in the future. In Michigan, the European pine shoot moth overwinters as a partially grown larva and feeding is resumed about April 20. By late May or early June, pupation takes place in the bud area and adults emerge in about 2 weeks. Eggs are laid on the bark and needles, and hatching occurs within 10 to 15 days. Newly hatched larvae feed at the base of the current year's needles, later moving to the terminal and lateral buds where they remain until the following spring. Pitch blisters or “tents” formed as a result of feeding. in the bud area are useful indicators of shoot moth presence and activity.

The eggs of a queen bumblebee are undeveloped when the queen emerges in the spring from winter hibernation. After emergence, the eggs develop while the queen is feeding on available sources of nectar and pollen. It is generally assumed that physiological changes associated with egg development stimulate a queen to search for a nesting place and start a colony. However, there is little information available on the relationship between egg development and the colony-founding behavior of the bumblebee.

The control of bud infesting insects presents a problem to which the systemic insecticides theoretically offer a promise of solution. The systemic action of some organophosphorus insecticides has been well demonstrated on many agricultural crops. An excellent bibliography on these and other systemic insecticides has been compiled bv Giang (1954). Anderson (1955), reported mortality of eastern tent caterpillars, Malacosoma americanum (F.) when fed on leaves from wild cherry seedlings grown in soil treated with parathion. Recently, Norris (1960) and coppel and Norris (1960, 1961), reported that some of the newer organophosphorus insecticides show a high degree of insecticidal action in both elm and white pine. In 1960 Dever and Davis reported success of phosphamidon against gypsy moth larvae feeding on white pine. This gave further indication that a systemic insecticide might be effective to defoliators on other conifers. Other investigators have shown that the absorption characteristics of systemic insecticides vary greatly with the soil type, absorption being greatest in sandy soils (Getzin and Chapman 1959, 1960), Zaki and Reynolds (1961)). These findings may be of practical importance in forest insect control since many forest sites are either rocky, sandy, or submarginal agricultural lands, and hence insecticide spray residues of this type may be reabsorbed into the tree.

The degeneration of indirect flight muscles in ant and termite queens following rhe loss of their wings has been known for some time (Janet, 1907; Feytaud, 1912). More recently the atrophy of the indirect fight muscles has been reported in flies (Mercier, 1920, 1924, 1928), probably in Dermaptera (Mercier and Poisson, 1923), in aquatic Hemiptera (Fernere, 1914; Poisson, 1924) and in various beetles (Jackson, 1933; Chapman, 1956, 1958; Reid, 1958). Ewer (1954) reported tlmt certain thoracic muscles in some Acritlidae also undergo degeneration in the adult stage.

Buprestis aurulenta L. has become well known as an emergent adult from old or established structures, and many authorities have accepted the implication that development has been progressing since the materials were installed. Because of the length of time involved in some records. an alternative explanation of infestation hy later direct attack has been suggested. The latter unsupported view has caused confusion.

Head white; eye fuscons; labial palpus black, white at base beneath; antenna light wood brown, strongly bipectinate; body above white; abdomen with prominent black segmental bands above; bodv beneath white; legs white, with inner surface af front legs and distal parts of middle and hind tarsal segments infuscated. Fore wing above shining white, with narrow black contrasting markings; antemedial line nearly complete, the anterior element usualIy elongate and joining the remainder of the line, the rest of the line sigmoidal, acutely inflected on anal fold and near 3rd A; discocellular mark large and annular, complete or nearly so; postmedial line complete and of uniform width, excurved behind costa, then oblique to posterior margin; a narrow but distinct fuscous terminal line; fringe white. Hind wing above white; a postmedial row of more or less distinct black dots on veins in anterior part of wing; terminal line and fringe as on fore wing. Wings beneath white, markings of upper surface seen faintly by translucency; postmedial dots of hind wing well marked near costa; terminal line and fringe as above. Expanse 3 1-37 mm.

Many insects ingest food through needlelike mouthparts adapted for piercing. The piercing organ itself usuallv consists of four or more chitinous stylets and is thought to be nonliving. It was therefore unexpected to find that amputating the end of a single stylet had two marked effects on aphids; it prevented feeding, and adults produced far more young than usual while starving (Bradley, 1960). Later I found that these effects can also be caused by inserting the intact stylet tips briefly into various solutions such as nitric acid, formalin, or procaine. An account of this work and of that which followed on how solutions initiated these effects is the scope of this paper.

Gillette (3) described this species as Chermes similis in 1907. His description was of winged females from galls but he mentioned that wingless females and their egg clusters were also present in some galls, although there was no way to make certain that they were of the same species. The galls were on blue spruce from Colorado, and winged adults from these settled on spruce in cages. Patch (4) reported this species in 1909, on Norway, white, red, and black spruces from Maine. She found that the winged females settled 'on all these spruces but preferred white spruce. Wingless females with egg clusters were present in the galls and she assumed they were Chermes similis Gillette. Annand (1) placed the species in the genus Pineus, along with all species having four abdominal spiracles. He referred to the previous writers, and gave a description of a wingless adult, “probably from a gall”, included with Gillette's type material. He tentatively called this form a fundatrix. He also described a wingless female and a ‘nymph’ which Patch had found associated with galls of P. similis, as Pineus sp.

In an earlier paper, Eidt and Sippell (1961) were unable to identify those parasites of Argyresthia laricella Kft. that died as larvae within the host pupae. These constituted over 40 per cent of all pupal parasites and were listed as unidentified pupal endoparasites. The object of this paper is to provide means of identifying dead larvae of the three known pupal endoparasites. It is my intention to continue to collect data on parasitism to study the interaction between the more important primary and secondary parasites and A. laricella.

Over the past ten years a number of exotic predators have been introduced into New Brunswick and other parts of North America as part of a biological control program against the balsam woolly aphid, Adelges piceae (Ratz.). Several of these have become established and others show considerable promise. As introductions continue it becomes exceedingly important that field workers be able to distinguish rapidly all stages of introduced and native predators. Field identification characters for some species (Chamaemyiidae and Syrphidae) have been published in previous papers in this series (Brown and Clark, 1956, 1960; Clark and Brown, 1957) and have been found to be very useful.

Melanolophia imitata (Walker) has been colloquially referred to as the green-striped forest looper, in reference to its appearance and habitat. The spring-flying adults and the consistently large numbers of larvae attract considerable attention annually. Although the moths evince little migratory movement, their comparatively large size and pale colour, in association with their quantity, combine to create the basis for occasional alarming reports of forest insects. It is not infrequent to hear of clouds of moths scattering about a forest traveller and viewed throughout the woods. Ordinarily the adults fly during late evening, and are less attracted to light than many moths.

This is the third paper in a series dealing with investigations, initiated in 1956, to determine if the codling moth, Carpocapsa pomonella (L.), might be eradicated in the Okanagan and Similkameen Vallevs of British Columbia by the release of sexually sterile moths. In the first twoe papers exposure to heat (Proverbs and Newton, 1962) and to gamma radiation (Proverbs and Newton, 1962a) were examined as methods of inducing sexual sterility. Heat was not satisfactory. However, exposure of fully developed pupae to 40,000 rads of gamma radiation induced almost complete sexual sterility (used in the broad sense) in the male moth without causing undesirable side effects. The female was more easily sterilized than the male.

A few years ago Dr. Henry K. Townes and his family made a large collection of Ichneumonidae in Japan. He has since lent me the Exenterini from that and some other Asiatic collections. In 1960 I travelled to Europe and was able to study most of the types and the large collection of the tribe in the hands of Mr. G. J. Kerrich at the British Museum of Natural History. The examination of all this material, especially the Asiatic species, has proven so illuminating that I feel a further consideration of generic limits is now due.

The sugar-beet root magsot, Tetanops myopaeformis (Röder), is one of the most important pests of sugar-beets in southern Alberta. From 1956 to 1960 studies were made of various phases of its life history (unpublished). In this paper, napping adults of T. myopaeformis by insecticide and water traps is judged for reliahility in determining dates of emergence and sex ratio when compared with data obtained from emergence cages in the field. Information is also given on the influence of color and a wetting agent on the number of flies caught in water traps.

Some of my emigrated Dutch friends have with considerable success collected aphids for me in Canada. The following notes are based on some of their catches.

Maculolachnus sijpkensi, new species

Oviparous female.

Body about 3.00-3.60 mm long, rather broadly oval. Head and pronotum brown sclerotic; mesonotum marginally sclerotic, spino-pleurally with small brown scleroites at the bases of the very numerous hairs; such scleroites also present on metanotum and marginally on abd. segment I, and in number at the bases of the hairs of VIIth, rarely also VIth abd. tergite; VIIIth terpite with a sclerotic band, which is narrower and often broken in the middle. No scleroites present at the bases of the spinopleural hairs of abd. tergites I-V or I-VI. Intersegmental sclerites on abdomen small, dark brown to Black. Dorsal hairs very numerous, on IIIrd abd. tergite up to about 0.11 mm long. Antennae darker-brown than the head, about 519 length of body; for interrelation of segments vide measurements; IIIrd segment with 4-11 rhinaria; the tw to seven of them that stand in a row large, elevated and bulging, but if many rhinaria are present often some small ones in the row, or besides some quite large; flat ones outside the row present; base of segment never with rhinaria; IVth segment two to four rhinaria on distal part; Vth without secondarv rhinaria, the primary rhinarium much elevated and bulging; VIth segment rather cylindrical, attenuated towards base, about 6 times as long as its maximum width; accessory rhinaria in two groups of which the basal one stands about halfway the segment, while the other stands beside the primary rhinarium.

The black-headed budworm has long been known as an endemic resident and occasional epidemic defoliator of coniferous forests in Canada and parts of northern United States. The moth is distributed across the whole of the northern forest area from Cape Breton Island to the west coast of Canada and Alaska. It is a serious and recurrent defoliator particularly in British Columbia and Washington (Silver, 1960). The larvae feed on various conifers of the genera Abies, Larix, Picea, Pseudotsuga, and Tsuga, and different hosts are preferred in different parts of the range. Thus, Schaffner (1950) gives Abies balsamea as the most important host in eastern areas, Raizenne (1952) indicates that species of spruce (Picea) are most often utilized in southern Ontario, while Tsuga heterophylla has been found to be preferred in coastal British Columbia (Leech, 1933; Keen, 1952; Evans and Silver, 1954; Silver, 1960).

Neodiprion swainei Middleton is the most serious defoliator of jack pine, Pinus bamksiana Lambert, in Canada. The damage to stands of this species in northern Quebec has been extensive and has resulted in considerable forest-fire hazard. Virus infected sawflies were found in the Lac Gagnon area in Quebec in 1956, and a study of the disease was begun by the Quebec Laboratory in 1957. Laboratory propagation methods were developed and resulted in the production of a quantity of polyhedral concentrate of a virulent strain. Concentrations of polyhedral bodies needed in a spray formulation to infect and kill larvae of various ages were determined in the laboratory and field tests demonstrated the potentialities of this disease as a biological control agent (Smirnoff 1960b, 1961a). These studies served as a basis for the experiment in the dissemination of the disease by aircraft described in this paper.