Examination of material of the genus Campichoeta Macq. (= Thryptocheta Rond.) from both the Old and the New Worlds, follawing clarification of the identities of most of the Palaearctic species by Basden and Collin (1958), revealed significant new information on the taxonomy of the genus. It showed that the common species in North America, heretofore called Thryptocheta micans Hendel (1911), is the same as Campichoeta griseola (Zett.) (1855) known from a single collection apparently made by Boheman in central Sweden about 1852. Also, it showed that an undescribed species occurs in southwestern United States.

Interest in this insect was first aroused by the reports of Felt (1926a, 1926b) and York (1933), who attributed injury to several species of pines in the State of New York to Hylobius pales (Hbst.). Later it became apparent that the injury reported was not caused by H. pales, but by a new species that Huchanan (1934) described as H. radicis. This insect was first reported in Canada at Angus, Ont. (Wallace, 1954), and has since become abundant in pine plantations totalling about 500 acres in Simcoe County. This County supports the principal infestations in Ontario, but other widely separated infestations have been reported near Sault Ste. Marie and from five plantations totalling 50 acres in Renfrew County. H. radicis is now known to be widely distributed. In addition to New York State and Ontario, the insect has been reported from Virginia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Manitoba.

The Douglas-fir engraver, Scolytus unispinosus Leconte, is a common bark beetle throughout the Pacific Coast and Rocky Mountain Region of North America. Although it occasionally kills young trees (Chamberlin, 1939), it is of minor economic importance, usually confining its attack to tops, limbs and logging slash. In standing timber it acts primarily as a secondary insect, attacking the tops and branches of trees killed or severely weakened by other agents. In the interior of British Columbia it is commonly found in Douglas fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco, and thus it is of interest as an associate of the Douglas-fir beetle, Dendroctonus pseudotsugae Hopk. Two other bark beetles Pseudohylesinus nebulosus (Leconte) and Scolytus tsugae (Swaine) with similar associations were studied earlier (Walters and McMullen, 1956; McMullen and Atkins, 1959).

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.

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.

The woolly pine needle aphid, Schizolachnus pini-radiatae, was described in 1909 by Davidson as Lachnus pini-radiatae from specimens collected near Stanford University, California. In revising the subtribe Cinarina, Gillette and Palmer (1931) placed this species in the genus Schizolachnus. Detailed descriptions of the species were given by Davidson (1909), Gillette and Palmer (1931), and Palmer (1952), but none of the earlier workers studied the life history of this aphid. The present study was carried out during 1960 in a seven-year-oId red pine stand in kirkwood Township, about 50 miles east of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

During a study on the life history and ecology of the woolly pine needle aphid, Schizolachnus pini-radiatae (Davidson), in a seven-year-old pine stand in Kirkwood township, Ontario, during the summer of 1960 (Grobler, 1962), a number of dead aphids were found the first week in September. These aphids, mummified in appearance, were shown to be infected by the fungus Empusa (= Entomophthora) aphidis Hoffman.

Recent laboratory studies have shown that the type of spatial distribution of a host or prey population may affect the degree of natural control exerted by parasites and predators. For example, Burnett (1958) showed that the rate of paratisitism of the greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporarium (Westw.), by Encarsia formosa Gahan, was considerably greater when the hosts were aggregated than when regularly distributed. In this case, searching parasites were better able to find groups of hosts than isolated ones. Similar results have been obtained by Huffaker (1958) in experiments with a predatory mite, Typhlodroms occidentalis Nesbitt, and a phytophagous mite, Eotetranychus sexmaculatus (Riley). Other important effects of aggregation are evident in the growing literature on this subject, as exemplified by the work of Long (1955), Mizuta (1960), and Morimoto (1960), who showed that the rate of development of some lepidopterous larvae in groups is greater than that of isolated larvae.

This paper offers a taxonomic arrangement of the North American species of Chrysolina Motschulsky. Sixteen species and one subspecies are recognized. The species of the region were reviewed last by Van Dyke (1938, Bull. Brooklyn Ent. Soc. 33: 43-58), who recognized eight species and one subspecies. The arrangement offered below differs from the previous arrangement as follows. (1) Three species, caurina, finitima, and extorris, are described as new. (2) Two Siberian species, cavigera (J. Sahlb.) and magniceps (J. Sahlb.), are recorded from arctic Alaska; these have not been reported previously from North America, for American authors confused them with subsulcata (Mann.). (3) Included is one introduced European species, staphylaea (L.), that Van Dyke omitted. Also included are three European species recently introduced for control of the weed Hypericum perforatum L.; these are hyperici (Forst.), quadrigemina (Suffr.), and varians (Schall.). (4) C. blaisdelli Van Dyke and the subsequently described C. engelhardti Hatch (1939, Bull. Brooklyn Ent. Soc. 34: 49) are omitted, for they were transferred to Chrysomela by Brown (1956, Canadian Ent. 88: suppl. 3, p. 17). (5) One form, schaefferi new name (for auripennis cyanea Schaeffer, not Linnaeus), is elevated to specific rank. (6) One form, vidua (Rog.), is reduced to subspecific status under flavomarginata (Say).

Investigations in 1959 (Dyer and Kinghorn, 1961) revealed a large overwintering population of the ambrosia beetle, Trypodendron lineatum (Oliv.), in a level accessible stand of timber. It was decided to use this location for field studies on attack behaviour of this insect, with three general objectives in mind: 1) direct observation of beetles as they searched for and found suitable log material; 2) experimental verification by means of various ‘hidden log’ situations, with controls, of the importance of smell in the beetles' search, and 3) observation and measurement of differences in attractiveness between logs during the flight period.

During the year 1955 Dr. D. M. Scott and Mr. R. E. Lemon conducted a study of the nesting habits of the cardinal, Richmondena cardinalis (L.), on the campus of the University of Western Ontario and in areas adjacent to the campus in London, Ontario. After the study of the breeding cycle at each nest was completed, some of the nests mere removed from their sites and put in brown paper bags and given to the writer for examination for their content of insects and other invertebrates. Each nest was torn apart over a white porcelain tray and the creatures falling on the tray were collected and preserved. The specimens so collected were distributed to the following taxonomists for identification (USNM refers to the United States National Museum): P. D. Ashlock, USNM (Miridae), E. W. Baker, USNM (Acarina), W. J. Brown, Canada Department of Agriculture, Ottawa (Coleoptera), N. B. Causey, Fayetteville, Arkansas (Diplopoda), K. Christiansen, Grinnell College, Iowa (Collembola), C. D. Dondale, Canada Department of Agriculture, Kentville, N.S. (Araneida, Phalangida), E. L. Mockford, USNM (Corrodentia), K. O'Neill, USNM (Thysanoptera), M. R. Smith, USNM (Formicidae), R. W. Strandtmann, Texas Technological College, Lubbock, Texas (Orinthonyssus), W. W. Wirth, USNM (Culicoides).

Female: General body color dark brown to blackish-brown; legs lighter brown. Length: body, 2.0-2.7 mm.; wing, 2.1-2.3 mm.

Head dark, posterior and undersurface densely covered with long, pale yellow hair; a row of stout, erect, dark hairs along posterior and lateral margins of eye. Frons tinged with gray; moderately broad, diverging above; covered with moderately long, decumbent, pale yellow hair. Clypeus lighter than frons, tinged with gray; longer than wide; densely covered with fine, pale yellow hair. Antenna short, eleven-segmented; uniformly dark brown, covered with short, pale yellow hair; flagellun about 2.5 times as long as scape and pedicel; pedicel considerabIy larger than other segments. Palpus yellowish-brown, covered with fine, pale ykllow hair and some coarser, dark hair; third segment slightly longer than fourth and slightly shorter than fifth; sensory vesicle of third segment globular, small, about one-fifth as long as the segment and is proximally situated; the tube leading from the sensory vesicle to the exterior is short, arises dorsally on the distal portion of the vesicle, extends nearly vertical and is nearly of uniform width (Figs. 4, 5). Edges of mandible with about 32 fine serrations; galea of maxilla with about 32 large, retrorse teeth. Median space of buccopharyngeal apparatus broad and shallow; dorsolateral arms broad, outwardly curved and directed posteriorly, a sclerotized ridge occurs on inner margin (Fig. 6).

In November 1958 a Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca (Beissn.) Franco) Christmas tree was received at the Missoula Forest Insect Laboratory with a note that it was infested with an insect that might be causing “Christmas-tree blight.” This term is commonly used by the trade to refer to any condition of foliage that might affect salability or price of Christmas trees. Several types of foliage-feeding insects, as well as fungi or poor site conditions, may cause “blighted” or discolored needles; however, on this tree the infestation proved to be caterpillars tunneling in the bark.

The methods of despatching insects from one country to another for biological control purposes have often left much to be desired. When insects are sent as pupae or cocoons, they are generally packed in damp wood-wool or sphagnum moss to absorb vibration, from which it is often difficult to remove either the insects or any undesirable fellow travellers.

The ideal insect container should be strong, light in weight, small enough for ease of handling, yet able to hold large numbers of individuals without excessive crowding.

In pear and sweet cherry orchards near Creston, in the Kootenay Valley of British Columbia, populations of psyllids, aphids, thrips and leafhoppers were sampled by yellow, and white, sticky board traps hung in the trees. The psyllids were adult Psylla pyricola Först., caught in pear trees; the other insects were caught in cherry trees. The latter insects were: alate Myzus cerasi (F.), adults and nymphs of Taeniothrips sp., and adult leafhoppers of the following species: Edwardsiana rosae (L.), Macrosteles fascifrons (Stål), Psammotettix lividellus (Zett.), Dikraneura absenta DeL. and C., Scaphytopius acutus (Say), Osbornellus borealis DeL. and Mohr., Neokolla hieroglyphics (Say), and Erythroneura spp. Identifications were made by the Systematics and Biological Control Unit of the Canada Department of Agriculture, Ottawa.