In 1957, a program of introducing insect predators for control of the balsam woolly aphid, Chermes (= Adelges) piceae Ratz., was begun in Oregon and Washington. This program was made possible through the generous cooperation of the Canadian Department of Agriculture, which provided many of the predators. Eighteen predator species from Europe, Asia, and Australia were liberated from 1957 through 1960. Four of the species are known to have survived one or more winters and show promise of becoming permanently established.

A brief historical review of the occurrence of the clear-winged grasshopper, Camnula pellucida (Scudd.), is presented as well as recent information pertaining to the biology of its various life stages. In the egg stage, diapause is more successfully terminated by chilling at 5 °C for 70 days than at either 0 or −7 °C. Embryological development proceeded very favourably at incubation temperatures of 30 °C while 35 °C produced excessive mortality especially to pre-blastokinesis embryos. Most embryos in eggs of this species reach the same pre-blastokinesis stage of development more consistently every year than do those of other pest species of grasshopper in Saskatchewan. Thirty days of chilling at −12, −18, and −23 °C reduced the viability of the eggs by about 10, 20, and 50% respectively. Exposure to −29 °C killed all eggs in 3.5 to 5 hours.

The phototactic and thermokinetic reactions of nymphs and adults, leading to aggregation, basking, and dispersal, are discussed and compared with those of other species. Details of nymphal migrations are described and related to such meteorological factors as wind, temperature, and position of the sun. Some further details of mating and oviposition are described, especially aggregation on egg beds and oviposition in stubble fields. Observations of predation by sandhill cranes and skunks are also recorded.

In extensive surveys for parasites of Hylemya brassicae (Bouché), H. floralis (Fall.), and H. cilicrura (Rond.) on cruciferous crops in Canada and Europe, observations were made on the life-histories and behaviour of the parasites. Accounts of the two most abundant parasites, Aleochara bilineata Gyll. and Trybliographa rapae (Westw.), have already been published, the former by Colhoun (1953) and the latter by Wishart and Monteith (1954). The present paper deals with one of the minor parasites, Phygadeuon trichops Thoms. In the surveys this parasite was found in Norway, Holland, and Scotland but in such small numbers as to indicate that it has other, preferred hosts and that it only occasionally attacks Hylemya spp. Phygadeuon fumator (Grav.) was reared from Hylemya sp. from France and is recorded in the literature from Hylemya spp. in Russia (Meier, 1927; Vodinskaya, 1928) and in England (Wadsworth, 1915). No references were found to P. trichops from Hylemya spp. and no accounts of the biology of either species.

The presence of female-produced sex pheromones in diaspidid scales has been known for several years, and was recently documented for the San Jose scale, Quadraspidiotus perniciosus (Comstock) (Rice 1974). This paper reports the results of 3 years of seasonal monitoring for male San Jose scale in an attempt to determine how and when this pheromone might be used as a monitoring technique in pest management programs in deciduous fruit orchards. These studies were conducted at the San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Research Center near Parlier, Fresno County, Calif.

Bassus arthurellus n. sp. is described making the name available for studies currently underway on the parasitoids of pests of sunflower (Helianthus). Reasons are given for including this species in Bassus F., a genus often considered a synonym of Agathis Latr.

Some recent developments on aphid digestive enzymes, aphid feeding and nutrition on host-plants, and on artificial media are briefly reviewed. A chemically defined diet, on which pea aphid life and reproduction can be sustained during two successive generations, is described. An important feature of this successful chemical diet concerns its amino acid composition, which was based on that of pea aphid blood and honeydew. An artificial feeding method for aphids divorced from their host-plants should prove a valuable tool in the study of the nutritional requirements and the intermediary metabolism of these insects, as well as in determining the influence of dietary constituents on polymorphism and in relation to the phenomena of plant resistance to aphids.

In “The Canadian Entomologist” for August, 1903 (*), I called attention to the sounds produced by Ranatra fusca, Pal. B. Further study has shown me that the bug I then referred to was in reality Ranatra quadridentata, Stal., and that R. fusca is very rare in the north, if, indeed, it occurs at all, the former being the commonest species in the Eastern United States, the latterm on the other hand, being more southern. The nots referreed to, therefore, apply to R. quadridentata, Stal.

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.

The growth of the commercial pollination industry raises important concerns regarding honey bee (Apis mellifera Linnaeus; Hymenoptera: Apidae) health and development. While providing such services, honey bees are often exposed to undiversified pollen sources that may contribute to nutritional deficiencies, notably in protein and amino acids. To understand how honey bees are affected during provision of pollination services, we compared honey bee colonies that pollinated lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium Aiton; Ericaceae) and/or cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Aiton; Ericaceae) crops (management strategies) with control colonies in a diversified farmland environment. We identified the floral species of pollen collected by honey bee colonies in those crops compared to pollen collected by control colonies. We also analysed the protein and essential amino acid content of collected pollen and bee bread and measured the nutritional impact of pollination services on honey bee colonies. We found that honey bees providing blueberry and/or cranberry pollination services are exposed to a less diversified pollen diet than colonies located in a farmland environment, especially in a cranberry field. There was a significantly lower proportion of crude protein content in collected and stored pollen during provision of blueberry pollination services, which led to a smaller brood population. Many nutritional deficiencies were measured with regards to essential amino acids.

We examined host abundance of limoniid flies between Agaricales (gill mushrooms) and Aphyllophorales (non-gilled fungi) and the importance of these flies as phoronts of mites inhabiting these fungal orders. Fungal sporophores were collected around transects established in five different-aged (13 to more than 100 years) forest stands from spring to fall in temperate forests of Japan. Limoniid flies and mites were collected from sporophores during transect sampling and reared from sporophores in the laboratory. All 11 limoniid species reared from sporophores used Aphyllophorales and six of these limoniid species also used Agaricales as their hosts. The total number of limoniid flies reared from Aphyllophorales was approximately seven times that reared from Agaricales. Eight of 15 Aphyllophorales species yielded multiple limoniid species. We conclude that Aphyllophorales are more important as hosts for fungivorous limoniid flies than Agaricales. Even a single fungal species can support more than one limoniid or mite species. One or two limoniid species are phoronts for one to three mite species inhabiting sporophores of Agaricales and Aphyllophorales. These flies have an important role as phoronts for some mite genera inhabiting fungal sporophores.

Developmental rates, lower developmental threshold, host selection among three species of aphid, and head capsule width were determined for the parasitoid Aphelinus sp. nr. varipes (Foerster) (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae). Aphid species used were Russian wheat aphid, Diuraphis noxia (Mordvilko), western wheat aphid, Diuraphis tritici (Gillette), and corn leaf aphid, Rhopalosiphum maidis Fitch. Developmental rate was determined at five constant temperatures, 11.3, 14.7, 19.0, 25.7, and 30.3°C. Developmental times of the wasp were similar in Russian and western wheal aphids, ranging from 88.7 days al 11,3°C to 11.3 days at 30.3°C. Lower developmental threshold was similar in both species, 9.7°C in Russian wheat aphid and 9.4°C in western wheat aphid. Because of the low number of corn leaf aphid s parasitized, it was not possible to compute a parasitoid development threshold in that host. In the host selection test, there were no significant differences in numbers of Russian and western wheat aphids attacked; corn leaf aphid was seldom attacked. The western wheat aphid is a native species that also causes leaf-rolling; we believe it was the primary host of the parasitoid before the arrival of the Russian wheat aphid. Wasps emerging from Russian wheat aphid were consistently larger than those emerging from western wheat aphid. Mean head capsule width for 30 female wasps from Russian wheat aphid was 0.33 mm; from 30 female wasps from western wheat aphid mean head capsule width was 0.20 mm.

Along the Continental Divide in Alberta, British Columbia, and Montana three species of Capniidae were common at some lakes (Capnia confusa Claassen, Isocapnia integra Hanson, and Utacapnia trava (Nebeker and Gaufin)). Females of all three species had substantial reduction in wing length at least at one lake, while most lentic populations had slightly shorter wings than a macropterous river population of the same species. For females of all three species there was a weak positive relationship between functional wing length and lake elevation. Furthermore, there was also a significant negative relationship between functional wing length and the approximate year of Wisconsin deglaciation for C. confusa and U. trava. Suitable data were not available to test the significance of this relationship for I. integra. However, the relationships between wing length and elevation, and between wing length and Wisconsin deglaciation, suggest that wing length of these three capniid species is related to lake age. Present day wing length might be explained by selection for brachypterism over recent millennia.

This paper describes the main anatomical features of the adult nervous system of the Douglas fir beetle, Dendroctonus pseudotsugae Hopk. The study on which it is based was carried out to provide a background for further work on the nervous system and as part of a program of investigation of the physiology and behaviour of scolytid beetles.

Extensive comparative studies of coleopterous nervous system were made long ago by Blanchard (1846) and Brand (1879). Their descriptions of scolytid material are sketchy and brief, however, and because we can find no other treatment of the nervous system in the Scolytidae we are presenting this brief report on our work.

Post-harvest grain temperature and moisture were consistently higher at the center than at the edge roof openings of steel granaries in Manitoba in 1982 and 1983. In 1982, temperatures at the center were significantly higher in infested than in uninfested granaries and declined only slowly during a 2-week period. Several kinds of insects were found in grain samples or in beetle-detection traps inserted into grain at the center location but none was found in grain or in traps at the edge. The heaviest infestations coincided with the temperatures and moistures at the center. In 1983, initial temperatures at the center and edge roof openings were high when the granaries were filled but declined rapidly, particularly at the edge, during the next 2 months. Between late August when the granaries were filled and early November, moisture content increased at the center and edge roof openings. It was significantly greater at the surface than at a depth of 20–130 cm. Insects were found in traps inserted 1 m into the grain at the center location. The results indicate that the most likely place to find insects in filled granaries is at the center near the surface and the most opportune time to begin checking the grain is 2 months after the granaries have been filled.

Life cycles of Peristenus pallipes (Curtis) and P. pseudopallipes (Loan), parasitoids of the tarnished plant bug, Lygus lineolaris (P. de B.), were investigated in an alfalfa field and in uncut weeds in the Ste. Anne de Bellevue area. In 1972, P. pallipes adults emerged in mid-May and P. pseudopallipes adults emerged in late July. The incidence of parasitism in nymphal and adult stages of the tarnished plant bug, L. lineolaris, was measured. The population of the tarnished plant bug in the weeds was more heavily parasitized than the one in the alfalfa field. The ichneumonid hyperparasite Mesochorus curvulus Thomson was also found in this area.

Tracheal mites, Acarapis woodi (Rennie) (Acari: Tarsonemidae), are important parasites of honeybees, Apis mellifera L. (Morse and Flottum 1997). They enter the prothoracic tracheae and feed through the walls on haemolymph. Currently, these mites are controlled by applying 50 g of menthol crystals in a perforated bag per hive when ambient temperatures are 15°C or more. Even then, it takes 2 weeks for the menthol to perfuse the hive (Herbert et al. 1988; Wilson et al. 1990). In cold climates, sublimation of menthol is too slow to be effective in controlling mites, especially in spring and fall when control is most needed (Scott-Dupree and Otis 1992).

Because menthol fumes enter the bees' trachea and kill the mites therein, it may be possible to kill the mites with menthol that is delivered to them via the haemolymph. Therefore, finding if menthol could become systemic when ingested by bees and it could kill tracheal mites by that route, an ingestible menthol medicament for the bees would hold potential for mite control (Kevan and Kevan 1997).

Survival of the balsam woolly aphid on Abies grandis logs was observed to evaluate the danger of spreading the pest while moving logs. Active stages of the aphid survived submergence in sea water for 7 days and periodic sprinkling with sea water for 3 weeks. Dormant stages survived submergence up to 28 days. Active aphids survived on logs in the forest as long as 5 months. Crawlers frequently re-established on logs and completed a second generation there. Dormant neosistentes on autumn-felled trees persisted over winter and resumed development in the spring. Recommendations for moving infested logs through uninfested areas are made.

Temperature-dependent development of eggs, larvae, and pupae of the speckled green fruitworm, Orthosia hibisci Guenée, at constant temperatures of 5–30.0 °C, 7.5–27.5 °C, and 0.8–20.8 °C, respectively, was described. Development times decreased with increasing temperatures and minimum developmental times in eggs, larvae, and pupae occurred at ca. 27.5, 25, and 20.8 °C, respectively. Variation in development times of all life stages was modelled accurately (R2 values 0.98–0.99) with a Weibull distribution. Relationships between temperature and developmental rates of all life stages were described by linear degree-day (DD) and nonlinear poikilotherm models. There were significant differences (ANOVA, P < 0.05) among the slopes of regression equations describing developmental rates of different life stages and larval instars. Minimum developmental temperatures for eggs (3.4 °C), first- through fifth-instar larvae (4.7, 2.9, 3.6, 3.5, and 3.7 °C), and pupae (2.8 °C) were determined by extrapolation of linear regression equations to the x-intercept. Median development time of eggs, first- through fifth-instar larvae, and pupae required 99.0, 44.2, 51.5, 52.4, 57.1, 69.9, and 61.3 DD above the minimum developmental temperatures, respectively. Developmental rates of eggs and all larval instars averaged were described by six-parameter models exhibiting low- and high-temperature inhibition. Development of pupae was best described by a four-parameter model exhibiting low- but no high-temperature inhibition. This information should be useful for developing a phenology model to improve management actions against O. hibisci.

During 1950 and 1951 the writer collaborated with officers of the Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control in studies of the predators of Adelges (Dreyfusia) piceae (Ratz.) and Adelges (Dreyfusia) nüsslini (Börner) in Europe. These studies preceded the importation of the more important predacious species into Canada and their release against A. piceae. Observations on one of these predators, Aphidecta obliterata (L.) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), are given in this paper.

Southern pine beetles, Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmerman, often carry mites as they emerge from host trees. At least 14 species of mites are phoretic (Moser and Roton 1971). But for D. frontalis, it is not clearly known where in the host tree and at what stage of the beetle's development the mites attach themselves. After the beetle larvae construct oval feeding cells, they develop in three stages: pupa, callow adults, and brood adults (Fig. 1). In trees with thick bark, the larvae bore into the outer bark from within, construct pupal cells, and pupate. But in trees with thin bark, the larvae pupate directly in the larval cells next to the xylem. Thus, the larval galleries in either case are in the living phloem adjacent to the sapwood.