The formation of a yellow band inside the stalk of each ovariole was a good indicator that a female European corn borer had laid eggs. The absence of these bands was less reliable as an indicator that no eggs had been laid, probably due to the time taken for the bands to form. The numbers of moths accumulating in a light trap over a week at Harrow, Ontario, and the numbers of females estimated to have laid eggs correlated significantly with the numbers of larvae developing in nearby green pepper plots 3, 4, and 5 weeks later during second generation flights. This enabled linear equations for forecasting pepper damage to be developed, in which the dissection data was more useful than the total moth catch alone.

In a previous paper on the Siphonaptera of Canada the writer (Holland, 1949b) summarized all available published and unpublished data up to December 31, 1946. One hundred and twenty-seven species and subspecies of fleas were recorded, of which 121 are believed to be endemic, and 6 introduced in historic times from the Palaearctic Region.

Studies since 1946 have drawn attention to the occurrence in Canada of a number of species not hitherto recorded. Some of these were new to science. The discoveries of some of the others could have been predicted with reasonable certainty, the species being known from areas immediately south of the International Boundary, on species of hosts known to occur in Canada. In other instances the captures occasioned some surprise, the Canadian records representing rather broad extensions of the known ranges. Some of this supplementary information has already been published (Holland, 1949a, 1950, 1951a, 1951b). In the present paper, seven additional species and subspecies are reported from Canada for the first time. In partial compensation for this, the total of Canadian species is reduced by the recognition of two synonyms.

A chemical mixture highly attractive to males of western pine shoot borer, Eucosma sonomana Kearfott, were dispensed from manually applied polyvinyl chloride releasers on 15 ha of ponderosa pine plantations during spring 1978 near Bly, Oregon. Mating disruption treatments, replicated 4 times, were 3.5 g/ha from 100 releasers/ha spaced at 10 m, and 14 g/ha from 400 releasers/ha spaced at 5 m. Both were equally effective; the number of damaged terminal shoots was reduced 83.0% with the low dosage and 84.2% with the high dosage.

Flight orientation about the yaw axis (induced by rotation of a striped bowl) in the squash bug, Anoplecnimes curvipes (Heteroptera), is brought about by differential changes in wing-stroke amplitudes and wing-stroke planes of the two sides. The metathoracic leg of the inner side in a turn is displaced in the transverse plane while the contra-lateral leg remains in the normal flight posture. The probable mode of control of the two wing parameters effecting yaw is discussed.

The technic of artificial insemination of insects offers a possible method for initiating or maintaining colonies of species which do not mate under laboratory conditions, and thus it may be possible to obtain a better understanding of their biology and permit the study of certain disease vectors. The technic might be applied to the study of the heredity of some species; it could be an aid to the taxonomist in the determination of species of questionable category.

In May, 1958, studies on the distribution of fruit, and of fruit damages from all sources; were initiated in permanent apple orchard plots at Rougemont, Que. The object was to develop sound sampling techniques to determine, within error limits, damages to the fruit resulting from the feeding activities of orchard insect pests, and from mechanical causes, during the period apple set in early June to harvest in mid September. This is a report on variation in samples of apples, and of damages to the fruit from all sources, for the years 1958 and 1959, and on sampling recommendations.

The following are notes on the taxonomies and synonymies, and on the distributions in Canada, of the Nearctic species of leafhoppers of the genus Oncopsis Burmeister. Twenty-one species referable to this genus have been described from the Nearctic region. Seventeen were listed as valid species by Oman (1949), under Oncopsis, Macropsis, and Zinneca. One is probably not a Nearctic species. In the present paper 14 names are considered to be synonyms. This reduces the number of Nearctic species to seven, including one new species described below. Wagner (1949) discussed six species found in Germany. Of these, two were new and the remaining four had been described under a total of 14 names.

Anastrepha fraterculus (Wiedemann), the South American fruit fly, and Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), the Mediterranean fruit fly, are the only economically important Tephritidae species present in the citrus-growing areas in the province of Corrientes, northeastern Argentina. Both fruit fly species severely limit the export of fruit because of quarantine restrictions in importing countries. In this Argentinean region, C. capitata has been reported mostly infesting cultivated Citrus species such as C. sinensis L. (Osbeck) (Rutaceae) and C. paradisi Macfadyn (Rutaceae), whereas A. fraterculus has been found almost exclusively in wild guava (Psidium guajava L. (Myrtaceae)), a wild host plant (Turica and Mallo 1961).

The receptivity of sexually mature Plodia interpunctella females during courtship was quantitatively analyzed. When males approached from the rear, two thirds of the females moved away from them on the first courtship encounter so that only 22% of these encounters led to copulation. In second encounters from the rear, however, 86% of the females turned and accepted the males, and 40% of them copulated. When the males approached head-on there was no observable difference in female receptiveness between first and second encounters; in each case over 90% of the females accepted the males and at least 55% of them copulated. Since the acceptance of the male by the female is dependent on her perception of a male sex pheromone released by scent glands on his forewings, she can probably identify the male immediately in head-on encounters but requires additional time or stimulation to do so in rear encounters.

Injury to sugar maple buds, shoots, twigs, and stems resulted in forked trees in Upper Michigan. Six species of insects were observed to feed on buds: The lepidopterans Proteoteras moffatiana Fernald (Olethreutidae), Obrussa ochrefasciella (Chambers) (Nepticulidae), Choristoneura rosaceana (Harris) and Cenopis pettitana (Robinson) (Tortricidae), and the coleopterans Phyllobius oblongus (L.) (Curculionidae) and Platycerus virescens (F.) (Lucanidae). Twig and shoot damage resulted from severed shoots, twig cankers, and scarring resembling weevil feeding injury. Stem damage was caused by breakage and browsing animals. Bud injury averaged 5.80% per year, twig damage 3.18% per year, and stem breakage 0.36% per year. Injuries to terminals resulted in 85% forked stems, 8% single stems, 3% stunting, and 4% unaffected.

Current methods of sampling predator and prey populations on apple trees use two different indexes to measure the comparative abundance of each. Techniques are sought that relate the proportions of one to the other in the sampling universe (the orchard) in a quantitative manner. The most important criterion is that the sampling unit be one common to both predator and prey species and encompass representative portions of the habitat of each. The whole tree meets this criterion but it is too cumbersome to sample in toto. The large limb was, therefore, appraised for feasibility as a basic sampling unit common to many species. All clusters were counted and the predators and prey expressed as numbers per 100 clusters. The whole limb was examined for insect predators but only a representative portion of it was used in estimating mite populations. The test prey species was the European red mite, Panonychus ulmi (Koch), and the predators a small number of active insect species, mostly Diaphnocoris pellucida (Uhler) and Anthocoris musculus (Say). It was found that the numbers of mites on randomly chosen clusters from a limb were representative of the total population of mites on a limb but the associated variation was high. Samples of relatively uniform (standard) clusters of good vigour overestimated the mite population. Some other causes of variation were also examined and are discussed. A 2-year orchard test showed it was feasible to estimate the abundance of both mites and predators on a common basis and thus obtain a measure of the ratio of mites to predators in the sampling universe.

The spruce cone moth, identified as Dioryctria reniculella (Grote) by Heinrich and other authors, is described as D. reniculelloides n. sp. This and D. pseudotsugella Munroe form a compact group closely related to the European D. schuetzeella Fuchs. These three species are characterized. D. reniculella is sunk as a junior synonym of D. abietivorella (Grote), new synonymy.

A two-choice feeding bioassay was used to investigate the effects of larval source (colony versus wild larvae) and rearing medium (artificial versus foliar diet) on the feeding-deterrent activity of the oral exudate of the spruce budworm and the western spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana (Clem.) and Choristoneura occidentalis Free., respectively. Feeding by both wild and colony larvae was deterred by conspecific oral exudate. Larvae reared on artificial diet responded to exudate from both diet- and foliage-reared larvae, whereas the foliage-reared larvae responded only to exudate from other foliage-reared larvae. These results suggest that differences exist between artificial diet- and foliage-reared larvae in the composition of oral exudate, in the concentrations of its biologically active constituents, or in differential sensitivity of diet- and foliage-reared larvae to exudate from foliage-reared larvae.

The rye jointworm, Harmolita secale (Fitch), caused economic damage to fall rye in Alberta in 1968, 1969, and 1970, a first such record for Canada. Infested stems reached an average of 21 galls. Individuals in the laboratory required added moisture for pupation and to facilitate emergence of adults, which occurred during the first week of June in 1970. In 1970, the reproductive potential of about 70 was more than counterbalanced by the failure of almost 90% of the galls to produce adults.

Esterases present in the hemolymph of last instar Heliothis zea (Boddie) were separated by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Four systems, all polymorphic, were observed. One system, Est-II, appeared especially suited for the study of some of the important population processes of this species; these include host–plant relations, migration, and the effects of environmental pressures such as pesticides on the species.

Est-II was classified as a carboxylesterase, being sensitive only to organophosphate inhibitors. Dichlorvos at 10−5M completely inhibited Est-II activity.

Populations collected from corn from Tifton, Ga., and in two locations in Illinois, at approximately the same time were very similar genetically when compared on the basis of Est-II allele frequencies. A population collected from leguminous hosts in Tifton, Ga., at the same time as the above three populations was different genetically.

Est-IIc, an allele normally rare or absent in the populations studied, was present at a high frequency in one Urbana population collection. Est-IIc may be useful in studying the long-range dispersal of H. zea.

Here we report the first North American detection of the gall wasp Aulacidea pilosellae Kieffer (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae), native to Central Europe and a promising candidate biological control agent for invasive hawkweeds (Pilosella Vaillant, Asteraceae) in North America. This occurrence was discovered through the intersection of (i) publically available DNA barcode data and (ii) DNA sequencing of a biocontrol agent before its release. COI DNA sequences of A. pilosellae collected in Central Europe were compared with publically available DNA sequence records. Despite the presence of other Aulacidea Ashmead in the database, the most similar sequence to the European A. pilosellae was an as yet unidentified specimen collected in the Ottawa Valley of eastern Ontario, Canada. Subsequent sequencing of a second gene region (28S-D2) of the Ottawa Valley specimen yielded an identical DNA sequence to the European A. pilosellae, confirming the presence of this species in Ontario. This note highlights the potential synergy that can result from making DNA barcode data publically available before formal taxonomic identification, and a new benefit of incorporating DNA sequencing of standardised markers into biological control programmes.

Five trap designs were evaluated for sampling the insect complex attracted to severed shortleaf (Pinus echinata Mill.), Virginia (P. virginiana Mill.), and loblolly (P. taeda L.) pines. The baffled flight trap was superior for capturing Coleoptera. Plexiglas®, saran screen, and 4-directional Plexiglas traps were most efficient in trapping Diptera and Hymenoptera. The results indicate that the choice of any particular trap depends on the group of insects to be sampled.

The generic concept of Heterotarsonemus Smiley is reviewed and redefined. The type-species, H. lindquisti Smiley, is redescribed and illustrated along with a new species, H. bicornis; the only described European species, H. coleopterorum Schaarschmidt new combination, is compared with the above two nearctic species. The known species of this genus are associates of bark beetles in conifers.