When Manns (1939) reported that the meadow spittlebug, Philaenus leucophthalmus (L.), was a vector of peach yellows, the investigations on the bionomics of vectors of peach virus diseases then being carried on in the Niagara Peninsula were expanded to include this species. During the rearing of large numbers of nymphs to determine the host plants and habitats of P. leucophthalmus some other species of cercopids were also encountered.

The first adult generation of Winthemia rufopicta (Big.) emerged during April in North Carolina, males preceding the females by about a week. This was several weeks prior to the occurrence of large larvae of Heliothis zea (Boddie) and H. virescens (Fab.), two commonly recorded hosts of W. rufopicta. The average female, after a pre-ovipositional period of several days, deposited about 60 eggs over a further several days. The sex ratio was normally unity, with the exception that flies overwintered in the field showed a predominance of males.

Populations of W. rufopicta declined in spring, apparently from a shortage of hosts, then slowly built up through several overlapping generations: developmental rates at different temperatures are indicated. In the fall, local host concentrations were more frequent, and parasitism of Heliothis hosts on tobacco occurred consistently and sometimes reached high levels. Parasites overwintered as fully grown diapausing maggots in shallow cells in the soil.

Experimental populations of Heliothis spp. (mainly H. virescens) maintained on tobacco were not parasitized by W. rufopicta until late in the season. Temporal and spatial interactions between host and parasite populations at that time are discussed.

A list is given of 32 species of aphids, with their host plants, from Thailand. Males and oviparae of Aphis craccivora Koch, a male of Rhopalosiphum maidis (Fitch), and an ovipara of Tinocallis kahawaluokalani (Kirkaldy) were collected. Tritrichosiphum thailandicum new genus, new species is described.

High correlations between food consumption and excretion in terms of dry matter, calories, lipids, and nitrogen were obtained during the larval stages of Pseudaletia unipuncta (Haw.). The regression coefficients for this relationship in terms of dry matter did not differ significantly from those of calories; this leads to the hypothesis that the ratio of food consumption and excretion in terms of dry matter in a particular larval instar provides an estimate of caloric intake.

In the course of our studies of the Trichoptera of the southern Appalachians during the past few years, considerable material of the genus Lepidostoma has been accumulated. In addition to range extensions and previously undescribed females in various groups within the genus, this material has provided four new species in the vernalis group. With the number of species in this group thus doubled, we believe it useful to provide here a revision of the whole vernalis group, with keys to the males and females. Knowledge of the immature stages is not adequate to permit any systematic analysis at this time.

The flour mill insect, Cyrptolestes turcicus (Grouvelle), was reared on seven diets at 28 ± 1 °C and at relative humidities of 90% and 60% as follows: flour from a mill previously infested with C. turcicus, commercial flour sterilized with propylene oxide, unenriched commercial flour, and four laboratory-prepared diets each containing a different concentration of fungi isolated from the previously-infested flour.

At 90% relative humidity, larvae developed fastest on the infested flour and on the prepared flour–fungi diets, and slowest in sterilized flour. Fungal concentration and rate of larval development were inversely correlated. The highest survival of larvae occurred on the flour–fungi diets and the highest mortality on the flour from the infested mill. There was no clear relationship between rate of pupal development and concentration of fungus. Of the prepared diets, that with the largest concentration of fungus promoted the fastest rate of pupal development. Survival of pupae was about 20% higher on the flour–fungi diets than on the sterilized flour. At 60% relative humidity about 50% of larvae and pupae survived and completed development on the flour–fungi diet containing 1% by weight of fungi, and on the flour from the infested mill but none survived on any of the other diets. Sixty per cent of larvae and 83% of pupae survived and developed on the flour from the infested mill. None of the larvae survived on any of the other diets.

Dimilin (25% wettable powder) was mixed in water and sprayed from a Grumman Agcat aircraft equipped with four micronair units at the rate of 70 g (active ingredients) / 4,67 L/ha (1 oz/0.5 U.S. gal per acre) on two stands of trembling aspen, Populus tremuloides Michx., heavily infested with forest tent caterpillar, Malacosoma disstria Hübner. The material was applied when the insects were in the first and second instars and the trees were starting to flush. Spray deposit analysis using a dye, Rhodamine-B, in the spray mix and spray plates in the plots indicated that conditions for spraying in the morning were better than those in the evening as expected. Total control of the forest tent caterpillar with very little defoliation of the trees was achieved.

Analysis of neurotransmitter levels in individual insect brains has been hampered by the unavailability of a suitable tissue homogenizer. Commercially-available homogenizers are expensive, often fragile, and generally ill-designed and cumbersome for handling microlitre volumes. This report describes the fabrication of an efficient, inexpensive microhomogenizer suitable for routine processing of small amounts of soft tissue using an idea suggested by Meek (1976).

Species of the Agabus opacus- and lineellus-groups, as defined by Larson (1989), are combined and revised as members of the A. opacus-group. The A. opacus-group contains 13 species, namely: A. hypomelas Mannerheim, A. vancouverensis Leech, A. verisimilis Brown, A. vandykei Leech, A. wasastjernae (Sahlberg), A. opacus Aubé, A. confertus LeConte, A. euryomus sp.nov., A. walsinghami (Crotch), A. jimzim sp.nov., A. lineellus LeConte, A. discors LeConte, and A. austrodiscors sp.nov. Agabus wasastjernae and A. opacus are Holarctic and boreal; the remaining 11 species are confined to the Cordilleran region of western North America. Character distribution does not support recognition of subspecies of A. hypomelas, therefore A. hypomelas irregularis Mannerheim is regarded as a synonym of A. hypomelas. A lectotype is designated for A. discors LeConte. A phylogenetic tree of the hypothesized relationships between the species is presented.

A key to the species of the group is included. For each species, the following information is provided: synonymy; description and illustration of taxonomically important characters; notes on relationships, variation, distribution, and ecology; and a map of North American collection localities.

The construction of a temperature gradient area based upon a heat exchange grid is described. The main feature of the gradient apparatus is that it provides a flexible, yet temporally stable and evenly sloped gradient, which can be maintained in replicated troughs for many months with minimum attention. The control of the R.H. gradient in troughs containing a food medium is also discussed. Data relating to the life histories of Tribolium examined in the gradient is offered to exemplify the type of results obtainable.

The European apple sawfly, Hoplocampa testudinea (Klug), is a pest of apple, Malus pumila Bork. (Rosaceae), in orchards. Introduced from Europe onto Long Island, New York, in 1939, it gradually invaded the New England states (Pyenson 1943). Downes and Andison (1942) also reported the apple sawfly on Vancouver Island in 1940. In 1979, H. testudinea was discovered for the first time in southern Quebec (Paradis 1980), after which it spread throughout the apple-growing areas of this province (Vincent and Mailloux 1988). There are no published records on any natural enemies of H. testudinea in North America.

The tomato looper, Chrysodeixis chalcites (Esper) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is a major pest that feeds on some fodder crops, vegetables, and ornamental plants in diverse plant families. We studied the effect of different cultivars of tomato including: Cal.JN3, Hed Rio Grande, Rio Grande UG, SUN 6108 f1, Super crystal, and Super strain B on the life history of C. chalcites under laboratory conditions (25±1 °C, 65±5% relative humidity, and 16:8 (light:dark hours). Data were analysed using the age-stage, two-sex life table method. Tomato cultivars had significant effects on developmental time of larvae, pupae, and total preadult stages of C. chalcites. The longest (17.39 days) and the shortest (13.93 days) larval period were observed on Hed Rio Grande and SUN 6108 f1, respectively. The longest pupal period was observed on Cal.JN3 (12.16 days) and Hed Rio Grande (12.11 days) compared with other cultivars. The lowest amount of larval growth index and rate of ovipositon days was observed on Cal.JN3. The results of this study revealed that Cal.JN3 and Hed Rio Grande were the less suitable cultivars to C. chalcites compared with other cultivars studied and can be used in integrated pest management programme of this pest.

Male and female adult wasps belonging to the atomus group of the genus Anagrus Haliday, classified according to morphological techniques, were analyzed for their cuticular hydrocarbons to detect any possible differences between species. Most female specimens that were identified as either A. atomus L. or A. ustulatus Haliday, using morphological and morphometrical characters, showed two distinct cuticular hydrocarbon profiles. These profiles seemed to be independent of the plants the insects were collected from, the potential leafhopper host species (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae), and the emergence period, and they were largely consistent with classification based on morphology. Both A. atomus and A. ustulatus females were shown to emerge from leafhopper eggs found on Vitis vinifera L. (Vitaceae). Males, for which conclusive diagnostic characters are not yet available, showed the same two cuticular hydrocarbon patterns observed in females; on average, specimens displaying one hydrocarbon profile differed from those showing the other profile in three characters used for morphometrical analysis.

The spermatophores in mated female European corn borers, Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner), were shown to lose volume (depletion), change colour, and retract their spiral stalks over a period of about 7 days in such a way that postmating age could be estimated from their appearance. Colour changes and stalk retraction occurred more slowly in females that laid fertile eggs than in those that did not, but depletion occurred at the same rate. The average postmating age was estimated as 5.2, 6.3, 3.9, and 2.6 days for small light trap catches of first generation females in 1974, 1975, 1976, and 1977 and 4.4, 3.9, and 3.2 days for larger catches of second generation females in 1974, 1975, and 1977. Catches did not show decreasing numbers in successive age groups but tended to show modal values at < 1 day and at 4–6 days with only 1% living > 7 days. Redistribution of the moths from the date of capture back to the date of mating tended to give a unimodal curve of numbers on time in the 1975 second generation but not in 1974 or 1977. The unimodal curve of redistributed moths in 1975 was significantly different from a normal distribution. The redistribution showed that 58% of the moths mated within the heat unit interval when the second generation was expected to emerge, whereas only 38% of the actual catches occurred in this interval. Redistribution also showed that mating probably occurred even on cold nights when few moths were trapped, and conversely that on some warm nights with large catches most of the moths had mated on earlier nights.

Gastromermis boophthorae is distinguished from related species by its longer spicule, its characteristic lateral cord, numerous and small cells in the head region, and longer proximal reflex of the vagina. This species is divided into six varieties that are based mainly on differences occurring in the free-living postparasitic stages. It is recognized that the term “variety” is seldom used in nematology and is unprotected nomenclatorially, but its use here seems justified to designate infraspecific populations that appear at present to be sympatric and anatomically discontinuous, and that can only be recognized as immature nematodes. Six species of blackflies were found to be hosts and infection is reported from May until August in the Leningrad region. Percent infection ranged from 1 to 10 but reached 100% in one sample. Synchronization of host and parasite development is probably important in determining incidence of parasitism.

Robsonomyia reducta, new genus and new species, is described from males collected in British Columbia and California. Characters distinguishing it from other genera of Macrocerinae are discussed.

Entomophagous carnivoroids, especially those in which the development of the individual (ontogeny) is effected by its subsistence on the body fluids and the flesh of one host individual, show an extreme diversity in form and habit whereby their embryonic and larval stages are adapted for a highly specialized mode of life.

One of the more interesting of these adaptations is exhibited by biparental species of Hymenoptera in the placement of their haploid and diploid eggs in a particular organ or tissue of the host species. This adaptation may or may not be correlated with sex differentiation in host relations, a reproductive habit characterized either by differing oviposition responses that segregate haploid (male) and diploid (female) eggs to different kinds of hosts or, lacking such responses, by differing developmental mechanisms that segregate first instar males from first instar females.

The available information regarding the occurrence of the obligatory associations between the hymenopterous egg and a specific organ or tissue of the host, their characteristics, and pertinent physiological prerequisites are summarized.

Basically, these associations appear to be dependent on (1) the gravid carnivoroid usually being free of any physiological pressure (or urge) to oviposit despite the presence of eggs ready for deposition in the ovary and/or stored in the oviduct and (2) the limitation of egg deposition to the moment when the tip of the female’s ovipositor makes contact with a host or the spoor of the host. Freedom from oviposition pressure derives from the female’s ability to dispose of her "ripe" ovarian eggs by methods other than deposition, that is, either by storage in enlarged oviducts or by resorption into the bloodstream.

The Cypress Hills consist of a hilly elongate plateau straddling the Alberta–Saskatchewan border. They are mostly covered in a foothills-type vegetation but are surrounded by short-grass prairie and lie about 250 km east of the Rocky Mountain foothills. The upper 95 m remained unglaciated as a nunatak during the Wisconsinan glaciation. Dragonflies were collected at various times during May–August in 1982–1984 at 24 localities in Cypress Hills Provincial Park, Alberta. Thirty-one species were obtained, 3 of which (Aeshna multicolor, Gomphus graslinellus, and Libellula pulchella) are new records for Alberta. The dragonfly fauna of the Cypress Hills consists of species with the following Canadian distributions: 22 transcontinental (13 boreal, 7 southern, and 2 widespread), 4 southwestern, 2 western boreal–northwestern, 2 cordilleran, and 1 primarily prairie. An analysis of this fauna indicates that, following northward retreat of the glaciers, 22% of the present species came from cordilleran regions and 42% were derived from the boreal fauna. This corroborates the boreo–montane forest connection that is considered to have extended along the retreating ice front before the climate became too warm and resulted in the forest being replaced by grassland.

Otiocerus kirbyi Fh. is unknown to the writer. It would fall under CC. of Group II by description. It may well be a pale form of one of these species. The species found in collections under the name of signoreti Fh. is undoubtedly reaumuri Kby. Metcalf separated the latter as “without” the five spots ignoring the fact that Kirby specially describes them. In the explanation of Plate 40 Metcalf has reversed the name of O. degeeri, and coqueberti. The head of the example of the latter species must have been distorted or out of focus as in nature the apex is but little less than a right angle.