In the flour beetle Tribolium castaneum single-pair matings of different age combinations, young (1 day old) and old (10 days old) maintained for two weeks at 29 ± 2 °C. and 70% relative humidity showed that males matured sexually on the second day of adult life; females matured on the fourth. Between days 7 and 14, regardless of age, productivity was expressed as a single straight line with zero slope and an intercept of 16.4.

Young x young pairs maintained at 25, 29 and 32 °C. had fertilities peculiar to the temperature. The higher the temperature, the earlier reproduction began and the greater the number of F1 adults per day during the two-week experimental period.

The preoviposition period of R. pomonella (Walsh) varied from 5 to 11 days at constant and 6 to 15 days at variable rearing conditions. Its duration was influenced by the source of the adults, cultivars for oviposition, and rearing conditions: ca. 3 days longer for adults from infested Wealthy apples than for adults from infested Gravensteins, ca. 2 days longer when the apples for oviposition were late season cultivars, and ca. 1 day longer at variable than at constant rearing conditions. Estimates of the preoviposition period of adults in two unsprayed orchards were 14 and 21 days in 1979 and 16 days in both orchards in 1980, and were 7–14 days longer than that for adults at constant rearing conditions.

The oviposition periods of adults were 40–74 days at constant and 25–55 days at variable rearing conditions in 1979, and were influenced by the source of the adults, cultivars for oviposition, and the rearing conditions. Females from infested Gravensteins laid 339.2 and 180.7 eggs/female at constant and variable conditions and those from infested Wealthy 178.4 and 68.8 eggs/female at constant and variable conditions. Females also laid fewer eggs in Red Delicious apples than in Gravenstein, McIntosh, or Cortland apples.

The first spray for control of apple maggot in Nova Scotia can be applied at least 14 days after first emergence or first capture as the preoviposition period in natural (orchard) conditions exceeded the recommended time of 7–10 days.

Connatichela artemisiae, a new genus and species of leptopiine weevil endemic to the Yukon Territory, Canada, is described and illustrated. The genus is placed in the group of leptopiine genera characterized by the absence of metepisternal suture, lack of scales on antennal funiculus, and presence of broad scales on antennal scape. Connatichela members are readily distinguished from related leptopiine genera by the presence of connate tarsal claws and the structure of male and female genitalia. Phylogenetic and zoogeographic relationships of the genus are unresolved at present. Adult specimens were found in association with plants of a small species of Artemisia.

Fossil material of mid-Wisconsin age assignable to C. artemisiae from the Yukon Territory, extreme western Northwest Territories, and Alaska suggests a slightly more widespread Pleistocene distribution, with recent restriction to the Yukon Territory. This restriction may have resulted from a decrease, during the post Wisconsin, in availability of dry steppe-tundra habitats throughout most of Beringia.

Eight new species of Cicadellidae are described, largely from Manitoban material: Macropsis feminis, M. sauront, M. vinea, Gyponana gracilis, Cicadula junea, Laevicephalus bison, Macrosteles (Sagatus) flavalis, and Paraphlepsius varispinus. The male genitalia of Fitchana twiningi (Uhler) is described for the first time. Colour forms of Macropsis nigricans Van D. and Balclutha punctata (Thunb.) are illustrated.

Simple, sticky traps were used to monitor adult sciarid populations, and soil cores were used to monitor larval sciarid populations in commercial cucumber greenhouses. Four methods of sticky-trap placement were compared and it was found that 5 traps in a “W” formation correlated closely with more intensive 12- and 30-trap random placements. All 4 of the greenhouses studied exhibited similar sciarid population patterns in 1983 but only 2 showed large sciarid populations in 1984 and the other 2, using different overwinter sanitation methods, had no detectable sciarid populations. Moth-flies (Psychodidae) were often the most numerous form of small dipteran found on the traps. Larval sciarids occurred in the upper 5 cm of each 10-cucumber bag, and weekly 50-mL core samples showed a range of 0.0 to 1.1 larvae/mL which corresponded to estimated larval populations of up to 2500 per bag. Plants that had succumbed to fungal pathogens and then been sampled immediately for sciarid larvae were found to have fewer larvae per bag than apparently healthy plants. Insect monitoring in cucumber greenhouses has enabled growers to reduce and/or eliminate the need for insecticide applications against sciarids during the growing season.

The walnut and hickory aphids comprise the genera Chromnaphis Walker, Monellia Oestlund and a somewhat aberrant species of Myzocallis Passerini. Chromaphis contains a single species that occurs widely on walnut in Europe and North America. Monellia is larger, is restricted to North-America, and has been recorded from both walnut and hickory. Four species of Monellia occur in Canada, one of which is herein described as new.

In the description of the Byron Bog (Judd, 1957) it was pointed out that one method of collecting insects in the bog was the use of a trap baited with malt extract and the position of the trap in the bog was also shown. The construction and use of the trap are described by Judd (1956). The trap was in operation from May 15 to November 15, 1956 and insects were removed from the trap each day and counted. Among the insects so collected were horseflies and deerflies. In addition, four of these flies were coIlected by making a circular sweep with an insect net, held at arm's length, through the tops of the bushes in the Chamaedaphnetum calyculatae association (Judd, 1957). The net used was one with a rim twelve inches in diameter and the radius of the circle over which the sweep was made was six feet. A single sweep was made each day from May 15 to November 15, 1956 and the flies so collected were sorted and counted.

The synthetic ability of type-A neurosecretory cells (NSC) and corpus allatum (CA) was investigated autoradiographically in both normal virgin females and those from which the frontal ganglion had been removed. Incorporation of 3H-cystine and 3H-uridine into the NSC was significantly lower in frontal ganglionectomized insects than in controls. There appeared to be no relationship between the level of isotope uptake and the amount of stainable material in the NSC. Ability of the CA to incorporate 3H-uridine seemed unaffected by the operation.

The ‘clover’ mite, Bryobia praetiosa Koch, has long been known to be a complex of closely related species or biological races differing greatly in host range, life-history, and habits. Morgan and Anderson (1957) reviewed the problem and described the form occurring on fruit trees in British Columbia as a new species, B. arborea, to be known as the brown mite, and these authors (Anderson and Morgan, 1958) also published a detailed study of the life-histories and habits of this species and of the true clover mite, B. praetiosa. Although the presence of Bryobia mites on fruit trees in Eastern North America, including Ontario, has long been recognized, they have seldom received more than casual mention and no extensive study of their biology in this area appears to have been undertaken. The species has little economic importance in Ontario (Putman and Herne, 1959).

Cyphocleonus achates (Fahraeus) is a weevil used for the biological control of diffuse knapweed, Centaurea diffusa Monnet Del La Marck, and spotted knapweed, Centaurea maculosa Monnet Del La Marck, in North America. This research provided specific information on the biology of this insect in British Columbia. Adult weevils were released at six densities (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 male–female pairs) in each of 2 years into plots containing spotted knapweed. Larvae per plant, larval mass, larval survival, adult emergence, and air temperature were measured. Larval production increased with the release density of weevils in both the 1992 cohort and the 1993 cohort. Larval mass did not differ between years. Larval mass also did not vary with the release density of adults or the number of larvae per root. Larval survival of the 1993 cohort ranged from 17 to 48%, whereas that of the 1994 cohort ranged from 0 to 91%. Adult emergence began after the accumulation of 726–1144 degree-days. For both cohorts the date of first emergence occurred earlier, as the average number of larvae per plant increased for both cohorts. Increasing competition for food or space in the roots can induce early emergence. Sex ratios did not vary with date of emergence or release density of adult weevils. Adult emergence increased with the release density in the 1992 cohort, suggesting the average larval densities did not exceed the carrying capacity of the roots. The peak emergence rate increased with the release density in the 1992 cohort, but not in the 1993 cohort because of lower larval survival.

Mortality of the European red mite, Panonychus ulmi (Koch), on peach leaves was directly related to the uniformity of distribution and amount of deposit of dicofol for up to 4 days after the spray was applied. Mite mortality decreased rapidly from the 4th to the 11th day after spraying, whereas the dicofol detected by chemical analysis decreased at a slower rate. The minimum deposit of dicofol for 100% kill of the mite, immediately after spraying, was between 0.3 and 0.8 μg/cm2, depending upon uniformity of coverage. Doubling the dose did not increase the mortality then or later. Fourteen days after spraying, the dicofol deposit on some leaves was still 0.7–0.8 μg/cm2 but there was practically no mite mortality.

The behavior of the balsam woolly aphid in relation to its dispersal and establishment is reported. Light orientation trials provided no evidence that crawlers move over their host in a distinct manner. But the number of crawlers that drop from their host increases with light intensity and temperature. Crawler activity may also influence dropping, but activity declines rapidly with increasing age particularly at higher temperatures. Populations along stand edges are probably more subject to long range dispersal.

Populations of flying potato aphids (Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Thomas)), available to initiate new infestations on crops, were measured by plant trapping from 1966 to 1971 and by suction trapping from 1967 to 1978 at Harrow, Ontario. Yearly total catches were extremely variable and in some years there were periods of 2 weeks without catches during the summer. The long term annual flight pattern was a unimodal curve with a peak in August. Counts by plant trapping correlated with those obtained by suction trapping, and catches on Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, and peppers were all positively correlated. Plants exposed on a background of bare soil attracted more alatae than those exposed on a background of mowed weeds. The first female alatae were caught in the suction traps on 21 June ± 5 days each year and the first male alatae on 22 October ± 2 days. The last female alatae were caught on 21 October ± 5 days and the last males on 6 November ± 2 days.

A polyhedrosis virus was found in collections of Bruce spanworm, Operophtera bruceata (Hulst), larvae from two locations in British Columbia in 1957 (O. N. Morris, pers. comm.). Bruce spanworm was prevalent in the Maritime Provinces and Quebec in 1963 and 1964 and a polyhedrosis virus was credited with terminating this outbreak (Forbes et al. 1964, 1965; Martineau 1964, 1965). A detailed examination of the virus from Quebec showed that it was a singly-embedded (unicapsid) nuclear polyhedrosis virus (Smirnoff 1964) which is classified as Baculovirus subgroup A (Matthews 1979).

All of the species described below were taken in Colorado. For most of the specimens I am indebted to the industry of my wife, who has done a large amount of work with the sweep net in Northern Colorado. No American species have yet been described as belonging to any of the genera mentioned, though some of the species described under Allotria may possibly be referable to some one of them. A number of species of Allotria in my collection are left until such time as the already described forms are more fully elucidated.

The commercial feeding stimulant Pheast® was tested in the laboratory to determine its attractive and phagostimulatory effects on larval Choristoneura rosaceana (Harris). In choice experiments, larvae were attracted initially to filter paper discs treated with Pheast, but did not remain on or near treated discs. Larvae were not attracted initially to raspberry leaf discs treated with Pheast, but were more likely to stay near treated leaf discs than water-dipped ones. Larvae were neither attracted to nor arrested on whole raspberry leaves treated with Pheast. In no-choice experiments, larvae fed Pheast-treated leaves consumed more leaf tissue than, and grew almost twice as quickly as, larvae fed leaves dipped in water. When larvae were fed leaves treated with Dipel WP (Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki) plus 5% Pheast, the mortality was 93% greater than that of larvae fed leaves treated with Dipel WP alone. These results suggest that Pheast has potential to enhance efficacy of B. thuringiensis against C. rosaceana on raspberries in the field.

Pompilus, Fabr., is preoccupied, and the family name Pompilidæ must be changed to Ceropalidæ, as has been shown recently by Fox (vide Ent. News, Vol. XII., 1901, p. 268). In consequence, my subfamily Pompilinæ must be changed to Aporinæ.

This subfamily is unquestionably the largest in number of genera and species of any of the groups of the family Ceropalidæ (Pompilidæ). Most of the species, in comparison with those found in the Pespinæ, are of medium size or small, few attaining much over an inch in length, while the vast majority are much smaller.