Studies on the ecology of Megachile perihirta Ckll. (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae), a leaf-cutter bee that is a valuable pollinator of alfalfa in southern Alberta, indicated that the pillager (depredator) Nemognatha lutea Lec. (Coleoptera: Meloidae) and the parasite Dasymutilla fulvohirta (Cress.) (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) have other hosts besides M. perihirta (Hobbs, 1956). Adults of both species at the nesting habitat of a population of M. perihirta have been too numerous to have come solely from the cells of M. perihirta; also, the wide range in size of the adults of N. lutea indicated that other insects also served as hosts for this species. Mickel (1928, 1928a) found that D. fulvohirta was a pillager of Anthophora occidentalis Cress. In southern Alberts, the wingless females of D. fulvohirta would be within reach of A. occidentalis while parasitizing M. perihirta, as the vertical clay banks that house A. occidentalis are topped by the prairie into which M. perihirta tunnels. As N. lutea lays its eggs in masses on the phyllaries of the buds of wavy-leaved thistle, Cirsium undulatum (Nutt.) Spreng., a favourite food source of M. perihirta, and as A. occidentalis also uses C. undulatum as a food source, investigations were conducted in whether A. occidentalis might be one of the principal hosts of N. lutea too.

Though the larvæ and life-histories of several species of the Chrysomelid genus Donacia have been described more or less fully by European entomologists, I have been able to find but one such note in American entomological literature. In 1877 Dr. A. S. Packard gave a brief description of the larva and life-history of Donacia cincticornis, Newm., var. proxima, Kby., in the report of the U. S. Geological Survey for that year (p. 806), together with figures of the larva and cocoon (Pl. LXX., figs. 17–19) which he found on the roots of Nuphar advena.

Nine species of hymenopterous parasitoids were trapped on sticky traps as they were attracted to red cedar logs infested with the eastern jumper bark beetle, Phloeosinus dentatus (Say). All were successfully reared from infested logs. The parasitoids Cheiropachus arizoninsis (Ashmead), Eurytoma aequabilis Bugbee, Heydenia unica Cook & Davis, and Spathius impus Matthews were reared directly from P. dentatus larvae.

Five species of parasitoids reared from P. dentatus larvae or from infested logs commonly attack the southern pine beetle and Ips spp. beetles, indicating that P. dentatus may be an important alternate host when the other host populations are low.

Post-attack injections of full- and half-strength Silvisar 510 (cacodylic acid) appear to inhibit populations of Dendroctonus rufipennis (Kirby) more effectively than quarter- and tenth-strength dilutions. Arsenic concentrations in the phloem were highest in the full-strength treatments and progressively decreased in the lesser strength treatments. Arsenic concentrations in the phloem were generally highest just above the frill while concentrations at 20 ft and higher above the frill were significantly lower than those just above the frill. Arsenic concentrations in the needles were highest in the full- and half-strength treatments and decreased progressively in the lesser strength treatments. Concentrations in the needles were essentially equal in the upper and lower portions of the crown. Arsenic concentrations in the soil were not affected by the treatments.

Eight new species of Amblysellus are described and illustrated: A. cereus n. sp. from Guatemala, A. torqus n. sp. and A. excavus n. sp. from Ecuador, A. dedecus n. sp., A. necopinus n. sp., A. copulus n. sp., and A. macularis n. sp. from Mexico, and A. acuerus n. sp. from North America north of Mexico. A key to the known species of the genus is presented.

In 1941 Irvine Fox (Canad. Ent., 73:2) stated in an article on North American Japygidae that not a single species had been reported from Canada, and no subsequent record appears in the literature. It is therefore a privilege to be able to publish the first record of the occurrence of one of these interesting insects in Canada.

In Manitoba, Canada, commercial soybeans and two types of field beans, navy and pinto, were sampled for plant bugs. At the centre and margins of 36 fields, sweep net and tap tray samples were taken weekly. In all three crops, Lygus lineolaris (Palisot de Beauvois) (Hemiptera: Miridae) comprised >78% and Adelphocoris lineolatus (Goeze) (Hemiptera: Miridae) <10% of adult mirids. Species composition varied among years but not among crops. For Lygus Hahn, nymphs were 46% of the catch in trays and 23% in sweeps, but total Lygus catch in trays was >2% of that in sweeps. Catch/sample effort was similar at field centres and margins for both Lygus adults and nymphs. Lygus lineolaris reproduced and developed in all three crops. In field beans, Lygus adults were first collected in late vegetative and early pod set stages and late instar nymphs and adults were present from pod elongation until maturity – results consistent with immigration of first summer generation reproductive adults and development of the second generation in the crops. There was evidence of late season immigration of Lygus into all crops. There was no loss of seed quantity attributable to mirids in any of the crops; in field beans there was no evidence that mirids reduced seed quality.

The account of this insect given by the early fathers of Œconomic Entomology is so charming that it seems almost profane to disturb a history accepted by most of their credulous offspring with unquestioning faith. Its wonderful habits and spura-rational instincts have been stock in trade ever since, and, like the fiction of the fly walking on glass by a sucker arrangement of its feet, is likely to hold its place in paste and scissor literature for all time to come.

well over half the agricultural weeds in Canada are introduced species, many of them introduced without their chief insect enemies. Biological control, by the introdtiction of these insects, would reduce the aggressiveness of these weeds; but it should be regarded as a supplement to, and not a replacement for, mechanical or chemical control as it is most likely to succeed where these methods are ineffective or impractical. Thus the weeds chosen for biological control are either: resistant to chemical or mechanical control; serious pests of range or other low quality land where conventional methods of control are impractical; or resistant to control because they are continually spreading on to arable land from hedgerows and waste areas.

In a paper published during the war Reeks pointed out that the sawfly which has caused much damage in the forests of Canada for about twenty years is identical with Lophyrus hercyniae, described by Hartig in 1837. In the same work he proved that Hartig was correct in describing hercyniae as a species distinct from Lophyrus polytomus Htg. Enslin's view that the two species should be united under the name polytomus is quite wrong. Reeks has shown that important biological and anatomical differences exist between them. Benson erected the genus Gilpinia for the species polytomus and for allied species. Reeks was unable to examine the types of the two species, kept in the Hartig collection in Germany, and for that reason he sent to me some specimens of the “European spruce sawfly” from Canada, with the request that I compare them with the types in the Hartig collection. The results of my examination are as follows.

Capulinia crateraformis, n. sp.

The ♀ makes a small crater-shaped gall in the bark of the limbs and twigs. This gall is about 1.5 mm. high, and consists of an outer circular ring from 1 mm. to 1.5 mm. in diameter, and a small cone within, which can readily be removed. The cavity inhabited by the insect is smooth and is lined with a white powder. The adult ♀ is small, oval in outline, pink, and is dusted with a white powdery secretion. Boiled in a solution of KOH it becomes colourless. Size, after boiling: length, .96 mm.; width, .73 mm.