An account is given of some malformations affecting the meso- and meta-thoracic legs of Diprion similis Htg. after larvae were reared at certain photoperiods.

A new genus and species, Playaspalangia rothi, is described from Sonora, Mexico, in the intertidal zone of algae-covered rocks.

The following new taxa are described: Pseudopolygrammodes n. gen., type-species Polygrammodes priscalis Caradja, western China; Proteurrhypara n. gen., type-species Opsibotys ocellalis Warren (= Pyrausta discimaculalis Hampson), Japan; Proteurrhypara ocellalis apoialis n. subsp., Hokkaido, Japan; P. chekiangensis n. sp., W. Tien-mu Shan, China; P. occidentalis n. sp., Li-Kiang, N. Yuennan, China; Opsibotys perfuscalis n. sp., Honshu, Japan; and O. flavidecoralis n. sp., Li-Kiang, China. Pyrausta fuscobrunnealis South is transferred to Opsibotys.

The description of a new species of Phytodietus, subgenus Neuchorus, is presented. A closely related species is transferred to Neuchorus, also, and a key is provided to separate the two.

To make the Entomologist more interesting and useful to fruit-growers, it is intended to devote a page of every number issued during the summer season to giving practical hints in reference to insects whose times of appearance may be near at hand, with a condensed summary of such means and remedies as have been found most serviceable in lessening the numbers of such as are injurious. We shall be glad to receive communications from fruit-growers relating to any new insect pests occurring in their neighbourhood.

♂. Eyes naked, all the tibiae spinose antennae brush-like. Thorax, head and appendages brownish red. Anterior wings brownish red, silky, Median lines faint, blackish, tolerably approximate. T. a. line nearly straight, t. p. line eyenly rounded, tending to be obsolete on the veins; costal dots mark the inception of the lines. Median shade very faint, Stigmata ohsolete; there is merely an indication of the reniform. Subterminal line pale, narrow,continuous; terminal space darker than the wing, the fringe ligher.

In 1965, strains of the predaceous phytoseiid mite, Typhlodromus occidentalis Nesbitt, had developed resistance to azinphosmethyl, one of the organophosphate insecticides used to control the codling moth, Laspeyresia pomonella (L.). From 1966 to 1968, trials with integrated mite control in growers’ orchards were carried out successfully preserving the predator T. occidentalis. In most cases, an application of oil at the half-inch green bud stage was applied. The integrated concept of orchard mite control was recommended to the British Columbia fruit industry in 1969 and gained wide acceptance. In 1974, a survey of eight of the original integrated control orchards revealed that none of them had been treated with a summer acaricide since 1968. In six orchards, application of oil at the half-inch green bud stage had been used annually but two had not even received the oil spray. In all the orchards there was a good biological balance of a few predators and a few prey.

A new monotypic genus, Bolbothyreus, is proposed for the South American species Stenaspidius ruficollis (Bruch). The new genus seems most closely related to Bolbapium Boucomont from South America and less so to Stenaspidius Westwood from Australia.

Three species of caterpillars commonly attack cabbage at Ottawa, namely, the imported cabbageworm, Pieris rapae (L.), the larva of the diamondback moth, Plutella maculipennis (Curt.) and the cabbage looper, Trichoplusia ni (Hbn.). All three species are readily controlled with DDT sprays or dusts but the timing of the applications is imporrant. Growers sometimes begin dusting or spraying too early, wasting one or more applications, or they delay the first application until mid-August, when severe damage has already occurred. This paper is a report on four seasons' experiments at Ottawa, 1947 to 1950, to determine the number and timing of applications of DDT required for control of caterpillars on late cabbage.

Oeneis semplei Holl. As far as can be judged by a study of a figure of the underside of the male type (Butt. Book, Pl. LXIIi, fig. 3) this is the species referred to by Benjamin and myself as melissa Fabr. (Can. Ent. 1925, Vol. LVII, p. 58). In the series of four males and four females from the east coast of Labrador in the Canadian National Collection it is true that none show quite as definite a subapical ocellus as figured by Holland for the female of semplei but in two instances indications of this ocellus are clearly visible on the underside; in other respects the maculation appears to be identical. A slide of the genitalia should settle the question.

Cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is a serious pest of several crops throughout the world, representing millions of United States of America dollars worth of damage. This pest can adapt to various cropping systems in a wide geographical range and has high migratory potential. It features high fecundity and can develop resistance to almost all insecticides used for its management. Several investigations to develop microsatellite markers for H. armigera have not been successful because of the paucity of microsatellites in the lepidopteran genome. As well, collections of H. armigera from cotton fields of southern and western India were not yet studied for molecular genetic diversity. The current study aimed to screen publicly available expressed sequence tag resources for simple sequence repeats and assess their potential as DNA markers for assessment of gene flow between collections of southern and western India. We identified 30 polymorphic microsatellites for potential use in diversity analysis of H. armigera collections. Genetic diversity analysis revealed that the collections were widely diverse with population differentiation index (Fst) of 0.17. Furthermore, gene flow analysis revealed a mean frequency of private alleles of 11% within the collections. The microsatellite resources we developed could be widely used for molecular diversity or population genetic research involving this important pest of cotton and food crops.

The factors responsible for heavy mortality of Culex tarsalis populations in saran plastic screen cages were investigated. Two compounds, Dow Corning® Antifoam A and Aldo® MLD (glyceryl monolaurate, Glyco Chemicals Ltd.), used as foam preventatives in screen processing, were tested with C. tarsalis. One of the compounds, Aldo® MLD, was shown to be toxic to mosquitoes. Toxic principles were removed easily from saran screening by washing with detergent and water.

The antifeeding compound AC 24055 (4′-(3,3-dimethyl-1-triazeno) acetanilide) was added to the diet of Drosophila melanogaster at several concentrations. Larval mortality and the duration of larval development increased significantly with increasing concentration from 125 to 625 parts per million (p.p.m.), and these effects were the same in males and females. Within this range of concentrations the weight of recently emerged adults declined with increasing concentration, the loss being greater for females than males. Egg production declined with increased concentration from 200 to 1000 p.p.m., particularly during the second week of egg production. Egg hatchability was not affected at 200 p.p.m., but from 400 to 1000 p.p.m. it declined rapidly from the second to the sixth day; with continued exposure, fertility was partly restored. The life span of adults decreased as the concentration increased from 500 to 1500 p.p.m. Concretions were observed in the Malpighian tubules of females reared in food containing 400 p.p.m. or more of the compound, but not in males.

This moth was first reported on this continent as a pest in a consignment of peanuts, received in California from China (de Ong, 1919). Mr. Hahn W. Capps, of the United States Department of Agriculture, informs me, in litt., that 6 adults from that infestation, together with 2 from “near prunes” in 1930, and 8 from a prune warehouse in 1931, at San José, are in the U.S. National Museum.

The following list is based upon a very interesting collection made, chiefly at Cedar Hill, near Victoria, by the Rev. G. W. Taylor, F.R.S.C., but includes such other species as I have found described, or recorded from Vancouver Island. Even with such additions it is a short list in comparison with those that could be compiled from much less extensive areas in Ontario. British Columbia has, as yet, had but few resident entomologists, and its rich fauna is, in consequence, but poorly known. Butterflies and beetles have been fairly well collected, but in other directions there are almost unexplored fields for investigation.