This giant race of the species freija Thun. was collected along the Alaska Military Highway in British Columbia. In size and wing shape this would appear to be a race of frigga Thun. rather than of freija, and we have no doubt but that those who depend on external characters only will insist that we are in error; nevertheless gentalic study leaves no doubt as to its true relationship with freija.

Two aberrant ground beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) specimens from the genus Calosoma Weber, 1801 were collected in Waco, Texas, United States of America, in 2012–2013. The specimens, which are morphologically most similar to Calosoma wilcoxi LeConte, 1848, but are dark blue-black instead of the typical metallic green. We employed DNA barcoding and phylogenetic methods to confirm the identities of the aberrant specimens. Preliminary phylogenetic analyses of cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) sequences of central Texas and southwestern species place the aberrant specimens with 100% confidence as C. wilcoxi. The new variant of C. wilcoxi presumably occurs at low densities. Frequent collecting from 2011 to 2014 resulted in the discovery of only two of the aberrant coloured individuals among hundreds of typical green specimens. These specimens (to our knowledge) represent the first published record of melanistic Calosoma from North America. While the majority of North American species in the genus are naturally black, two of the most widely distributed and abundant species, C. scrutator (Fabricius, 1775) and C. wilcoxi, are typically green. We sequenced the aberrant form as well as all species co-occurring with the new colour morph at the collection locality and used records from GenBank and the Barcode of Life Data System to generate a preliminary phylogeny of the genus, which suggested that some of the currently established subgenera are likely not monophyletic.

Outside of pest control reports, little attention has been paid to interior ecosystems in high-latitude regions. Opportunistic sampling of live arthropods captured inside the University of Alaska Museum Fairbanks, Alaska, United States of America allowed us to describe and analyse one such interior ecosystem. We document a minimum of 77 arthropod species over 18 years. Beetles, spiders, and booklice represented 80% of the total abundance. Of those captured, synanthropes consisted primarily of fungivores and detritivores, seasonals consisted primarily of predators and omnivores, and transients consisted primarily of predators and had greater diet and species diversity than the synanthropes and transients. January was the most common month for capturing synanthropes, September for capturing seasonals, and July for capturing transients. Four synanthropic species not previously known from Alaska, which appear to have breeding populations inside the museum, were found: Dorypteryx domestica (Smithers, 1958) (Psocodea: Psyllipsocidae), Cartodere constricta (Gyllenhal, 1827), Dienerella filum (Aubé, 1850), and Corticaria serrata (Paykull 1800) (Coleoptera: Latridiidae). Three transient and one synanthrope species previously unreported from Alaska, with no evidence of breeding populations, were also found: the click beetle Danosoma obtectum (Say, 1839) (Coleoptera: Elateridae), a spider in the genus Phantyna, probably the species P. bicornis (Emerton, 1915) (Araneae: Dictynidae), two Colobopsis sp. ant specimens (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), and the synanthropic spider Oecobius cellariorum (Dugès, 1836) (Araneae: Oecobiidae).

Lake Worth is an elongated bay connected with the ocean, two and one-half miles from its northern end, and separated from it by a narrow elevated stirp of land, varying in width from two hundered to nine hundred yards. Its length is about 20 miles, while in width it averages about thirteen hundred yards.

Hybomitra enigmatica n. sp., previously confused with Hybomitra sonomensis (O.S.), is described in larval, pupal, and adult stages and compared with the latter species and with H. phaenops (O.S.). Hybomitra philipi Stone is synonymized with H. sonomensis. The distribution of these species in western North America is given.

These two families immediately follow the Coccinellidæ in our lists, and are evidently related to them in many respects, the former, perhaps, the more closely, especially in tarsal strucutre. In habits there are, however, wide differences, the Coccinellidæ, as a already stated in a former paper, being chiefly aphidivorous, while the Endomychidæ and Erotylidæ are mostly fungivorous.

Black fly larvae and pupae were collected on aquatic vegetation from the Penobscot River, Maine in August 1977. Cephalic apotome measurements were made on larvae of Simulium penobscotensis Snoddy and Bauer and indicated the presence of seven instars. Simulium vittatum Zetterstedt, S. fibrinflatum Twinn, and S. penobscotensis were the principal species found. The proportion of S. penobscotensis in the samples increased with water depth to 1 m.

Two new species of Neoathyreus, lyriferus and apiculatus, both from Costa Rica, are described and illustrated. New records for Mexico and Central America are listed for eight other species of Neoathyreus.

It was with some surprise that the writer encountered a representative of this rare and, until recently, little known genus, from a locality in south-eastern British Columbia. The specimen in question is a female reared at Ottawa, by officers of the Forest Insect Survey of the Division of Entomology, Irom the cocoon of a Chrysopid beaten from Engelmann spruce, Aug. 26, 1938, by Mr. D. N. Ross of the British Columbia Forest Service, in the vicinity of Bayne's Lake, B. C. The adult parasite emerged in the laboratory, Feb. 20, 1939.

The purpose of this study was to explain a peculiarity of resource use by two sympatric bumble bee species. In one study area, pronounced resource partitioning was observed: Bombus terricola Kirby was confined to Asclepias syriaca L. and Bombus ternarius Say to Apocynum androsaemifolium L., and yet in another area both species frequented Apocynum. Measurements of floral characteristics and forager behaviour on Apocynum led to an hypothesis regarding floral use by two bumble bee species: B. terricola is relatively inefficient at flying between flowers, and so tends to visit Apocynum only in areas where the plants are closely spaced. Half of the patch of Apocynum was clipped so as to decrease flower density, with the expectation that, as a result, the frequency of B. terricola relative to B. ternarius would be reduced. The prediction was confirmed. The results underscore the role of context in floral use by bees.

After successfully rearing the pale western cutworm, Agrotis orthogonia Morrison, for years in the laboratory such severe mortality developed in the colonies that further nutritional studies were impossible. The symptoms and effects of the disease syndrome are described. Neither steam sterilization of food and rearing equipment nor use of antibiotics in the food prevented disease. A bacterium tentatively identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa was isolated from dead insects and when injected or fed to healthy larvae caused the disease. Use of a ’clean room’ and associated aseptic techniques for rearing the insects reduced the numbers of microorganisms in the environment and again permitted the pale western cutworm to be reared successfully.

A key is given for 13 species and two subspecies of the genus Nearctaphis in North America, including all species formerly in the genus Roepkea. The hosts, life histories, and forms for all species are poorly known and more collecting and host transfer experiments are urgently required.

A year ago last autumn, while rambling about the fields, we took especial notice of the galls upon the golden-rod. We saw that there were two kinds, the elongated and the round. We knew that from the former came a tiny moth, well-known to us, and from the latter a fly with which we were not familiar, or, if familiar, not known to come from this gall. The elongated galls were all empty, but the round ones we found upon examination contained each a small white grub. We gathered a quantity of the galls and placed them in a jelly glass on the writing table where they would be constantly before us for observation.

The hypothetical ancestor of the Aphididae was probably a large generalized form, always winged, both sexes occurring in each generation, and with only a few generations each year. Migration would be lacking, and the development of the aphid ancestor would probably be tied up with one of the primitive types of plants occurring in that early period.

♀.—Length, 4.5 mm. Head, thorax and abdomen above brownish-yellow; collar above, the middle mesothoracic lobe anteriorly, the lateral lobes and the metathorax, fuscous or blackish; head beneath mouth parts, pronotum, thorax at sides and beneath, tegulæ, legs and venter, white; the tarsi more or less and the femora toward apex with a decided yellowish tinge; stemmaticum dusky, the ocelli pale; occiput with two dusky spots. Antennæ 48-jointed, slender, much longer than the body, the scape and pedicel somewhat dusky, the flagellum pale brownish-yellow. Mesonotum smooth, trilobed, the metanotum shagreened. Wings hyaline; the costa, stigma, poststigmatal and basal veins pale yellowish, the other veins dusky; second abscissa of radius about three times as long as the first, the second submarginal cell, therefore, long, longer than the first and almost as long as the third Abdomen as long or possibly a little longer than the head and thorax united. Segments 1–3 coarsely longitudinally striated, the following almost smooth, but opaque; the first segment is scarcely as long as the second and third united, the third about half the length of the second, the fourth and following shorter, subequal; ovipositor distinctly exserted, scarcely as long as the basal joint of hind tarsi, the tip black. Type, No. 3648, U. S. N. M.

My last paper dealt chiefly with Ottawa sawflies, and in the present article I venture to describe a few Western species which have been for some time in my collection, and which seen to be unnamed. Synoptic tables are added as an aid to collectors of these insects.