Except for one species described by Cresson as Cteniscus californicus, but apparently referable to this genus, all the known American species occur in Canada. A study of the material contained in the National Collection has revealed several species which appear to be new. Descriptions of these are given below together with notes on the previously described species and a key is provided for the separation of all species except californicus. According to the original description of californicus it differs from the species here treated in having the mesoscutum prominently marked with two reddish longitudinal stripes.

The classification of the flower flies often referred to Syrphus s.l. has long been confused. European workers have usually placed all species in Syrphus or in Syrphus and Epistrophe; until 1950, American workers usually recognized the genera Syrphus, Metasyrphus, Epistrophe and Allograpta. Earlier attempts to revise the classification were in large part successful as far as many of the smaller, more distinctive groups of the tribe Syrphini were concerned, but Syrphus s.l. remained in a very unsatisfactory condition. In 1950 Fluke proposed a new classification of Syrphus s.l. based almost entirely on the male terminalia and treating particularly the New World species. It was a great advance on preceding attempts but left one large group in an unsatisfactory state. However, because no key to genera was provided, and because characters other than those of the terminalia were neglected, his arrangement was not generally accepted.

Since so much has been written upon the habits of our ordinary Leaf-cutting Bee, it would seem presumptuous for me to offer anything further in connection there with. But a few facts which came to my notice recently are sufficiently interesting and important to merit publication.

During the latter part of June, 1873, several cells, a half dozen in number, were sent to me by a friend, who had accidentally brought them to light while digging underneath the shade of a Spiræ corymbosa.

For ten years we have been trying, and trying in vain, both in England and America, to obtain a copy of Kirby's descriptions of the insects of the Northern parts of British America, contained in the fourth volume of Richardson's Fauna Boreali-Americana, published at Norwich in 1837. Many of our friends have been making similar attempts, and always with the like ill-success. We have had, however, occasional access to a copy in the iibrary of the University of Toronto, which, with the exception of one in the Library of Parliament at Ottawa, is the only copy we know of in Canada.

In the course of determination work, largely for Dr. J. Comstock of the Los Angeles Museum, I have received several species of Lepidoptera which appear to be undescribed. I therefore offer descriptions of these in the present paper. Through the courtesy of Dr. Comstock and Mr. Don Meadows the types are deposited in the Canadian National Collection.

Four compounds were identified from female sex-pheromone gland extracts of Acleris fimbriana Merick, an important pest in northern fruit orchards of China, by gas chromatography, gas chromatography – mass spectrometry, and flight-tunnel and field-trapping tests. These compounds were (E)-11,13-tetradecadienal (E11,13-14:Ald), (E)-11,13-tetradecadien-1-ol (E11,13-14:OH), (E)-11-tetradecenyl acetate (E11-14:Ac), and (E)-11,13-tetradecadienyl acetate (E11,13-14:Ac). In field-trapping tests, traps baited with E11,13-14:Ald alone produced the highest trap captures of male A. fimbriana, but the other three individual compounds did not capture any mates. Addition of E11,13-14:Ac to E11,13-14:Ald enhanced trap capture, whereas addition of E11-14:Ac had no effect. A ternary blend of E11,13-14:Ald, E11,13-14:Ac, and E11-l4:Ac in a 6:4:1 ratio captured 7.5 times mean males per trap than virgin females. E11,13-14:OH inhibited trap capture when it was added to E11,13-14:Ald or the ternary blend. This pheromone could be used to monitor populations of A. fimbriana and to control this important pest of fruits in China.

Cisthene striata, nov. sp.—Antennae and palpi black. Head, pro-thorax and patagia creamy, the prothorax of a deeper shade. Thorax above dull gray. Abdomen rose coloured above and laterally, gray ventrally, Legs brorwnish-gray.

Just when this species first became abundant in Ohio we are unable to say, but it was not until June, 1898, that we began a study of its habits. The insect is quite generally distributed in Ohio, as we have observed it at Alliance, Wooster, Tiffin, Fremont, and Clyde, and perhaps over the eastern and western parts of the United States, as it is found at Washington, D. C., where Dr. Chittenden is making a careful study of it, and Mr. Mally observed it in abundance in the summer of 1899, at Des Moines, Iowa.

For some time I have doubted whether the existing determinations of certain of Walsingham's species of plumes, based on the revision of this family by Barnes and Lindsey, were correct. Through the kind offices of Messrs. Tams and Stringer of the British Museum of Natural History I have been furnished with drawings of the left claspers of the male genitalia of a number of Walsingham's types in the genus Oidaematophorus; a study of these drawings in connection with my own slide material has confirmed my suspicions and shown that in at least two cases there had been misidentifications by the above-mentioned authors. With a view to clarifying the situation somewhat in this extremely difficult group I offer the following notes.

Pristiphora harai sp.nov. collected on red spruce, Picea glehnii Masters, in Hokkaido is described, illustrated, and compared with P. ezomatsuvora Togashi.

In a recent note (1938, Canadian Entomologist, LXX, 128) I suggested that this name should be applied in a strict sense to the species the larva of which feeds on Aster and Grindelia, but hesitated to separate the Balsamorrhiza feeder as a distinct species owing to lack of material; I had, however, called attention (1936, Canadian Entomologist, LXVIII, 63) to certain differences in the setal structure of the pupal cases which warranted further investigation.

In July of last year there bloomed in my garden a fine plant of that variety of evening primrose known as “Lamarckiana”(Œnothera Lamarckiana). I had been advised by an Entomological friend to procure this flower with the view of attracting moths at night, and found it to succeed admirably. Its lovely yellow petals expand suddenly about seven o'clock every evening, and diffuse a fragrance all around very attractive to Sphingidae and other nocturnal moths. The flowers expand about three inches and are very beautiful; they remain expanded until some time after sunrise the following morning, when they close to open no more.

The new Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of North America which I have prepared has been issued as Bulletin No.52 of the United States National Museum. It comprises 740 pages. The edition is being distributed by the Smithsonian Institution, without charge. Those not receiving the publications of the National Museum regularly, and who are interested enough in entomology so that this publication would be of practical use to them, will be cheerfully recommended by me to receive a copy, on making application to the undersigned.

Eleven species of buprestid larvae of the genus Chrysobothris selected from the H. E. Burke Collection of the United States National Museum are described in this paper. They are: C. bacchari Van Dyke, C. costifrons Waterhouse, C. debilis LeConte, C. dolata Horn, C. edwardsii Horn, C. ignicollis Horn, C. lucana Horn, C. mali Horn, C. nixa Horn, C. octocola LeConte, and C. tranquebarica (Gmelin). The genus of host plants for each buprestid species and the insect's geographical distribution are listed.

Though historically noted as one of the most noxious pests of vines in Europe, California, and other places where vinifera-type grapes are grown extensively, the grape phylloxera, Phylloxera vitifoliae (Fitch), was for many years of little concern to grape growers in Canada. In the Niagara Peninsula, where more than 98% of Ontario grapes, and more than 95% of Canadian wine grapes, are grown, the insect has been known for many years in its most conspicuous form, in galls on the leaves of wild grapes and a few unimportant cultivated varieties. The more infamous root form was known to be present, but the resistance of the older American varieties growing in most of the vineyards was regarded as sufficient protection from a native American pest that at one time threatened to destroy the French wine industry.