I. Nephele.—Kirby, Faun. Bor. Amer., 1837, described this species as follows : “Wings brown ; primaries both above and below with a paler submarginal broad band including two eyelets ; the upper ones surrounded by a paler atmosphere, with a black iris and white pupil ; on the under side the atmosphere of the eyelets is most distinct and forms a kind of glory round them,” etc.

Parerigone flavipes sp. nov. is described from Nepal. Morphological characteristics of the genus are discussed, especially with respect to the male and female terminalia. A key to the known species is provided.

In work on responses of insects to sound at Belleville, by Mr. G. Wishart, a mechanical device was needed to provide a means of slowly revolving a pair of directional light-traps in a horizontal plane on the circumference of a circle 20 feet in diameter. One of the traps was to be used as an experimental trap and the other as a check against the results of the first. A machine was designed, constructed, and put into operation in July, 1961.

Having recently put my own collection of Dectcidæ into systematic order and treated the collection of the U. S. National Museum entrusted to me by Dr. C. V. Riley in a similar manner, I have thought it would assist n obtaining better material for a future monogroph if I were to publish at least a generic discriminatio of the material at hand. At the same time I am able to clear up most of the synonymy of the species and assign to therir proper location the various described species, very few of which (7 out of 23) will be found to hae been originally placed in the genera to which they are here assigned.

Rhadiurgus variabilis (Zetterstedt 1838), a robber fly described from Europe, and Nigrasilus nitidifacies Hine 1908, described from North America, are newly synonymized. Lectotypes are designated for Asilus variabilis Zetterstedt and N. nitidifacies Hine. Some new descriptive material, including measurements and colour data, is given for five geographical regions: Europe, Eastern Siberia, Alaska/Yukon, Western Cordillera, and Boreal North America. Illustrations of male and female genitalia are presented. The species’ range is clarified and ecological data are summarized. Rhadiurgus variabilis inhabits northern and mountain forests from Scotland eastward to Labrador; it is one of the world’s most northerly ranging robber flies. Variation in the species includes an increasing proportion of dark body setae in individuals from Eurasia eastward through North America.

Comparatively little is known of the insect fauna of the Bahama Islands, since most of the collectors who have gone to the West Indies have confined their attention chiefly to larger and better settled members of this great group, and as a consequence we have a tolerably fair knowledge of such of them as Cuba, Jamaica, Porto Rico, and Guadaloupe, with scarcely any records from the little rocky islets of which the Bahamas proper are composed. Late researches on the coast of Florida have shown a close affinity between the fauna of that region and of the Antilles, so that the study of the insects of the latter has now a direct bearing on that of those of our own domain. The short sketch which follows is intended merely as a preliminary account of a collecting trip to certain points in the British West Indies, and no more is hoped for than to give the reader a general idea of the coleopterous fauna of these at the time of year during which the collections were made. Only occasionally was it possible to land and work the country for insects, as the main object of the expedition, of which the writer was a member, was the study and collection of the marine invertebrata, and most of the time was necessarily devoted to them.

A biotype of the pea aphid was characterized. Two host plants were used: broad bean and pea. It was found that the weight during the development, the survival of adults and their fecundity were better on broad bean as compared to pea.

The pine gall weevil has a 3-year life cycle on red pine (Pinus resinosa Ait.) in Michigan. Adults oviposit from June to August, depositing 1 to 10 eggs in a niche chewed in the bark of a branch internode. Larvae first emerge in August, feed as a group toward the cambium, and then radiate out along the xylem. Head capsule measurements from 1585 larvae indicate that there are three larval instars. Gall development begins in June of the second year, shortly after the larvae begin the second instar. The third instar commences in June of the third year. Pupation occurs in May of the fourth season; adult emergence follows in June. Overwintering occurs in the egg stage or in the three larval instars. Adults do not overwinter, and apparently three distinct broods occur in Michigan.

The Cleridæ are a rather small family of beetles, but make up for their comparatice scarcity by the beauty of form and colour shown by many of them. As a rule, they may be easily recognized by their resemblance to a few common types such as are found in all cabinets, and agree in possessing the followiong family characteristics: The antennæ are usually serrate, with the outer joints enlarged, forming an open or more rarely a compact club; the tarsi are five-jointed, the first or fourth joint often very small and indistinct, all but the fifth furnished with membranous appendages.

The seasonal history of an insect has an important relationship to the success or failure of any efforts to usr parasites in its control. In the work on parasites of thr European corn borer, Pyrausta nubilalis Hubn., over a period of years, the writer has had an opportunity to observe the changes which have taken place in the seasonal history of this insect in Western Ontario. It was shown by the writer (Wislwt, 1942, 1944) that there was a gradual and rather consistent increase in the proportion of the population which had two generations instead of one. The present paper presents further data pertinent to this subject.

Urbanus doryssus (Swains.)

A fresh specimen of this species was observed feeding on papaya blossoms, X-28-44, at Pharr, Texas, by the writer. Two ♂ ♂ were eventually collected near the same spot by the writer, one III-10-45 and the other III-II-45. These two specimens are the first and only ones collected in the United States.

“Ecology,” as it is coming to be universally considered, is the science of cause. It is constantly asking “Why?” and not until we can answer “because,” have we solved a problem in Ecology. It is the capping stone of the other branches of biological investigation. Morphology describesan organ or character; physiology shows us how it works and what it does; ecology, building on these, tells how and why the character or organarose. It, then, must be considered as more than the o1d Natural History. Although the value of the latter cannot be overestimated, more must sooner or later be done.

The above-mentioned families of carnivorous water beetles are taken up here by request of the Editor and Committee, because of the great difficulty most students of Coleoptera, especially if they are beginners, find in identifying any of their captures in these groups, or even in separating the species with approximate accuracy. It is to be feared that with marry it will prove difficult to follow the tables herewith presented; but they have been made as plain as circumstances will allow, and care has been taken to follow the best authorities in the selection of characters supposed to mark the respective species, so that by diligent attention to details the user of the paper may hope to co-relate his collcction with our lists.

In 1885 von Ernst Girschner described a remarkable Carcelia-like fly from the Thuringian district of central Germany which was noteworthy in that it possessed a number of paired plumose hairs on the head. The facial hairs were the more noticeable as they originate not on the facialia or parafacialia as normal bristles, but apparently in the ptilinal groove between the two regions, two pairs being found here and three pairs on the anterior part of the front.