Smith and Coppel (in preparation) listed the releases and reviewed the bionomics in Europe of insect predators of the balsam woolly aphid, Adelges piceae (Ratz.), recently introduced into Canada. The most promising species released since 1951 are Aphidecta obliterata (L.) and Pullus impexus (Muls.) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) ,Cremifania nigrocellulata Cz.(Diptera: Chamaemyiidae), and Laricobius erichsonii Rosenh. (Coleoptera: Derodontidae). All these species, with the possible exception of A. obliterata, are established near Fredericton, New Brunswick. Investigations in co-operation with the Forest Biology Laboratory, Fredericton, were begun in 1951 on the behaviour and initial establishment of the introduced predators (Clark, Brown, and Smith, 1954). The present paper contains field and laboratory observations on the development, feeding habits, and predator-prey relations of the four promising species.

Entomophagous insects as a group show all degrees of host preferences from the polyphagous species which develop on variable numbers of hosts to the stricdy monophagous forms wllich are limited to development on a single host species. Polyphagy is generally regarded as the more primitive condition while the fact that even amnng species so characterized there frequentIy exist strong preferences in the form of host determined races is taken as an indication of one method by which the more specialized habit was attained. The general problem of the dynamics of host selection in the entomophagous Hymenoptera and Diptera has attracted the attention of numerous investigators (eg. Thompson & Parker 1927, Salt 1935, Ullyett 1936) and many have stressed that for any given parasite the range of hosts attacked and developed on is the end result of various processes. These processes have been conveniently described by Salt (1938) as host finding, selection, and suitability, the first phase being more usually referred to as habitat selection (Flanders 1937, Thorpe 1945). This interpretation has received wide acceptance among biological control and allied workers.

Several methods of storing insect specimens in liquid preservatives have been used at the Forest Biology Laboratory at Victoria, all of them unsatisfactory to a varying degree. The method described herein was devised by the author and has proved successful during the past year.

Homeopathic vials approximately 62 mm. overall outside length × 15 mm. greatest outside diameter × 11 mm. inside neck measurement, with 000 rubber stoppers, are the most suitable size for insect specimens. The different stages of nearly any of the species of insects encountered by the Forest Insect Survey can be easily accommodated in a single vial of this size. Small shell vials may be used for double mounts when tiny insects are involved which might otherwise be lost in the larger vials. For material too large for the 11 mm. neck of the homeopathic vial, shell vials 65 mm. × 15 mm. can be used with serum sleeve-type stoppers. All but mass collections and a few of the larvae can be preserved in these sizes. Both types of rubber stoppers are satisfactory, although the sleeve type requires more effort to put on and seal, and also conceals the top of the vial. Air bubbles can be removed from the latter by inserting a hypodermic needle through the top of the stopper.

It was necessary to know the specific gravity of the haemolymph, or blood, of grasshoppers for certain investigations on insect immunity, This information is not given in reviews on the physical properties of insect haemolymph (Rapp, 1947; Buck, 1953). Determinations of specific gravity were made by the technique developed by Lowry and Hunter (1945) and used on insects by Baldwin and House (1352). Nine males and 11 females of Melanoplus bivittatus (Say) and 11 males and nine females of Melanoplus mexicanus (Sauss.) were used after they had fed in the laboratory for three days on lettuce and dry dietary components. The mean specific gravity and the standard deviation for M. bivittatus was 1.0271 ± .0043, 1.0262 ± .0046, for the male and 1.0281 ± .0039 for the female; for M. mexicanus, 1.0261 ± .0023, 1.0257 ±.0021, and 1.0264 ± .0025, respectively.

Studies of the mountain pine beetle by DeLeon (1934), Evenden et al. (1943), Hopping and Mathers (1945), have shown that females frequently establish more than one egg gallery each season, Recent studies by the author indicate that females commonly leave their first egg galleries after a period of 2-3 weeks and fly to another tree where the second egg galleries are established.

The female of Prosimulium flaviantennus (Stains and Knowlton) was originally described from Logan Canyon, Utah in 1940. In 1943 the same authors figured the genitalia of a male they considered to be of this species. No actual description of the male was given, and nothing on the biology was reported.

During the spring of 1956 and 1957 large numbers of larvae and pupae of the species were collecced by the writer. Reared pupae provided adults of both sexes. A redescription of the female and first descriptions of the male, pupa and larva, and notes on the biology and distribution of this species are presented below.

Since the initial observations on the pitcher plant mosquito, Wyeomyia smithii (Coquillett), from 1901 to 1904 by Smith (1901), only limited additional contributions have been made toward the understanding of the biology of this species. Horsfall (1955) indicates that, aside from one 1913 citation and a brief reference to his own observations, all material summarized by him about this species was reported by Smith. For the past 50 years, mosquito workers have generally limited their observations on W. smithii to statements of seasonal development in nature, this usually being in conjunction with a more detailed regional study emphasizing the ecology of other mosquito species. The wellknown specificity for the development of W. smithii only in the pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea, undoubtedly has precluded much in the way of laboratory investigations on this mosquito. However, during the summer of 1957, a large number of larvae of this species was found just north of Itasca State Park, Clearwater Co., Minn., and the opportunity presented itself to investigate the possibility of rearing W. smithii independent of the pitcher plant. It is the purpose of this paper to describe a method for the laboratory colonization of this mosquito completely free of any pitcher plant association and to make additional contributions to the biology of this species

Host-finding and host selection by entomophagous insects are influenced by the plants on which their hosts feed (Milliron, 1940; Simmonds, 1944). Some species of parasites are attracted to certain plants before they receive any stimuli from the hosts (Cushman 1926; Monteith, 1955). Picard and Rabaud (1914) found that many parasitic Hymenoptera attack larvae of species of different families, and even of different orders, provided that they feed on the same species of food plant.

The fecundity of the migratory grasshopper, Melanoplus bilituratus (Wlk.), when reared under a variety of conditions, has been reported by a number of authors. In the laboratory, Barnes (1955), rearing cultures of the subspecies found in Arizona on five separate foods, obtained an average production of 8.8 egg-pods per female from those fed the most favourable diet; Parker (1930) reported an average production of 8.8 egg-pods per female from Montana specimens reared on a mixed diet; one of these females laid 15 egg-pods. Under field conditions, Pfadt (1949) in Wyoming and Smith et al. (1952) in Manitoba reared this species on a variety of food plants and reported that the greatest numbers of egg-pods per female resulting from use of the most favourable food plants were 9.8 and about 6 egg-pods, respectively.

The two new species of fleas described in this paper are of unusual interest. The first belongs to the well-known genus Catallagia Rothschild (Hystrichopsyllidae: Neopsyllinae), but is notable for the extreme modification of the male genitalia, a condition not reflected in the female; the second, a bird flea, belongs to Ornithophaga Mikulin (Leptopsyllidae: Amphipsyllinae), a remarkable genus recently described from the U.S.S.R. on the basis of one female specimen.

“And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air: and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.” – Genesis 2:19.

There is such a great number of species of insects that Adam's task, at least in this great class of “beasts” is by no means finished. There are names of insects in every language of the world. There are also “scientific” Latin names governed by an agreed set of rules and are therefore the most accurate. They are truly international, but have meaning only for the entomologist and a few others. For this reason, the so-called “common” names, are used by the public, who are free to coin new ones whenever they like.

A species of Plagiognathus Fieber damaging alfalfa in Western Canada has been variously reported as Plagiognathus obscurus Uhler, Plagiognathus obscurus fraternus Uhler, or Plagiognathus sp., (Arnason et al., 1948, 1951; Handford and Neilson, 1950, 1951; McMahon et al., 1949, 1950; McMahon 1950 a and b; McDonald et al., 1952-1955).

In the foreword to the initial issue of the “Journal of Insect Physiology”, v. B. Wigglesworth states: “–the key to many of the fundamental problems of physiology may perhaps be found most readily among the insects” (15). This expresses a viewpoint that he and others have enunciated on previous occasions (10, 14). It is well substantiated by a consideration of the general and particular characteristics of insects and the contributions that have been made to general physiology through their study.