Eight new genera, seven Nearctic and one Holarctic, are described in the subfamily Sciophilinae. These genera, and their type-species, are: Loicia (L. basifurca n. sp.), Acadia (A. polypori n. sp.), Acomoptera (Eudicrana plexipus Garrett), Adicroneura (A. biocellata n. sp.), Aglaomyia (A. gatineau n. sp.), Drepanocerus (D. ensifer n. sp.), Garrettella (Leia shermani Garrett), Saigusaia (Boletina cincta Johannsen). Sixteen other new combinations and two new synonyms, mostly for species described by Garrett and Sherman, are proposed.

Robsonomyia reducta, new genus and new species, is described from males collected in British Columbia and California. Characters distinguishing it from other genera of Macrocerinae are discussed.

Two Pandemis species, introduced into British Columbia, are discussed: P. cerasana (Hübner) found in 1965 and P. heparana (Denis & Schiffermüller) found in 1978. They are compared with the native North American Pandemis pyrusana Kearfott and P. limitata (Robinson).

Studies in Western Canada from 1974 to 1977 on variations in time and duration of the emergence period after diapause of leafcutter bees, Megachile rotundata (Fabricius), reared at latitudes ranging from 49°N to 58°N showed that bees reared at northern latitudes emerged sooner and the duration of the emergence period was shorter than for bees from the southern latitude. When southern bees were reared in the north, their emergence pattern was similar to the northern strain. However, the change of time to emerge and duration of emergence period of northern strains reared in the south was less pronounced. Number of days to emerge varied inversely with length of cold treatment at 4 °C with greater variance in southern strains.

Aerial colour infra-red photographs were used to detect grasshopper damage to cereal grains, determine extent of damage, estimate crop yield, and identify crops. The detection and identification of grasshopper damage was facilitated by the development of a dichotomous key which differentiates grasshopper damage from other crop anomalies. Crop types and yield were determined from correlations between the optical density of the photographs and the biomass of standing crops.

Cost of an aerial survey was estimated at $0.02 per hectare as compared with ground survey cost of $0.20 per hectare. Information provided by an aerial survey of damage has the potential to assist grain growers, extension personnel, and researchers in evaluating the influence of grasshoppers on grain production

Five red-winged blackbird nests were collected from Delta Marsh, Manitoba in June 1975 and examined for insect fauna. Three nests were examined in October 1975, and one in June 1976 for Siphonaptera and Calliphoridae. Two thousand five hundred and forty arthropod specimens of 68 insect species and a few undetermined species of Acarina were recovered. Of the insects, 65.5% were Diptera, 27.6% were Coleoptera, and the remainder were from six other orders. Blood feeding forms included Culicoides crepuscularis (Diptera) and Ceratophyllus garei (Siphonaptera). The fauna of these wet nests differed qualitatively and quantitatively from dry nests studied by others.

Strategies for the use of entomopathogenic viruses in the management of forest insect pests include the use of viruses by themselves or with other biocontrol or chemical agents applied simultaneously or separately at strategic time intervals. It is concluded that baculoviruses (nuclear polyhedrosis and granulosis viruses) have considerable potential as components of integrated forest insect pest management systems. The prime limiting factors in their large scale use at present are the high cost of virus production and underdevelopment of application technology. Their greatest potential will probably be realized when used as an indirect, or preventative, strategy with a view to preventing the occurrence of pest emergency situations.

Field observations of Rhagoletis pomonella (Walsh) adults on apple and hawthorn trees revealed that mating encounters occur on leaves in early-season and shift to fruit with the onset of oviposition. Most matings on leaves are initiated from a male frontal approach to the female and most of those on fruit from a rear approach while the female is engaged in some phase of oviposition behavior. This suggests that matings on fruit may be forced matings with unreceptive females.

Synthetic sex attractants were used to trap Rhyacionia pine tip moths throughout the western United States in spring and early summer 1977 and 1978. Some species were shown to have much wider distributions than previously known. Among species responding to (E)-9-dodecenyl acetate, R. zozana was collected over most of the area, with new records for Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota; R. neomexicana was found for the first time in Utah, as was R. salmonicolor in New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah; R. monophylliana in Nevada and Utah; R. jenningsi in New Mexico; and R. multilineata in Arizona and Oregon. Among species caught in traps baited with (E,E)-8,10 dodecadienyl acetate, R. busckana was found widely through the Northwest, for the first time in Montana and Wyoming, and R. fumosana was captured throughout the Rocky Mountain states, with new records for Montana, Utah, and Nevada. Sets of two previously unknown zozana -like moths were collected. One is closely associated with the typical form in Oregon and California; the other is a pinyon associate in Colorado and New Mexico.

Either (E)- or (Z)-11-tetradecenal, the two pheromone components, or one analogue, 9-(cyclopent-2-en-1-yl)-nonanal, effectively reduced mating of spruce budworm moths, Choristoneura fumiferana (Clem.), in the laboratory. The results suggest that different behavioural and physiological processes may be occurring in pheromonal attraction and close range mating prevention in the spruce budworm.

Samples of the bodies and elytra of Entomoscelis americana Brown were analyzed separately by X-ray energy-dispersive spectroscopy. Discriminant analysis revealed that the chemoprints of the bodies of newly-emerged beetles (1 wk old) were distinct from those of post-aestivation beetles (9- to 10-wk old). However, the chemoprints of the elytra of newly-emerged and post-aestivation beetles were not as different as those of the bodies as demonstrated by the overlap in the plot of the first two canonical variables. The variances of the mean difference of individual variables between newly-emerged and post-aestivation groups generally were smaller for elytra than for bodies. This suggests that the chemoprints of the elytra of E. americana are more stable than those of the bodies and consequently the elytra should be more suitable than the bodies in insect dispersal studies utilizing the X-ray energy-dispersive spectroscopy technique.

In southwestern Quebec, cereal aphids started to infest cereals in the first week of June, and reached their peak on the second and third weeks of July. There was a significant correlation between the number of alate aphids produced and total number of aphids per colony for R. padi and M. avenae but not for R. maidis. The percentage of alate aphids in colonies of all three species increased as cereals matured. The index of aggregation (b) showed M. avenae was distributed randomly in the field while R. padi and R. maidis were distinctly aggregated.

Three new species of fossil Tipulidae are described. Pseudolimnophila speirsae n. sp. and Limnophila marklae n. sp. (subfamily Limoniinae, tribe Hexatomini) are represented by adults; Tipula tubifera n. sp. (subfamily Tipulinae, tribe Tipulini) is represented by a pupa. Six other pupae belong to the subfamily Tipulinae.

Tent caterpillars of the genus Malacosoma frequently appear in outbreak numbers causing widespread defoliation of trees and shrubs in North America. The western tent caterpillar, M. californicum (Packard), with six subspecies, occurs over most of temperate western North America and although there is a large number of host plants on which it will oviposit and feed (Stehr and Cook 1968), most have little commercial value. We report here the identification of a component of the female sex pheromone of M. californicum.

A synthetic nucleoside analogue, 1-β-D-ribofuranosyl-1,2,4,-triazole-3-carboxamide (known as Virazole or Ribavirin), has been shown to inhibit the multiplication of at least 25 DNA- and RNA-containing human viruses (Sidwell et al. 1974), and to inhibit or eliminate several plant viruses (Fazio et al. 1978; Hansen 1979; Lerch 1977; Shepard 1977). We report here a significant reduction in the number of nymphs produced by aphids living on plants treated with sublethal doses of Virazole, and the stunting of treated plants at higher concentrations.

Ascalaphidae occur in Canada. Here, we document the presence of Ululodes quadrimaculata (Say) in southern Ontario, which was suspected by Kevan (1979).

SPECIMEN MATERIAL. Ontario: ESSEX COUNTY: Harrow, ♀, VIII.1974 (W. Elliott; UG). LAMBTON COUNTY: Pinery Prov. Pk., ♂, 4.VII. 1977 (B. Marshall & W. Maddison; #770112b, ROM). MUSKOKA DISTRICT: Georgian Bay, Island #421, ♀, 5.VII. 1963 (J. P. Bogart; UG); Gravenhurst, ♀, 20.VIII. 1975 (D. J. Aspinall; UG); Muskoka, ♀, VIII.1957 (D. Barr; ROM).

Cassida azurea Fab. was incorrectly identified as C. hemisphaerica Hbst. in the paper entitled “Biology of the tortoise beetle, Cassida hemisphaerica (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), a possible biological control agent for bladder campion, Silene cucubalus (Caryophyllaceae), in Canada”, Can. Ent. 108: 945–954, 1976. Thus, all references to C. hemisphaerica in that paper, with the exception of those in sections Geographic Distribution and Recorded Host Plants, should read C. azurea.