A terminology useful in describing conocephaline amplitude modulation patterns is presented in this first part of a three-part study of calling songs in Orchelimum meadow katydids. Geographical distributions are mapped for the 18 species which occur in North America north of Mexico and several substantial range extensions reported, Comparison of stridulatory files indicates two types within the genus, one characterized by more widely spaced teeth near the basal end of the file. Teeth are asymmetrical in accordance with the generation of the loudest song components on wing closure.

Cold-hardiness was investigated in fall and winter populations of the social wasp Polistes fuscatus (Fabricius), Individuals collected in the fall were able to survive 48 h at −10 °C. Both sexes were equally capable of surviving −5 °C. However, at −7.5 °C and −10.0 °C, females were more cold-hardy than males. About 50% of the overwintering female population were able to survive temperatures as low as −20 °C and monthly temperature fluctuations as great as 30 °C. None of the overwintering females was able to survive 48 h of −25 °C. Adult females of P. fuscatus are able to survive a winter temperature regime that, because of a combination of large fluctuations and low temperatures, is among the most severe reported for any adult insect.

Mites do not have wings, but in their course of evolution many species have developed an association with insects, using them as a vehicle of distribution. Occasionally they cover the host so completely that the insect cannot fly. The literature is replete with these observations. Except for a single speculation (Fronk 1947), there are no reports as to how many mites Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmerman can support and still fly to its intended destination.

Sticky traps caught large numbers of mites that adhere tightly or ride in protected places on attacking southern pine beetles and retrieved some of the mites that are loosely attached. Of the 2539 beetles surveyed, only 39.6% carried mites. Seven species of phoretic mites were found; the two most common, Tarsonemus krantzi and Trichouropoda australis, showed no preference for either beetle sex but preferred to ride on specific parts of the body.

Development of P. pallipes, from egg to emerged larva, in the tarnished plant bug lasts 24.49 ± 2.38 days at 25 °C/16 h and 20 °C/8 h and 77 ± 5% R.H. with 16 h illumination.

Eggs of P. pseudopallipes need 72–96 h to hatch under the above-cited regime. At least three distinct larval stages can be recognized without special staining procedures. The first instar larva is a caudate-mandibulate type. The second larval stage is acaudate and lives in the host haemocoele. The third larval stage is also acaudate and emerges from the host. The pupa is an exarate type diapausing in a cocoon. P. pseudopallipes is an arrhenotokous species. The longevity of the adults in the laboratory is about 16 days. The adult oviposits into the host abdomen.

Survival of diapausing pupae is better at 16 h photophase than at 8 h photophase.

Adult males of the Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella (Hübner), were irradiated with doses of 25 or 35 krad or various equal fractions thereof spaced over a period of 1 to 3 days. Longevity of males was not decreased by any of the irradiation treatments, but it was significantly increased by fractionation when the second fraction was administered the second day. The mating ability of males with single females, was not significantly affected by irradiation or fractionation of irradiation doses. The percentage of sterile pairs was dependent both on the dose and on the pattern of fractionation. The lowest percentages of sterility at both doses occurred in the treatments that had three equal fractions. The numbers of progeny produced by fertile pairs were also correlated with both dose and pattern of fractionation. Significantly more progeny were produced by males treated with some of the fractionated doses than by males treated with a single dose of 25 krad. No differences in number of progeny occurred at 35 krad.

Adults of the merchant grain beetle, Oryzaephilus mercator Fauvel, were found most frequently in bran, shelled sunflower seeds, rolled oats, and brown rice in a series of tests of up to 18 different household foods and oilseeds. Walnuts and flaxseed ranked next among the preferred foods. Wide fluctuations in preference occurred with bran, bread crumbs, and soda crackers. In a test of sunflower seeds, rolled oats, and bran all were equally preferred. Few beetles were found in wheat germ flakes, cornflakes, whole rapeseed, and raisins, and one or none in flour, a mixture of flour and brewers’ yeast (95:5, w/w), pancake mix, shredded coconut, and crushed or pulverized rapeseed. The same foods, in pulverized form, contained few or no beetles, indicating that food density affects insect distribution.

Parasitism of Hyphantria cunea Drury was measured over a 17-year period in a series of permanent study areas in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The percentage of colonies attacked by parasites was independent of both plant host and colony size, but the percentage of larvae attacked within colonies decreased in the larger colonies. For most parasite species the percentage of larvae attacked per colony was relatively constant, regardless of the percentage of the colonies attacked in any area or year. Thus the colonial habit of H. cunea imposes a limit on the overall degree of parasitism that can be achieved by most of the parasite species.

The effectiveness of bait traps to capture adult Glischrochilus quadrisignatus (Say) was evaluated for 5 years. Traps comprised of 2.85-1. cans baited with ripe bananas, an insecticide, and a small amount of water captured from 21000 to 58000 beetles/trap when placed around the periphery of tomato fields at a density of 5 traps/ha from spring to fall. The largest numbers were trapped during the 5-week interval from mid-July to mid-August when newly developed adults emerged from the soil.

Eight species of hymenopterous parasitoids were reared from field-collected house fly puparia. The three most abundant parasitoid species, Spalangia nigroaenea Curtis, S. endius Walker, and Muscidifurax raptor Girault and Sanders, were capable of parasitizing up to 90% of hosts at certain times of year. The Spalangia spp. were the most effective parasitoids during most of the fly breeding season. Changes in parasitoid species abundance and rates of parasitism were apparently due to temperature and other habitat conditions.

Rapeseed flour fed to package honey bee colonies was preferred to soya flour, wheast, and pea protein concentrate. Rapeseed flour was equal to wheast and fresh mixed pollen for longevity when fed in small cages. Rapeseed flour was equal to wheast but both were inferior to fresh mixed pollen for brood rearing. Pea protein concentrate was the poorest diet in longevity and brood rearing tests.

The characters of Omomyia are compared with those of the tephritoid complex of families (Lonchaeidae, Otitidae, Platystomatidae, Pyrgotidae, Tephritidae, Tachiniscidae, Richardiidae, Pallopteridae, Neotteophilidae, Piophilidae, and Thyreophoridae). The possession of a peculiar piercing-type ovipositor by all females of this assemblage, including Omomyia, is considered a strong synapomorphic feature of the complex. Omomyia is found to be a sister-group of two aberrant richardiid genera, Automola Loew and Epiplatea Loew. Consequently, Omomyia is transferred from the Thyreophoridae to the Richardiidae with a suggestion that Automola, Epiplatea, Omomyia, and several other genera represent a separate subfamily of Richardiidae. The paper contains one table and three figures.

The genus Dyscoletes Haliday (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is revised and placed in the tribe Diospilini. Two species are ineluded, D. lancifer Haliday front western Europe and D. canadensis n. sp. from northern North America. D. soporatus Brues, a fossil, is transferred to Diospilus Haliday. Both extant species have been reared from larvae of Boreus (Boreidae: Mecoptera).

The last larval stadium of the spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana (Clemens), is extended, if infection by an entomopoxvirus is in an advanced stage at the normal time of pupation. The larvae attain an abnormally large size. Part of this increase in size is caused by a proliferation and subsequent infection and swelling of fat body cells.

The spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana (Clemens), is susceptible to two types of granulosis virus. One is characterized by the formation of mostly small ellipsoidal inclusion bodies, the second by the formation of large cubic inclusion bodies. Different shapes and sizes of inclusion bodies were formed when these viruses multiplied in the same tissues, some resembling the ellipsoids, others the cubes.

The following new genera and species are described: Glyphodes militaris n. sp., Borneo; Gypodes n. gen., type-species G. vexilliferalis n. sp., South America; Nagiella hortulatoides n. sp., Burma; Laniipriva n. gen., type-species L. antobliqua n. sp., Venezuela; Scaptesylodes n. gen., type-species Scaptesyle(?) incerta Semper, Philippine Is., and also including Scaptesylodes modica n. sp., Malaysia and Sumatra. Nagiella is proposed as a new name for Nagia Walker, 1866, not Walker, 1858. Nagia desmialis Walker, 1866, is the type-species of both nominal genera; Scopula quadrimaculalis Kollar, 1844, and Sylepta inferior Hampson, 1898, are referred to Nagiella as new combinations. The genus is differentiated from Pleuroptya Meyrick, 1890, and Haritalodes Warren, 1890.

The apple maggot, Rhagoletis pomonella (Walsh), is a major pest of apples in Nova Scotia, and has in recent years become a serious threat to integrated insect control. This paper is an account of its past history, economic importance, seasonal history, natural enemies, the present cultural and chemical control practices, and the prospect of using alternative control measures.

Cacodylic acid was injected into hatchet-made frill girdles 60 cm above the ground on Dutch elm-diseased American elms (Ulmus americana L.) at the rate of 0.8 ml/cm circumference measured 1.3 m above the ground. Cacodylic acid was translocated up the trees into the phloem. Arsenic residue analyses at several different heights in each tree indicated an inverse relationship between height and amount of cacodylic acid residue in the phloem. Largest amounts were translocated in trees with 75% wilted crowns.

Cacodylic acid injection into elms had no significant inhibitory effect on Scolytus multistriatus (Marsham) brood development. Cacodylic acid residues as high as 1700 ppm caused little or no beetle mortality. Highest numbers of beetles/dm2 bark surface area emerged from acid-treated elms with 75% crown wilt and from untreated elms with 100% crown wilt.