Definite records of injury by the larch sawfly (Lugaeonematus erichsoni Hartig.) in North America only date back to 1881 when Hagen records the insect from Massachusetts. Horv long it had existed on the continent previous to that date is uncertain, but judging from its distribution at the time it was first reported, we may safely conclude that it had been present for a number of years. There is indeed a significant statement by Audubon in which reference is made to the larches being stripped, by a “green caterpillar some three quarters of an inch in length,” which if referable to this sawfly would take our records back to the beginning of the last century.

The lined grasshopper, Schistocerca lineata Scud., is the only one of the genus met with in the Prairie Provinces, although it has as relations, several famous locusts of the Old World and South America including the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria Forst., and S. paranensis Burm. Indeed there is something in the flight and other actions of this insect which separates it from its associates as an aristocrat and most of us seeing it for the first time would readily proclaim “This is a locust”. Despite its aristocratic ancestry, however, the lined grasshopper is little better than a hermit, and in Canada it is restricted in distribution to the southern slopes of a few hot coulies in Alberta.

Among plants that possess toxic properties few are so well known, or so much dreaded, in North America, as poison ivy (Rhus toxicodendron). The plant is distasteful to nearly all herbivorous animals, though its berries are eaten by a few rodents and birds. On the whole it is permitted to flourish unmolested and it has managed to enlist the cooperation of several birds as aids in the distribution of its seeds. The immunity enjoyed by this plant from larger creatures does not, however, apply to the smaller forms of life and among its insect enemies Coleoptera, Diptera and Lepidoptera are representd. A study of the lepidopterous insects found feeding upon poison ivy was begun some years ago and a number of species were reared. The notes relating to these have now been brought together under the above heading.

The difference in food plants and seasonal life-history between beetles of the species Lema trilineata Oliv. in Manitoba and the same species in Eastern Canada and Eastern United States indicates rather strongly that they belong to different biological races. The belief was entertained for a time that the Manitoba beetle belonged to an entirely different species, but a series of adults sent to Mr. W. J. Brown of the Dominion Entomological Branch, Ottawa, proved to be identical with the eastern species.

The name cow grasshopper has been chosen for this insect because of the habit of the female in selecting cattle “chips” or dung in which to place her eggs. On account of this habit, cattle have become an important factor in the spread and perpetuation of the grasshopper and to associate it with the name of its unconscious benefactor seems appropriate.

Any evidence which would help us to forecast grasshopper outbreaks, or to anticipate and check them before they become acute, is worth considering and on this account the recently annunciated “phase” theory, and the still later “reservation” theory, should secure the careful consideration of American entomologists.