The first objective in the breeding of insects for physiological research is a sufficient number of insects of the greatest uniformity both within and between generations. The methods used must emphasize conditions of cleanliness and should preferably give freedom from offensive odours. Wit11 the growth of Knowledge of the factors involved and with the development of new food materids the rearing procedures have been modified. This article describes the present status of our methods used in the rearing of houseflies and roaches.

The biology of the mountain pine beetle was studied in 1956 and 1957 near Invermere, in the East Kootenay region of British Columbia. The host tree was lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia Engelm.). The technique used permitted direct observation of mating, egg laying, and gallery construction. The sex ratio was also investigated under natural conditions and in cages. The most important previous work on the biology of this insect was done by De Leon, Bedard, and Terrell (1934).

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.

This is a report on observations made in the field and in the laboratory in 1954 and 1955 at Fredericton, New Brunswick, on the responses to light and influences of light and temperature on the locomotory activities of introduced insect predators and the motile first-instar larva, or crawler, of the balsam woolly aphid, Adelges piceae (Ratz.). Adults and larvae of the predators were observed in the field and tests were conducted with adults in the laboratory. The species studied were Aphidecta obliterata (L.) and Pullus impexus (Muls.) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), Cremifania nigrocellulata Cz. and Neoleucopis obscura (Hal.) (Diptera: Chamaemyiidae) , and Laricobius erichsonii Rosenh. (Coleoptera: Derodontidae). The work is part of an investigation on factors influencing the searching abilities of the predators.

Chromosonial studies have elucidated phylogenetic relations in Drosophila (White, 1954), culicids (Jucci, 1952) and chironomids (Bauer, 1936, 1945). Since it appeared promising to apply this approach to the Simuliidae, Rothfels and Dunbar (1953) began a cytological survey of the black flies of eastern Canada during the summer of 1951. They found that in this group the giant salivary gland chromosomes provided “a wealth of descriptive morphological detail in their number and gross morphology, in the characteristics of expanded centromere regions, in the location of specific nucleolar sites, in the degree of pairing of constituents, and in the ultimate discernible banding pattern…. Since these features are not functionally related to the external environment, the confusing effects of convergence are minimized, resemblances may be taken to indicate relation, and grouping is possible according to natural affinities” (Rothfels and Dunbar, 1953).

The increasing body of knowledge about the armored scales is beginning to reveal manv unique aspects in the life cycles of these highly specialized insects. Such information is not only of value to the entomologist and those concerned with the control of scales but is also becoming important in such diverse fields as genetics, ecology, cytology, and physiology; armored scales may well find an expanding place in the laboratory as subjects for researches in a variety of fields. Pseudaulacaspis pentagona (Targ.) has one of the most unusual, yet to date one of the best understood life cycles of the armored scales. Various aspects of its biology have been described by Berlese (1910), Smit (1953), Dustan (1953), and Monti (1955). Accounts of its natural enemies or biological control programs have been given by Berlese (1910) for Italy, by Ogilvie (1928) and Simmonds (1955) for Bermuda, by Bennett (1956) for Trinidad, and Clausen (1956) for Florida. P. pentagona is a pest of economic importance on a wide variety of hosts throughout an extekive geographic distribution (Anon., 1956), and has been cultured extensively in the biological control laboratory for the mass-rearing of scale parasites and predators. Recent investirzations of the sex determining mechanik and chromosome behaviour (Brown and Bennett, 1957) have arain shown unusual processes and relationships, some of which appear to occur in many other species of armored scales. It is the purpose of this paper to describe the life cycle of P. pentagona as it is known from field and laboratory studies and from cytological and genetic investigations.

The notes and descriptions that follow arise from material submitted for identification from various sources over the past few years. Doubtless much still remains to be discovered in this genus, and a general revision would be premature at this time. The number of striking new species is surprising: every new collection seems to yield one or two more. Despite the great superficial variation in the genus, the genitalia are very uniform. The main structural variation externally is in the mouth-parts, the labial palpi varying considerably in length and the tongue tending towards obsolescence in many species. There seems to be considerable variation in development of the tongue even in single species, and I doubt if this can form the basis of subdivision of the genus. Most or all of the old-world species and some new-world ones have been wrongly referred to this genus; however, I shall leave the disposition of these extraneous elements to a future paper.

The alimentary canal of stored grain beetles is relatively simple compared to those of the higher orders of insects. But there are certain specializations from the generalized alimentary canal of the insect described by Snodgrass (1935). Striking similarities of structure have been observed in course of morphological investigation of the alimentary canals of two distantly related groups of beetles living on stored cereals. The differences between the two groups are few.

Cazier (1953, pp. 1-13) listed six species of Acoma having three-segmented antennal clubs. Though some of these species are easily distinguished, Cazier noted that others vary considerably. Since Cazier's revision, additional material has become available that makes further consideration of this group of Acoma worthwhile. In this paper, a key to the species having a three-segmented antennal club is given, the six known species are redescribed, and nine new species are described.

This paper includes descriptions of apterous viviparous females of five new species of Iziphya. In North America this sedge-infesting genus was formerly represented by a single species, I. flabella (Sanborn), which was described from a single apterous viviparous female (Sanborn, 1904, p. 37).

The black vine weevil, Brachyrhinus sulcatus (F.), a parthenogenetic species, has been present as a minor pest of strawberry in the Pacific northwest for many years (Treherne, 1914; Downes, 1924; Wilcox, Mote and Childs, 1934). Recently Andison (1953) reported that the species has increased rapidly in numbers during the past several years. In this area B. sulcatus is now as important as, if not more important than, the serious pest of strawberry, the strawberry root weevil, Brachyrhinus ovatus (L.). Since most of the damage is done by the larvae, which feed on the strawberry roots, it is necessary to control the adults before they commence oviposition, especially on soils that have not been treated with insecticides. The adults emerge and feed on the strawberry foliage during the first week of harvest. Studies at the Victoria laboratory have shown that most or all of the crop is harvested before oviposition becomes general. Hence, an insecticide can be applied before oviposition becomes general if this date can be predicted by examining the reproductive system. Also, it is important to know the stage of development of the ovaries of those adults that overwinter and are found in the strawberry fields in late March and April, so that control measures can be applied before oviposition again becomes general.

The silver-spotted tiger moth, Halisidota argentata Pack., is a potentially dangerous defoliator of Douglas fir in British Columbia. Natural control factors have always prevented populations from building up to destructive proportions.

The literature contains little information on this insect. Fletcher recorded the first outbreak of what was probably H. argentata in British Columbia in 1887 (2). Moths were identified as H. sobrina Stretch, but this form is now recorded only from California so it was probably H. argentata. The outbreak, probably on southern Vancouver Island, was reported as “committing great depredations on the spruces here.” Mathers found H. argentata at Chilliwack in the Fraser River Valley in 1934, but there was no report of an outbreak (4). A few larvae were collected on southern Vancouver Island from 1936 to 1952. In 1953 a considerable number of colonies were observed, and the following year the silver-spotted tiger moth was in infestation proportions. In 1955 the outbreak increased in intensity, and spread northward to the limit of its known range. A survey in the spring of 1956 failed to find a single colony south of Lantzville, and the population in the northern portion of the range was greatly reduced.

The plum curculio, Contrachelus nenuphar (Hbst.), always a serious pest of stone fruits in thc Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, has increased in importance since 1946, especially in peach orchards. A five-year study of its life-history, ecology, and control was started in 1950 at Vineland Station. This paper deals with the biological phases of the investigation.

The use of olfactory repellents, especially against biting insects, is an important protective measure. It is also a matter of common knowledge that certain insects are able to locate their mates or their prey largely through the agency of attractive scents. Concerning these latter, Dethier remarks that, “we recognize the fact that no one attractant alone performs the service of guiding an organism to its proper habitat, or mate, or food. The desired end is achieved by a complex array of stimuli working in harmony. In chemical attractants, however, one finds precision guidance. The action of others, as light, temperature, humidity, is comparatively gross, approximating as it does usually, a vicinity. The extreme value of chemical attractants to an organism lies in the specificity and accuracy of operation.” (1).

Serious damage to the seeds of wild rice, Zizania aquatica L., is caused annually by the larvae of a noctuid species hitherto unidentified and with little of its life-history known. In the summer of 1957 larvae reared from eggs found in the heads of wild rice were determined as of the species concerned, and in March, 1958 an adult reared from the same lot was identified by Dr. D. F. Hardwick, Entomology Division, Ottawa as of Apamea apamiformis (Guenée).

Phytoseiid mites are of cosmopolitan interest because they are predacious on many phytophagous mites (Tetranychidae, Eriophyidae, and Tarsonemidae) that are pests of agricultural crops. They have been studied in orchards (Collyer, 1953, 1956; Lord, 1949), vineyards (Mathys, 1955), citrus groves (Fleschner and Ricker, 1954; Muma, 1955), and strawberry plantings (Huffaker and Kennett, 1953, 1956), but few workers have recorded their presence in native environments. In the commercial fruit-growing areas of British Columbia, orchards are often planted near uncultivated areas of bush or grassland. The study on which these notes are based was undertaken to determine whether the phytoseiids that occur in these native sites become established in the orchards, and to obtain a knowledge of the entire phytoseiid fauna of the area, a necessary prerequisite to ecological studies of predacious mites in orchards.

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.

Records of Megachile inermis Prov. in trap-nests are given in order to supplement previous reports on the nesting biology of the species. In Saskatchewan, Peck and Bolton (1946) did not obtain nests in 1943 with 1/4-inch holes bored in logs, but were successful in 1944 with 5/16-inch holes. The cells in 14 nests averaged 4.2, range 2 to 7, and their rearings produced 10 males and no females. In Manitoba, Stephen (1955) associated the nesting of M. inermis with burnt-over or waste poplar. The bee utilized the poplar after the trees had decayed sufficiently to permit the bee to burrow into it. He found no indication of nesting in borer tunnels, but reported that the bees themselves excavated tunnels from a crack or crevice or the exposed end of a log. Stephen (1956) described the excavating activity of the bee in poplar, and reared 3 males from cells transferred to glass tubes.

The boxelder twig borer, Proteoteras willingana (Kearfott) was described in 1904 from specimens reared by T. N. Willing, Regina, Assiniboia (now Saskatchewan), Canada, and temporarily placed in the genus Proteopteryx (Kearfott, 1904, 1905). In 1923 it was transferred to the genus Proteoteras (Heinrich, 1923). Early knowledge of life history and habits of this species is very fragmentary (de Gryse, 1924, 1925; Swaine, 1916, 1917; Washburn, 1910).

Every spring since it was first noticed in 1947, the first-generation immature stages of the European red mite, Metatetranychus ulmi (Koch), has suffered some mortality in peach orchards of the Niagara Peninsula of Ontario. Sometimes this mortality was negligible but in the cold, wet spring of 1949 it reached 80 per cent in some orchards. Mortality of similar extent has not been noticed on other hosts of the mite at this season; counts of a thousand or more living and dead mites on young shoots of each host at Vineland Station on May 16, 1957, showed apparent mortalities of 53 per cent on Elberta peach, 7 per cent on Italian prune, and 8 per cent on Melba apple. The mortality on peach leaves is difficult to determine, for if the mites are examined too early, many of those killed in the quiescent, premoulting condition cannot be distinguished from living ones, and if they are examined too late, the survivors may have suffered mortality from other causes.