Two introduced hymenopterous parasites of the European pine shoot moth, Rhyacionia buoliana (Schiff.), are established and widely distributed in southern Ontario: the braconid Orgilus obscurator (Nees) and the ichneumonid Temelucha interruptor (Grav.). Though these two species are economically important in the control of the shoot moth in Europe, they have never become efficient in Canada. A possible cause of their lack of efficiency may be their susceptibility to low temperatures.

This paper is a report on an investigation of the ability of these parasites to withstand low winter temperatures. Laboratory experiments were conducted to determine the resistance of the overwintering larval stages of the parasites to low temperatures. Field observations on the mortality of host and parasites were made at the Waterloo County Reforestation Area, Elmira, near Guelph, Ontario, during the winter of 1958–1959.

During the past decade the attractiveness of various hydrolyzed proteins to several species of tephritid flies has been established and these materials have been used in poison bait sprays, in fly traps, and in studies on dispersal habits. Several workers have reported more satisfactory control when enzymatic yeast hydrolysates or acid hydrolysates of corn protein were added to malathion sprays: Steiner (1952, 1955a, and 1955b) for the Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata Wied.), the oriental fruit fly (Dacus dorsalis Hendel), and the melon fly (Dacus cucurbitae Coq.); Shaw (1955) for the Mexican fruit fly (Anastrepha ludens Loew); Orphanidis et al. (1958) for Dacus adults on olives; and Marucci (1958) for the blueberry maggot (Rhagoletis pomonella (Walsh). Orphanidis et al. have also reported that the addition of casein hydrolysate or the acid hydrolysates of corn protein to the recommended lure of ammonium sulphate increased the captures of Dacus as much as twelve times. Although most of the work with these attractants has concerned control, Barnes (1959) has used them to advantage in biological studies. He labelled natural populations of the walnut husk fly, Rhagoletis completa Cress., with a radioactive tracer by attracting the flies to feeding stations of Staley's insecticide bait No. 7 (acid hydrolysate of corn protein) plus the isotope P32 By subsequent trapping he determined the field movements of the adults in and out of walnut orchards.

The genera comprising the family Odiniidae (Hendel, 1922) will run to Agromyzidae in the key to families in Curran (1934), but are distinguished from this family by a number of important characters, notably the abdominal structure of the adult and the bucco-pharyngeal skeleton of the larva. Adult Odiniidae have five pregenital abdominal segments in both sexes. The sixth segment of the female is greatly reduced and largely hidden beneath the fifth, and the seventh is membranous and retractile. In Agromyzidae six well-developed pregenital segments are present and the seventh segment of the female is modified as a heavily-sclerotized non-retractile ovipositor. The odiniid larva (Figs. 2, 6.) has a mouth skeleton much like that of the more generalized saprophagous forms (e.g. Drosophila, Piophila, Lucilia) and in no way resembling the highly-specialized structure of Agromyzidae. Species of Odiniidae are pale grey or clay-yellow with the thorax and abdomen conspicuously mottled or vittate with dark brown. The wing is usually spotted, at least on the cross-veins, and the tibiae have a more or less evident preapical dorsal bristle. Because of the abdominal structure, Hennig (1938) considers them more closely related to Chamaemyiidae than to Agromyzidae. The immature stages have mostly been found living in the galleries of wood-boring Coleoptera and Lepidoptera but the adult of Turanodinia Stack, is reported to have been reared from egg-masses of Pseudococcus comstocki Kuw.

In New Brunswick, Ceruraphis eriophori (Wlk., 1848) and Neoceruraphis viburnicola (Gill., 1909) are readily found in spring and autumn on their Viburnum hosts. I have collected both species from the curled leaves of these primary hosts (C. eriophori from Viburnum lantana L. and V. opulus L. and N. viburnicola from V. opulus var. roseum L. and V. trilobum Marsh.) In Colorado, Palmer (1952) recorded borh species from V. opulus var. sterile (= V. opulus var. roseum).

The known secondary host plants of C. eriophori in Europe are species of Carex, Eriophorum, Luzula, and Typha (Börner, 1952); in North America, Cyperus virens Michx. is the only one reported (Palmer, 1952). The secondary hosts of N. viburnicola have not been recorded (Palmer, 1952; Shaposhinkov, 1956), nor has the apterous viviparous female been described.

Since Fye and Medler (1954) described methods of obtaining establishment of bumble bee queens in artificial domiciles in Wisconsin, we have been obtaining colonies for pollination and food-preference studies by similar means. The following is a summary of our experiences with the Fye-Medler type of above-ground domicile. Most of the trials were conducted in the prairie region of southern Alberta with grassland species of bumble bees; one was conducted in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in southern Alberta, where species peculiar to treed areas are common. Because bumble bee queens make their nests in deserted mice nests, domiciles with entrance holes 1 ¼ inches in diameter were partly filled with roughed-up flax straw and set out in the fall to first provide homes for mice. The following spring, the mice were expelled and mice-excluders (thin metal plates 2 inches square, with holes 5/8 inch in diameter) were nailed over the original holes (cf. Fye and Medler, 1954).

The advantages of being able to determine the sex of insects by means of external characters are obvious, particularly when, as with the Sitophilus weevils, they have been favoured as experimental material by many workers. In Sitophilus oryza (L.), the sex can apparently readily be determined by reference to the relative length of and type of puncturing of the rostrum (Richards, 1947). There has seemed, however, to have been some doubt about a similar reliable method of determining sex in Sitophilus granarius (L.). Richards (1947) stated that there was no certain way of determining the sex of this species without risking injury to the female. In a later paper (1948) he implied, in a footnote, that a specimen could be sexed by reference to the length and slenderness of the rostrum. This had been given as a method of sexing these insects by Back and Cotton (1926).

The walnut and hickory aphids comprise the genera Chromnaphis Walker, Monellia Oestlund and a somewhat aberrant species of Myzocallis Passerini. Chromaphis contains a single species that occurs widely on walnut in Europe and North America. Monellia is larger, is restricted to North-America, and has been recorded from both walnut and hickory. Four species of Monellia occur in Canada, one of which is herein described as new.

Sitomyzus was erected for a grass-feeding species of aphid, S. vibei H.R.L. which is known to occur only in Greenland (Hille Ris Lambers, 1952). In this paper a second species is desdribed from British Columbia, and a third, common, widespread species, Rhopalosiphum rhois Monell, is also assigned to this genus. The latter species is placed in Sitomyzus largely on the basis of similarities between the alate viviparae of rhois and those of other representatives of this genus. The apterae of rhois are very distinct however, and a new subgenus is herein erected for this species.

Previous studies have shown that some varieties of rutabagas in the field have resistance to the cabbage maggot, Hylemya brassicae (Bouché) (Swailes, 1959). It was evident that at least two factors were involved in resistance: (1) larvae encountered difficulties in initiating feeding and (2) larvae encountered resistance to growth. The latter factor was considered in the present study.

During the course of investigations of the life history of the pine root collar weevil, Hylobius radicis Buchanan, in Wisconsin, a larval parasite was encountered by the junior author. The Braconid adults which emerged represent an undescribed species of the genus Bracon.

Bryobia lagodechiana Reck, 1953, was originally found on bedstraw, or cleavers, Galium sp., growing at an elevation of about 6,890 to 7,220 feet above sea level in the Lagodekhsky reserve of the Armenian S.S.R. (Reck, 1953; Bagdasarian, 1957). A mite believed, on the basis of illustrations and descriptions only, to be the same species was found by the author in one locality in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. It was first observed on June 6, 1958, when about 10 female mites were noticed feeding on common horsetail, Equisetum arvense L., growing at an elevation of 3,300 to 3,500 feet near Orofino Creek on Mount McCaig, known locally as Orofino Mountain. The site, which was partially shaded by fairly heavy stands of tall coniferous trees, was somewhat boggy, and would undoubtedly be flooded during the spring run-off of Orofino Creek. Luxurious pure stands of this horsetail are common in such sites and, except for moss, it is often the predominant plant in many creek-bottom areas. An additional 20 female mites were collected at the same site on June 12, 1958. No males, or immature stages, were seen on either date. This is the first record outside southern Russia of the occurrence of a mite closely resembling B. lagodechiana, and the first report of the occurrence of any species of Bryobia on plants of the family Equisetaceae. The slide-mounted specimens are in the Canadian National Collection.

Among the more important predacious coccinellids in eastern North America is Hyperaspis binotata auct., which has been considered a general feeder on Toumeyella numismaticum (P. & M.), Pulvinaria spp., and other scale insects. A review of the specimens identified as H. binotata in the collections of the Forest Insect Laboratory, Sault Ste. Marie, has revealed, not only H. binotata (Say), but two apparently new species, descriptions of which are given in this paper. In addition to the material at Sault Ste. Marie, specimens were obtained from the Canadian National Collection and the Forest Biology Laboratory, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Codling moth larvae seeking overwintering sites usually spin up during hours of darkness on the trunks and larger branches of apple trees rather than in the soil or in debris under the trees. The number on the ground depends on the suitability for cocooning sites of the bark on the tree and on the amount and type of debris on the ground. Gould and Geissler (1941) found that larvae did not spin up in bare and compact soil and Steiner (1929) observed that most larvae returned to the tree to spin cocoons when there was little or no litter beneath the trees. Baker (1944) reported eight to nine per cent spun up on the ground beneath unscraped trees, and 18 per cent where the loose bark scales were removed. Others (Headlee (1929). Worthley (1932), Gnadinger et al. (1940), Woodside (1941), and Stultz (1946), found that under natural conditions from 0 to 14 per cent spun up in the soil, in the cover crop, or in the debris on the ground.

The ‘clover’ mite, Bryobia praetiosa Koch, has long been known to be a complex of closely related species or biological races differing greatly in host range, life-history, and habits. Morgan and Anderson (1957) reviewed the problem and described the form occurring on fruit trees in British Columbia as a new species, B. arborea, to be known as the brown mite, and these authors (Anderson and Morgan, 1958) also published a detailed study of the life-histories and habits of this species and of the true clover mite, B. praetiosa. Although the presence of Bryobia mites on fruit trees in Eastern North America, including Ontario, has long been recognized, they have seldom received more than casual mention and no extensive study of their biology in this area appears to have been undertaken. The species has little economic importance in Ontario (Putman and Herne, 1959).

Macropsis fuscula (Zett.), which is a species common in Europe, was first reported in North America in 1952 when specimens were collected from loganberry on Lulu Island, British Columbia. High infestations persisted on Lulu Island until the destruction of most of the loganberry canes there during a severe freeze in November, 1955. New cane grourth was normal in 1956, hot no leaf-hoppers could be found. Only a few nymphs were found in 1957, but there was an average of 14 nymphs per 100 fruit buds in 1958, and 48 nvmphs in 1959, compared to 32 nymphs during the last season of high infestations in 1955. Re-infestation from hardy wild hosts common in the area probably largely accounts for the rapid re-establishment of this pest on cultivated loganberry.

A study of the biology and control of black flies in the forests of Eastern Canada was conducted on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River, near Baie Comeau, Quebec, from 1954 to 1956. Reference was made to this study by Peterson and Wolfe (1958). Details on the identity of species, and studies on their life histories and habits were reported by Wolfe and Peterson (1959), while the control of black-fly larvae by aircraft spraying was described by West, Brown, and Peterson (in press). Experiments on the control of adult black flies by aircraft spraying are reported in this paper.

Zoogeographic studies can be pursued in the laboratory or library, but far preferably should be largely based on careful, first-hand field work. A familiarlty with species in the field is a prerequisite to a thorough understanding of both their zoogeography and their systematics. Naturally, knowledge of the actual relationships of the species, and of the geology and geographical history of the areas involved, are also prerequisites to a complete understanding of the zoogeography of a group of insects.

Since Summers described Bryobia curiosa in 1953 from an unknown host in the Mojave Desert, California, this unusual mite with the stylophore cleft mediodistally has never been reported elsewhere. In 1959, two new, closely related species were discovered: one was found at Summerland, British Columbia, and is described herein; the other was taken in California. I am indebted to Dr. F. M. Summers, University of California, Davis, Calif., for the loan of specimens of B. curiosa and for permitting me to examine specimens of his undescribed species from California.

Experiments with the growth-forms of acarine predator and prey populations require a constant supply of both species. This note describes a technique used for maintaining large numbers of Tyrophagus castellanii (Hirst) and its predator Melichares dentriticus (Berl.) and of Acarus siro L. and its predator Cheyletus eruditus (Schrank)