Long-term studies of the biology of bark and cambium-feeding insects have been limited to observations in the field or to rearing methods which present conditions deviating from the natural habitat and requiring considerable labor and material. A simple rearing technique is required which will simulate the normal habitat yet will allow the rearing of a numerous and continuously visible stock of specimens without repeated handling.

Recent study of three Ontario Petrova specimens in the Canadian National Collection, tentatively identified as P. albicapitana (Busck), showed them to be the Virginia pitch-nodule moth, P. wenzeli (Kearfott). This insect was previously unknown outside the range of its Virginia pine host, Pinus virginiana Mill. (Miller and Altmann, 1958). Following this discovery, the Canadian Forest Insect Survey assembled nearly 300 specimens labeled as Petrova albicapitana for restudy, and among these 2 more P. wenzeli specimens were identified by the writer. With the writer's differentiation guide given below, Forest Insect Survey personnel distinguished two more P. wenzeli moths from a large group of P. albicapitana specimens reared subsequently.

One may well assume that almost all the Nearctic species of mammalian fleas have probably been discovered. Concentrated collecting and study of mammals and their parasites for more than half a century has not only yielded a largely complete roster of the flea species present but has also elucidated the geographical distributions and host associations of many of them. However, this can hardly be said for the bird flea, which have been relatively neglected. The distributions and ecology of the known species are imperfectly understood and interesting records and new species can still be found, especially in the western and northern parts of the region, if one takes the trouble to search. For example, recent collections from birds' nests in Alaska, made by Dr. Robert Rausch, have yielded a number of distributional surprises (e.g., Ceratophyllus gallinae (Schrank), formerly believed to be confined to eastern North America) and examination of the nests of a mere six species of birds by the writer and J. E. H. Martin of the Entomology Research Institute during a brief collecting trip on the Alaska Highway in August, 1959, revealed five species of fleas, all belonging to the genus Ceratophyllus Curtis, and including two of special interest. One of these is new to science. The second, identified here as Ceratophyllus balati Rosicky, a species recorded in the literature only from Czechoslovakia, is redescribed here for the convenience of North American students, and also to supplement the original description. In addition to describing these, the writer wishes, in this paper, to emphasize the paucity of our knowledge of bird fleas in the hope that ornithologists and others who may find opportunities to collect and examine birds' nests (after the fledglings have left) will search for fleas.

At the Victoria laboratory a simple plastic cage was devised for rearing root weevil adults on whole attached strawberry leaflets. The cage (Fig. 1) was constructed from 10-dram plastic pill vials (Cunningham, Drug Stores Ltd., 1300 Douglas Street, Victoria, B.C.) having an inside diameter of one inch and length of three inches.

The bottom of the hard styrene plastic vial was cut off with a band saw and the top of the soft polyethylene piastic lid was cut out with a sharp knife. Bronze screening of 44 mesh (number 60, strainer cloth supplied by Hickman Tye Hardware Co., Ltd., 910 View Street, Victoria, B.C.) was fastened to the bottom of the vial and to the top of the lid by placing 1 ⅛-inch squares of the screen on an electric hot plate and pressing the plastic parts onto the wire. The hot wire melted the plastic and became imbedded in it, forming a strong bond. The screen was trimmed with small tin snips and ground smooth on a grindstone. To facilitate attachment to growing leaves, a hot glass rod was used to melt a notch in the rim of the vial opening and lid large enough to accommodate the leaf petiole. An insect-tight seal was formed around the petiole in the notch when the lid was turned slightly.

Although Laricobius rubidus LeConte (1861, 1866) is not a common predator of the balsam woolly aphid, Adelges piceae (Ratz.), this paper is included in the series because of the close taxonomic similarities of L. rubidus in all stages to the recently introduced L. erichsonii Rosenh. In the past there has been confusion in the literature because the majority of records of rubidus have been erroneously attributed to erichsonii. These records have been discussed in detail in a paper on L. erichsonii, a species which has been introduced into North America as part of a biological control program against A. piceae (Clark and Brown, 1958).

Casual examination of a series of three Silvius would indicate they are distinct from any described species. Examination in detail, however, shows a close relationship to S. pollinosus Williston. Since the material on hand is limited, it is probably better to regard them as representing a subspecies of pollinosus than to give this new form full specific rank.