Seventeen new species of Scolytidae from Mexico are described. The new species represent the genera Neodryocoetes (4), Pseudopityophthorus (9), Pityoborus (3), and Prognathotrichus n. gen. (1). New locality records for several previously described species are included.

Seasonal and daily activity of three carpenter ants, Camponotus herculeanus, C. noveboracensis and C. pennsylvanicus in northwestern Ontario, was measured by counting the ants moving along underground trails. The start of seasonal activity was temperature dependent. Activity peaked in June and early July, corresponding to the period of rapid larval growth, and thereafter declined independently of temperature, ceasing in early October. Few ants (between 4 and 6%) carried visible objects. Daily activity was correlated with temperatures in early June, with the peak in mid-afternoon. However, as the season progressed activity extended further into the night, C. pennsylvanicus becoming virtually nocturnal. Temperatures inside the nest during larval development were raised as much as 16 °C above normal, presumably by metabolic heat from the ants.

Adults of Chrysolina quadrigemina (Suffr.) from Westbank, British Columbia, were compared with those from Lotus, California, for differences in behaviour, physiology, and colour in association with adaptation to the long, cold winters at the former location. It was found that the Westbank beetles tend to seek shelter more readily from freezing temperatures than do those from California. They also lay more eggs, as measured during 41/2 months of their oviposition period. Most eggs from both populations probably hatch in spring. The proportion of bronze beetles in the total population correlated with high mean and mean minimum temperatures in the coldest months of the year at 11 collection areas in France, Australia, U.S.A., and Canada.

The female and male of Tarsonemus granarius n. sp. are described and illustrated. This mite occurs in granaries in Canada, Japan, and the British Isles. It feeds on, and perhaps disseminates, fungi that deteriorate grain stored for prolonged periods. Similarities and differences in the morphology and ecology of adults of this species and of T. fusarii Cooreman are discussed.

Fertility of Achaearanea tepidariorum (C. L. Koch) that were fed mosquitoes chemosterilized by pupal exposure to thiotepa was significantly reduced. Mortality was excessive for spiders fed mosquitoes treated topically with thiotepa. Maximal weekly dosages, estimated by residue analysis, were 12 and 21 ng/male and female respectively for spiders fed mosquitoes treated as pupae and over 3 times greater for spiders fed mosquitoes treated topically as adults. The susceptibility of this predator to small chronic dosages of chemosterilant suggests that mass releases of chemosterilized insects are potentially hazardous to food chain components.

Insects present in western white pine blister rust cankers in northern Idaho were: two weevils, Cylindrocopturus n. sp. and Pissodes sp. near swartzi Hopk.; two bark beetles, Pityophthorus sp. near nitidulus (Mann.), and Procryphalus ? sp.; a drosophilid fly, Paracacoxenus guttatus Hardy and Wheeler; and a phycitid moth, Dioryctria abietivorella (Grote). Mites associated with insect infestation were: Lasioseius ? n. sp., Ameroseius longitrichus Hirschmann, and Histiogaster arborsignis Woodring.

Life tables were prepared from daily fecundity and survival data on 69 apterous black bean aphids, Aphis fabae Scopoli, and 47 apterous pea aphids, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris). Both were on broad beans in 20° ± 0.5 °C, 70–80% R.H., and 16 hr light per day. The intrinsic rates of natural increase (rm) computed from the life tables were 0.359 ♀/♀ day for the bean aphid and 0.404 ♀/♀ day for the pea aphid. Mortality was not important in determining the rates of increase because very few aphids died during their reproductive periods. Only 5 of 116 reproducing aphids died, all from inability to extrude nymphs which had died before bursting their embryonic membranes. These nymphs became covered with a discharge from the mother which cemented them in place and prevented the birth of succeeding nymphs. The resulting engorged females died in 3–4 days.

An analysis of and comparison with life tables of two other aphid species in addition to those produced here showed that the differences in rm were due almost entirely to differences in fecundity. Two fecundity patterns, correlated with aphid phylogeny, were recognized.

Behavior of the pine engraver Ips pini (Say) was observed through plexiglass rearing chambers containing ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Lawson) phloem. Periods of jostling in each entrance tunnel between the resident male and entering female preceded a female’s admission to the nuptial chamber. On the average, mating was completed in 25 seconds. In the gallery, beetles walked on protibial spines, keeping their tarsi folded against their tibiae. Eggs were deposited in niches on either side of the egg gallery and covered by phloem fragments. Larvae mined at right angles to the egg gallery and formed their molting chambers by doubling back and packing frass tightly against that already in the gallery. Larvae consumed their exuviae shortly after molting. Feeding by callow adults on prepupae and pupae may be an important natural control.

Five biotypes of the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris), from four hosts were recognized by their differential survival and rates of population increase on broom, white clover, alfalfa and broad beans, by body size, colour, and rates of natural increase (rm) on broad beans. A simple method is described which can verify that the differences between rm values measured by life table analysis are not due to chance.

Four of the biotypes were sympatric. It is suggested that biotypes in the pea aphid result from annual adaptations to various species of leguminous host plants and therefore other characteristics of the biotypes may vary from year to year. For this reason, only fundatrices and their immediate offspring which have not been subjected to this selection should be used as test organisms in assaying plants for resistance to pea aphids. The use of a biotype of a single year for screening plant varieties may lead to the production of varieties which are highly acceptable to other biotypes.

Adults of Sepedon fuscipennis Loew were sampled periodically throughout the summers of 1969 and 1970 in a backwater habitat. Several overlapping generations of this common marsh fly were present during both summers, and its population density reached a unimodal peak both years. Population estimates based on mean number per sweep agreed well with mark–release–recapture data. These estimates showed a reasonably good fit to the negative binomial distribution and indicated that aggregation of the flies probably is due to some heterogeneity in the environment. Flies lived more than 3 months in laboratory cages, and each female laid an average of 191 eggs.

Estimates were made of larval survival and net production for discrete cohorts followed in the field. The survival and production rates of larvae were greater when small snails were abundant in the habitat and much greater when the larvae were fed once before being released. Survival was not decreased perceptibly by the degree of larval crowding tested (50 larvae compared with 25 in an area of 254.34 cm2).

A European bug Picromerus bidens (L.) is reported from Quebec feeding on larvae of the introduced sawfly Gilpinia frutetorum (F.) (Hymenoptera: Diprionidae). A colour photograph of the bug and an illustration of the anterior femur and tibia are included.

Residues of methomyl in rape plants and seed were determined after its application for bertha armyworm control. In one experiment application of 3 oz of methomyl per acre left 17 p.p.m. residue on the rape plants immediately after application. This level rapidly declined to 1.5, 1.0, 0.4, and 0.2 p.p.m. 1, 2, 5, and 9 days later, respectively, and no residue was detected (less than 0.02 p.p.m.) in seed harvested 22 days after application of the toxicant. Rape plant samples collected from several farms immediately after the application of 3 to 4 oz of methomyl per acre had 2.5 to 16 p.p.m. residues, indicating inefficient application of the insecticide in some cases. Analysis of rape seed samples collected from 36 farms showed little residue in three samples (0.02 to 0.03 p.p.m.) and none in 33, indicating that the use of methomyl for bertha armyworm control is not likely to contaminate rape seed with undesirable levels of residues.

Calling (extrusion of the sex pheromone-producing gland) by spruce budworm females follows a circadian rhythm regulated by the initiation of the photophase. At 2 °C 50% of the females call by 131/2 hr after "lights-on." Calling starts earlier at cooler temperatures. Females that have not been exposed to lights-on start calling as soon as darkness occurs. Virgin females are most attractive 3 to 4 days after emergence. Mated females call intermittently and are attractive but compete poorly with virgins. Once started, female budworm call continuously throughout the calling period, implying that their pheromone release rate is lower than if they called for short intervals only as in some other Lepidoptera. This may influence the quantities of synthetic pheromone required to disrupt mating behaviour. Calling behaviour is not influenced by the proximity of other adult budworm. At high population densities, males are apparently able to locate females before or as soon as they start to call, suggesting that communication is short range. Longer distance communication probably operates at low population densities. Population regulation by disrupting mating behaviour is therefore unlikely to succeed except at relatively low population densities.

The entomogenous fungus Entomophthora erupta (Dustan), known previously only from Nova Scotia and California, is reported from Ithaca, N.Y., as an enemy of the alfalfa plant bug, Adelphocoris lineolatus (Goeze). During 1966 to 1969, the conidial stage of E. erupta was observed on A. lineolatus nymphs from late July to mid-August with percentage infection of nymphs observed to be as high as 33.3%. The possibility of colonizing this fungus in disease-free alfalfa fields to aid in suppressing populations of A. lineolatus is discussed.

On the basis of data obtained during a light-trapping survey in western North America, noctuid moth activity appears to be influenced by nightly temperatures but not by lunar periodicity.

The species of the chalcidoid genera Aphelinus Dalman, Mesidia Foerster, Mesidiopsis Nowicki, and Protaphelinus, new genus, are solitary endophagous parasites of aphids. Their classification is discussed. And a key to the genera is given based on adult characters.

Special emphasis in the revision is on the known Canadian representatives and species that are likely to be found in Canada. The first part of the revision deals with genus Protaphelinus. The type-species, P. nikolskajae (Jasnosh), is described in detail and illustrated. New information on distribution and host ranges is provided.

Catinathrips kainos O’Neill and Frankliniella vaccinii Morgan overwinter as adults in the soil and first appear on lowbush blueberry plants in mid- to late May. C. kainos was the predominant species on the plants in the spring in six Maine locations. The peak of nymphal abundance occurred in mid-July. It is believed that C. kainos migrates into the soil to complete development while F. vaccinii becomes an adult on the blueberry plant before migrating into the soil. F. vaccinii adults were found to be much more numerous on the plants in late July and August than C. kainos. Although only a few C. kainos males and no F. vaccinii males were noted in the spring, a 3:4 ratio of male to female F. vaccinii adults was present on the plants in August and about the same adult ratio of C. kainos was discovered in the soil in mid-August. The depth at which C. kainos winters in the soil appeared to be centered at 2.5–3.5 in.

Eight species of spiders belonging to two families were collected on northeastern Devon Island, N.W.T., in connection with the Canadian International Biological Program, Tundra Biome. They are Lycosidae: Tarentula exasperans Pickard-Cambridge; Erigonidae: Acartauchenius pilifrons (Koch), Collinsia spetsbergensis (Thorell), Diplocephalus barbatus (Koch), Erigone psychrophila Thorell, Hilaira vexatrix (Pickard-Cambridge), Minyriolus pampia Chamberlin, and Typhochraestus latithorax (Strand). The three most commonly collected species were E. psychrophila, T. exasperans, and H. vexatrix, in that order. New distributional data from other arctic localities for the above-mentioned species are given. A. pilifrons is recorded for the first time from the Nearctic Region and is described and figured in detail.

Adult fir engraver beetles were examined by serial paraffin sections and scanning electron microscopy. In both male and female beetles small cup-shaped pits covering the top and portions of the side of the head were consistently found to carry fungal spores. These pits usually contained a waxy looking material in which the spores were imbedded. The pits provide a mechanism for fungal transport and storage.

This investigation was concerned with fauna above and within the litter, fermentation, and humus layers of the soil in a mature stand of red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.). The following six microsites were designated for sampling: "open" and "closed" hollows, flats, and hummocks. "Open" and "closed" referred to the space among the tree crowns directly above the microsites. Three sampling techniques, namely core samplers, pitfalls and Tullgren funnels, were employed. Samples were collected weekly from spring to winter in 1966 and 1967 by all methods except that in 1966 Tullgren funnel samples were collectell biweekly. Collected fauna comprised five Phyla, 11 classes, 28 orders, and approximately 124 families. The transformed core sample and Tullgren funnel data were analyzed using an ANOVA (2-way classification) procedure. Transformed pitfall data required an ANOVA (2-way classification, with sampling) procedure. The core sample and Tullgren funnel methods indicated a significant difference (α = 0.10) among microsites based on total weekly (or biweekly) faunal catches in all but one case (which approached significance). In 1966 there were no significant differences (α = 0.10) among the pitfall microsites but in 1967 there were. In all cases there were significant differences (α = 0.10) in the total weekly or biweekly catches of fauna from the various microsites.