This study was undertaken as part of a broader investigation of the behaviour of the jack-pine sawfly, Neodiprion americanus banksianae Roh. The greater part of the investigation was directed towards an understanding of larval group-feeding behaviour, but in order to clarify the situation in which this insect begins larval life, large numbers of egg clusters were analysed with special attention paid to the positional relations of egg-bearing needles. Such analysis has permitted certain inferences on the oviposition behaviour of this insect and this indirect information is of value in view of the difficulties experienced in efforts to induce this species to oviposit under laboratory conditions for direct observation. Fortunately, egg clusters obtained from the field are well adapted to descriptive measurement and analysis, for in order to lay its full complement of eggs the adult female sawfly must select as many as 20 to 30 needles, thus leaving behind it a readily measured record of its egg-laying behaviour.

The thrips Frankliniella tritici (Fitch) occurred in great abundance early in May, 1954, in orchards of tree fruits in Essex County, Ontario.

Observations during the first three weeks of May showed that this insect was abundant on the foliage and blossoms of apple, sweet and sour cherries, plum, and peach. Sweet cherry, European plum, and peach suffered the greatest attack. On sweet cherry and plum large numbers of eggs were inserted in blossom stems, styles and apices of the ovaries. From 30 to 50 per cent of the blossoms of sweet cherry and plum were destroyed, apparently because of disruption of tender tissues by the large numbers of eggs inserted in them; a considerable number of the fruits remaining on the trees were injured by feeding of adults and immature stages of the thrips (Fig. 1).

This moth was first reported on this continent as a pest in a consignment of peanuts, received in California from China (de Ong, 1919). Mr. Hahn W. Capps, of the United States Department of Agriculture, informs me, in litt., that 6 adults from that infestation, together with 2 from “near prunes” in 1930, and 8 from a prune warehouse in 1931, at San José, are in the U.S. National Museum.

On February 13, 1954 a heavy infestation of small galls was noted on a growth of willow shrubs (Salix sp.) in London Township about a mile north of London, Ontario. The exact location was on the north bank of the North Branch of the Thames River about 100 yards west of the bridge by which Adelaide Street crosses the river. The bushes were crowded along the bank and several of them had their lower branches under water and their roots extending well out into the mud of the river. The galls were one-eighth to three-eighths of an inch long (Fig. 1) and were roughly spherical to oval in shape. The bark of a gall was scarred by shallow furrows running along its length. At its upper end each gall bore the scales of a withered bud or an oval scar from which the scales had fallen. Flanking the scar were two rounded swellings of incipient buds. Many of the galls were separatelv developed along the twigs, being well apart from one another, hut in some cases they were crowded against one another so that three or four galls occupied one inch of the length of the twig, and in several instances a number of adjacent galls had coalesced to form an irregular swelling one or two inches long, along the length of a twig. In the key to insect galls of willow in Felt (1940) the galls were identified as scarred willow galls caused by the gall fly Phytophaga tumidosae (Felt).

Severe local infestations of a cottony scale on peach have been reported from the Niagara district of Ontario since the early 1920's. The species has been commonly referred to the cottony peach scale, Pulvinaria amygdali Ckll., but Steinweden (1946) showed that amygdali was an entirely different species, leaving the identity of the local species on peach in doubt.

The use of residual insecticides is increasing in insect control programs. In practice all insects do not receive lethal dosages, possibly because of uneven application of insecticide and the failure of some insects to come in contact with treated surfaces. This study was designed to determine the rate of oviposition of adult females of Tribolium confusum Duv. surviving exposure to DDT residues and to compare this rate with that of unexposed females.

Hübner ([1824-25] p. 357) defined the genus Epipagis, citing three species. Hampson (1918: 277) chose fenestralis Hübner as type, and sank Sameodes Snellen to Epipagis. The arrangement of the British Museum Pyralidae shows that Hampson thought fenestralis Hübner was the same as phyllisalis Walker; but so far as I know this synonymy was never published. Actually, Hübner's figure of fenestralis represents a female of the genus usually known as Stenophyes Lederer, wrongly synonymized by Hampson (1899) with Crocidophora Lederer. The size and coloration suggest that the species Hübner figured is the common North American one universally called buronalis Guenée.

Taxonomically, the Cecidomyiidae (Gall Midges) are a difficult group. Many species have been described using colour of freshly killed specimens as the principal criterion for identification (Felt, 1907a). As dead specimens seldom retain their original colour, subsequent determinations based on this characteristic are almost impossible. Morphological characteristics which separate the genera are fairly distinct and therefore acceptable but those used to separate the species, namely, the number and shape of the antenna1 segments (Barnes, 1932), were found to be quite variable in the species studied. Species are more easily identified if, in addition to their morphology, something is known of their biology. In this paper, descriptions and notes on the biology of five gall midges from white spruce cones are given. In addition, the literature on all species from white spruce is reviewed.

In 1910 in a paper on the parasites of the Gypsy and Brown-tail moths, W. F. Fiske calculated the mortality necessary to stabilize the gypsy moth population and stressed the importance of a sequence of parasites and predators attacking successive stages of the insect host, in the establishment and maintenance of satisfactory control. In 1912, in the bulletin entitled “The Importation into the United States of the Parasites of the Gypsy Moth and Brown-tail Moth”, L. O. Howard and W. F. Fiske studied the problem of a sequence of parasites much more fully. They then made the very important point that aggregate percentage of kill necessary for the control of an insect pest could not be secured by simply adding together the figures representing the kills resulting through attack by each of two or more species. It was going to be necessary, they said, to combine these several aggregates in a different manner. Thus a 50% parasitism of the eggs if it could possibly be secured, followed by another 50% parasitism of the caterpillars, could not by any possibility be considered as resulting in 100% parasitism or complete extinction but only in 50% parasitism added to 50% of what remained which amounted in effectto 25% of the whole. In this manner an aggregate of 75% only is secured. They said further that any specific amount of parasitism as 20% of the eggs, was neither more nor less, but exactly as effective as 20% parasitism of the caterpillars and pupae, in so far as its value in constructing the final aggregate was concerned. The principle they thus established, though it may seem obvious enough, had not apparently been previously recognized by workers on biological control and it is of the very greatest importance.

Difficulties experienced in rearing Feralia spp. beyond the pupal stage, and inability to distinguish species in the immature forms, has led to a study of their larvae and pupae. So far no specific differences have been observed in the larvae but progress has been made in the identification of Feralia in the pupal stage.

In line 4 of first paragraph, p. 210, Vol. 87, for “New England” read “New Zealand”.