There have been few quantitative studies on the role of woodpeckers in control of insect pests. Hutchison (1951) and Wygant (1958) pointed out the importance of these predators in reducing outbreaks of the Engelmann spruce beetle and Knight (1958) established a means of assessing the value of woodpeckers by correlating their activity with beetle survival but made no attempt to measure the numbers of woodpeckers in an area.

In southern Alberta there are several species of aphids that produce galls on poplar trees (Harper, 1959). These aphids are all in the subfamily Eriosomatinae and in the genera Pemphigus Hartig, Thecabius Koch, and Mordwilkoja Del. G. Two of the species are of economic importance, Pemphigus betae Doane, a pest of sugar beets in Alberta and parts of United States (Harper, 1957; Maxson, 1916; Parker, 1915), and Pemphigus populitransversus Riley, a serious pest of crucifers in Texas (Wene and White, 1953). Both species overwinter on poplar as eggs. In spring the fundatrix emerges from the egg and feeds on the poplar leaf, initiating a gall in which the winged fundatrigeniae are produced. During the summer the fundatrigeniae migrate to the secondary host where they produce the wingless alienicolae; in the fall these in turn produce the winged sexuparae, which migrate to the poplars where they produce the wingless sexuales. The female sexuales, after mating, deposit eggs on the poplars to complete the life cycle (Harper, 1957; Jones and Gillette, 1918; Parker, 1914).

The following descriptions are based on material collected during a field trip to the east coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia in June 1955. Most of the streams concerned are in the vicinity of Qualicum Bay, a summer resort midway between the cities of Nanaimo and Courtenay. Lying in the lee of the mountainous interior of the island, this narrow strip of coastal forest has a climate somewhat drier than is normal for the region as a whole. The annual precipitation is less than 50 inches and there is a pronounced dry period in July and August. The short coastal rivers are in spate in the fall and winter months when the heaviest rainfall occurs. They are fast and shallow with clean beds of gravel or small boulders. Because of limited water storage in the hinterland,flash-flooding is frequent after rain storms. Vegetation of the forest floor is lush and the courses of the smaller streams are often concealed by dense thickets of salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis Pursh.), thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus Nutt.) and other shrubs that overhang the banks. During the spring and earlysummer, conditions appear to be very favourable for the propagation of black flies. In late May, one of the Prosimulium species described herein was already past its peak of emergence and the occurrence of even earlier species seems probable.

Collyria calcitrator (Grav.) is an important parasite of the wheat stem sawflies Cephus pygmaeus (L.) and C. (Trachelus) tabidus (F .) in Europe (Salt, 193 1). It was imported from England and released against the wheat stem sawfly, Cephus cinctus Nort., in the Prairie Provinces, especially Saskatchewan, from 1930 to 1939. One of its usual hosts, the European wheat stem sawfly, C. pygmaeus, first reported in Ontario in a meadow near Ottawa in 1887 (Harrington, 1890), was first recorded as damaging wheat in Ontario in the counties of Hastings, Prince Edward, and York in 1938. I t was a serious pest in New York and Pennsylvania in the early 1920's (Ries, 1926). As C. cinctus was a major pest of wheat in Western Canada and C. pygmaeus a pest in New York and Pennsylvania, the discovery of moderate to heavy infestations of C. pygmaeus in several localities in south-central Ontario in 1939 by Mr. G. H. Hammond, Entomology Field Station, Marmora, caused concern about the future importance of the sawfly as a pest of wheat in Ontario. C. calcitrator was being imported from England for release against C. cincctus in Western Canada at the time and advantage was taken of the opportunity to release the parasite in Ontario as a possible aid in control.

Resistance in plants to the cabbage maggot, Hylemya brassicae (Bouché), has not been investigated extensively. Glasgow (1925) and Whitcomb (1944) compared the percentages of infestation of species of cruciferous crops and varieties of cabbaage. Whitcomb (1944) attributed differences in degree of injury among 13 cabbage varieties t o resistance in the plants rather than to repellent action during oviposition. He observed that the faster-growing varieties of cabbage were more susceptible to injury. The investigations reported herein were designed to determine if rutabagas had resistance to the cabbage maggot.

Most systematists occasionally come upon abnormal specimens of species belonging to the groups they study. Such specimens, depending on the nature of the abnormality, may be of only psssing interest as curiosities, or may be considered of sufficient importance to report in the literature.

Several authors have recorded cases of teratology in the fleas, most of the cases concerning duplication of an organ (usually the spermatheca of the female). castration of the male by nematodes, or variability in the numbers of ctenidial spines. Smit (1949) reviewed the scant literature and later published several additional papers on monstrosities in Siphonaptera.

Three introduced species of hymenopterous parasites of the European pine shoot moth, Rhyacionia buoliana (Schiff), were released in Waterloo County Reforestation Area, near Elmira, Ontario, from 1955 to 1957: Ephialtes ruficollis (Grav.) and Eulimeria rufifemur (Thorns.) (Ichneumonidae) and Tetrastichus turionum (Htg.) (Eulophidae). This is an account of their life history and behavior.

Gall midges have been reported from cones of western red cedar, Thuja plicata Donn., but none have been described. Keen (1958) reported the occurrence in Washington and Oregon of a cone midge which was credited with destroying 90 per cent of the seed. In 1940 Prebble and Graham reported a midge in cones of western red cedar at Cowichan Lake, B.C. These reports almost certainly refer to the midge described here. The only other species taken from red cedar cones was Lestodiplosis taxiconis Foote, but it occurred in verysmall numbers; previously it has been reported only from cones of Douglas fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco (Foote, 1956).

Several species of syrphids are common predators on the balsam woolly aphid, Adelges aiceae (Ratz.). in eastern Canada. Larvae are found on infested trees throughout the summer in a certain sequence of species. Occasionally adult syrphids are collected while ovipositing.

Attempts have been made to rear the larvae in the laboratory on small pieces of infested bark but the difficulty of keeping the bark moist and preventing the growth of mould and of transferring the larvae to fresh bark made this method unsatisfactory. The prey died before rearing was complete. Rearing the larvae in the field appeared to be the solution to this problem and a suitable cage was designed which was simple to make, install, and examine (Fig. 1).

I am indebted to Mr. J. Powell, University of California, Berkeley, for the privilege of studying a small but interesting collection of Pyralidae, made by him in the Sierra San Pedro Martir, Lower California, May 28 to June 3, 1958.As records from this region of Mexico are scarce, I take pleasure in publishing a list of the species.

Pyraustinae

Nomophila noctuella (Denis and Schiffermüller) . Nine specimens: La Grulla, 6500 ft.; La Encantada, 7000 ft. Identical with North American specimens passing under this name.

On January 10, 1958 a collection of 20 galls was made from a rose bush in an abandoned brickyard bounded by Cheapside, Taylor, Victoria and Adelaide Streets at London, Ontario. This was the same site in which collections of galls were made from goldenrod and willow by Judd (1953, 1958). Collections of flowers and leaves from the rose bush were made later in the year on June 20 and fruits were collected on September 14. From examination of these the bush was identified as Rosa canina L. by Dr. F. H. Montgomery, Department of Botany, Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph, who retained specimens of the plant for the herbarium of that institution. Specimens are also retained in the writer's herbarium (sheets 603, 604). By using keys in Felt (1940) the galls were identified as mossy rose galls or rose bedeguars caused by the cynipid wasp Diplolepis rosae (L.). The galls were roughly oval and were clothed with a furry covering of flexible filaments, thus resembling galls of this species figured by Connold (1902) and Felt (1940). The 20 galls ranged in size from l¼ in. × 1¼in. to 3 in. × 2½ in. Connold (1902) records the average dimensions of a mature gall to be 35 mm. and Felt (1940) reports diameters up to four inches. Callan (1944), Connold (1902) and Muesebecli et al, (1951) report that this gall has been introduced from Europe into North America and occurs habiyually on the dog-rose, Rosa canina L., a shrub which itself has been introduced into North America from Europe (Fernald, 1950).

The following is an illustrated discussion of pupal abdominal characters observed in British Columbia species of Dioryctria, a genus containing some of the most economically important cone-feeding and wood-boring Lepidoptera. Species examined and referred to herein are: cambiicola (Dyar), zimmermani (Grote), abietivorella (Grote), auranticella (Grote), rossi Munroe, reniculella (Grote), and pseudotsugella Munroe. Dioryctria reniculella and pseudotsugella are defoliators, but they may occasionally feed on cones.

A number of authors who have mentioned phytoseiid mites as predators of tetranychids reported that “Seius” or “Seiulus” spp. hibernated in the bark of trees, but until recently the taxonomy of the Phytoseiidae was so confused that the identity of the species concerned is uncertain. Herbert (1952), in Nova Scotia,was apparently the first to deal with species that can be definitely identified; she reported that a number of species of Typhlodromus, including most of those occurring on peach in Ontario, overwintered on apple trees under bark scales, in empty hibernacula of the eye-spotted bud moth, Spilonota ocellana (D. & S.), in empty oyster-shell scales, Lepidosaphes ulmi (L.), and in cocoons of the codling moth, Carpocapsa pomonella (L.). Chant (1958) found numbers of T. pyri Scheut. hibernating in burlap pads tied to apple trees in England.

The pale western cutworm, Agrotis orthogonia Morr., has been successfully reared in the laboratory on a number of different foods (Jacobson and Blakeley, 1958; McGinnis and Kasting, 1959). Initial evaluation of the nutritional adequacy of diets for the cutworm has been achieved by comparing growth curves based on mean weights of the groups of larvae on test (McGinnis and Kasting, 1959). This note shows that the relative value of diets for the larvae of the pale western cutworm can be established more simply by comparing growth curves based on mean weights recorded two days after each moult.

In the irrigated districts of southern Alberta larvae of Culiseta inornota (Williston) were found to be infected with the fungus Coelomomyces psorophorae Couch, identified by J. N. Couch, Department of Botany, University of North Carolina. This is the first record on C. inornata in Canada.

The resting sporangia (Fig. 1) were found in the thoracic and abdominal cavities of the larvae. The infected larvae were darker brown in color, larger in size, and slower in movement than the non-infected ones.