Notwithstanding the undoubted economic importance of the Tabanidae, which is second only to that of the Culicidae among blood-sucking insects, our information concerning the habits and life-histories of Canadian species is very meagre indeed. What knowledge we possess has been chiefly derived from the studies made by entomologists of the United States, who have discussed among others some of the species that occur on both sides of the international boundary. Of the species dealt with in the present paper, Hart (1896, p. 227) observed oviposition by Chrysops moerens, Walk., in Illinois, and a description of the egg was given. This brief account was supplemented by Hine (1906, p. 36) in Ohio, who published a detailed description of the process of oviposition of the same species and was, moreover, successful in rearing Tabanus lasiophthalmus, Macq., from the egg to the adult—the first time that this had been accomplished for a Tabanid species. Jones & Bradley (1923, p. 310), working in Louisiana, discovered in the course of their investigations on the Tabanidae a single larva of T. reinwardtii, Wied., from which an adult was reared, but no description of the larva was offered. Webb & Wells (1924) published an account of the partial life-cycle of T. phaenops, O.S., including descriptions of the early stages, as well as of T. insuetus, O.S., in which all stages other than the egg were obtained and described.

The following description is based on material submitted for determination by the Imperial Bureau of Entomology.

Grasshoppers of the genus Oxya, Serv., are well known to economic entomologists in India and Malaya as pests of rice and other crops cultivated under irrigation. An enormous confusion in systematics of the genus was responsible, however, for gross inaccuracies in records of these pests with regard to the actual species involved in each case. Indeed, no other species except O. velox has been ever recorded as a pest, so far as I know, simply because this was popularly supposed to be a most widely spread and common species, while the descriptions of it by different authors were sufficiently vague to enable one to apply the name to almost any species of the genus.

To lure tourists to the West Indies, the makers of travel literature are most apt to use for illustrations more or less accurate drawings of the coconut palm, as being the most easily recognisable and distinctive tree of these islands. Not so well-known, but quite as characteristic of their sandy beaches, and probably even more abundant, is the sea-grape with its stiff, erect shoots, its large, stiff, rounded leaves, and the gnarled and wind-distorted trunks of the older trees.

Two of the weevils referred to by Mr. Wolcott in the foregoing paper as feeding on Coccoloba uvifera are new to science, and descriptions of them are therefore appended.

Insects inducing galls. Adult female apparently without limbs or antennae. Mouth-parts obscure. Spiracles large and conspicuous ; two pairs, occupying a position close to the posterior extremity. Anal orifice minute, setiferous. Genital orifice sharply defined. Spiracles, anal and genital orifices all included in a densely chitinous area. This dense deposition of chitin renders the interpretation of the characters difficult and prevents any accurate definition of the genus.

The name Platyedra scutigera is proposed for a cotton insect of Queensland, previously reported as P. gossypiella. Its larval and pupal stages are described and notes on its bionomics and distribution are given.

There are at least four distinct species of Platyedra in Australia, P. gossypiella in West Australia and the Northern Territory, the other three in Queensland, one of which is the cotton pest, P. scutigera, the remaining two feeding on native Malvaceae.

During a visit to the Canary Islands in the early autumn of 1924, the chief purpose of which was an inspection of the banana plantations for insect and allied pests, four enemies were found, each of which was the cause of some loss. Two of these had relatively small importance, viz. a red spider (Tetranychus) and a thrips. The red spider was known locally as the “ red bug,” the popular name being “ aranillos ” (the little spiders) ; the mites were found on the fruits, which showed the paleness and discolouration that characterise plant tissue wounded by the red spider mouth-parts. The thrips, known locally as “ black bug,” also caused a paleness and discolouration of the attacked fruit. Both of these enemies were known to the Spanish workers as “ bicho blanco ” (the animal which causes a whiteness). The other two enemies were much more serious, one of them a moth, the banana miner, Hieroxestis subcervinella, Walk., the subject of another paper ; the second a scale-insect, Pseudococcus comstocki, the subject of this paper.

The genus A phrastobracon was erected by Ashmead in 1895 to include an interesting new Braconid that was bred out from the lac insect, Tachardia albizziae, Gr., by Mr. E. E. Green, in Ceylon, and the species was named A. flavipennis. Since then we have no further records of this insect from Ceylon or elsewhere. Even Mr. Green does not refer to it in connection with the same lac insect in his recent last volume on the Coccidae of Ceylon, though he has made mention of another Braconid, Bracon greeni, Ashm., bred by him from the same host and described by Ashmead as the same time as A. flavipennis. However, this insect was noted by the writer of this paper some years ago in South India, and latterly during the course of his studies on the local Coccidae specimens of this species were reared from two or three common scale-insects. It was at first thought to be a parasite on the scales and was identified by a well-known authority as a species of Megalommum, Sz.; a record to this effect may be found in the author's “ List of Parasitic Hymenoptera of Economic Importance from South India ” published in 1921. Further studies and observations made on the bionomics of this insect in recent years revealed its true habit as a parasite, not on the scale, but on a Lepidopterous caterpillar feeding on the scale, and its correct identification was obtained after consulting two or three specialists. A brief reference to the insect, explaining its habits, is made in the author's recently published memoir on the nim mealy scale, Pulvinaria maxima, Gr.