Recently, the light reactions of three species of tent caterpillars were described (3). The present paper contains a similar description of the responses of larvae of the spotless fall webworm, Hyphantria textor Harr. This species was chosen for comparative study because, like tent caterpillars, it is colonial through most of its larval stage, during which it forms extensive webs.

Larvae of all six instars were studied. Some of the behaviour described here was first observed during the summers of 1949-50 at Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. During July and August of 1953, several of the laboratory tests were repeated at Sault Ste. Marie, and, in addition, some new reactions were observed for the first time.

In a communication previously published (Judd, 1952) the writer reported upon studies of insects reared from Pine Cone Willow galls collected near London, Ontario in 1951. At the time this collection was made numerous galls of another type were noted on the twigs of a growth of willow shrubs adjacent to those from which the Pine Cone galls were taken. These galls were spindle-shaped swellings of the twigs and branches and were from three-quarters to one and one-half inches long and, at their greatest width, two or three times as wide as the twigs (Fig. 1). They were confined to a growth of willow which formed a straggling band along the edge of a field, the individual bushes being shrub-like in stature, three or four feet tall. This willow was identified as the sandbar-willow (Salix interior Rowlee) by use of a key to foliage of Salix in Fernald (1950). Most of the galls were separate from one another, forming individual swellings along the twigs. Some twigs and branches bore only a few galls but some bore several, there being as many as eight separate galls along one foot of branch. In a few cases two galls were so closely adjacent that they formed a single bilobed swelling of the twig. In the key to insect galls of willow in Felt (1940) they were identified as spindle-galls caused by the sawfly Euura nodus Walsh.

A polyhedral disease was discovered to be one of the natural agents attacking the black-headed budworm, Acleris variana (Fern.) in the coastal region of British Columbia during the outbreak of this insect, 1940-45. This disease became the most important single factor contributing to the decline of the outbreak (Prebble and Graham 1). The present report includes observations on some of the symptoms and microscopic characteristics of the disease.

The following are descriptions of a new genus and two new species of leafhoppers allied to Streptanus Rib. and Macustus Rib. that have been found in the Subarctic of Alaska and northwest Canada, of a new species of Hardya Edw. from the same region, and of the two new species of Hebecephalus DeL. from the mountains of Western Canada.

In a study of the effects of temperature on the evaporation from the cuticle of the grasshopper, Melanoplus bivittatus (3), it was essential to know the surface area of the insect. Because no such information is available for this species and because the surface area of insects rarely varies as the two-thirds power of the weight, an attempt was made to determine the constants of the Meeh formula, S=kWn (5) which would best correlate the surface area and the weight.

This is a report on the influence of temperature on embryonic development of the pale western cutworm, Agrotis orthogonia Morr. Gross observations on embryonic progress were recorded.

As cultures of this species are continuously needed for studies at the Lethbridge laboratory, information on conditions for adequate egg storage was required. The record of embryonic development was used to determine the most satisfactory stage at which eggs could be stored for future use.

The absence of adequate chemical and enzymological micro-methods for the estimation of residues of the chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticides increases the need for reliable bioassay methods. The purpose of the work reported below was an investigation of the influences of cultural and testing techniques on the sensitivity and dependability of the toxicological response of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster.

The senior author conducted this investigation during 1937 and 1938 in the Sandilands Forest Reserve, Manitoba. The results were presented in an unpublished report (Rablrin, 1938). Owing to the current importance of this insect in Manitoba and the Lake States of the United States, it was considered advisable to publish those aspects of the work relating to life history and dispersal. This was undertaken by the junior author.

In my paper “The Introduction of the Termite into Ontario” (Can. Ent., No. 8, 1953) I stated that “insofar as records based on collected specimens are concerned, the termite, Reticulitermes flavipes, is to be found in no other part of eastern Canada, with the exception of Pelee Island (where this particular species has been present for many years).” I further stated that “it is forecast that it will continue to spread over the entire area of eastern Toronto including greater Toronto” and further that “its appearance in other parts of the Province is to be expected, and it will no doubt occur in isolated populations similar in pattern, but on a larger scale, to what has been witnessed in Toronto during the past fourteen years.”