The first lots of asparagus received at processing terminals in the Shelby, Michigan area in May of 1959, were heavily contaminated with case-bearer larvae of the family Coleophoridae. Various methods were unsuccessful in an endeavor to dislodge the larvae from the spears. As a result, a detailed investigation was initiated to ascertain the origin, life history, and possible control of this insect.

Infestations of Rhyacionia adana Heinrich have almost certainly been common in young pine plantations throughout southern Ontario for a number of years, but, because resultant tree damage has been confused with that of the European pine shoot moth, R. buoliana (Schiff.), the species itself has been overlooked.

Although R. adana was described in 1923 (Heinrich, 1923), the seasonal history has never been worked out, and even the host plants were not recorded until 1959 (Martin, 1959). In 1957, a study program was begun to learn the life history and habits of the species in Ontario, the results of which are presented here.

Richards (1955) detected insects in flight while studying changes in the amount of radiant energy from the sun. His report stimulated our consideration of a method specificallv intended to record insect flight activity. We wished, by means of a prtabic and relativelv simple apparatus, to detect and count insects flying throush a given space. The method developed differs somewhat in principle from that of Richards. In his apparatus the effect of an insect was to decrease slightly a large amount of energy continually falling on a photoelectric cell. Our method utilizes light reflected from an insect to a photoelectric cell which otherwise views a black background.

This paper presents the results of quantitative studies designed to determine, under field conditions, the influence of weather on the activity and development of adults and larvae of the white pine weevil, Pissodes strobi (Peck). The investigation forms part of a general program to determine the physical and biological requirements of the insect, with the ultimate objective of assessing the role of the environmental complex in limiting weevil development and survival to particular stand conditions. The problem arose when it became apparent that this information was pertinent to studies designed to determine the effectiveness of applied silviculture in the control of the insect. In addition, it provided the opportunity of assessing the effectiveness of applying quantitative bioclimatic methods in the field.

The results reported in this paper are part of a study of the biology and control of black flies in the forests of Eastern Canada conducted on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River, near Baie Comeau, Quebec, during 1954, 1955, and 1956. Reference to this study is made in a review by Peterson and Wolfe (1958). The identification and biology of the black flies of this region has been reported on by Wolfe and Peterson (1959) who also describe the topography of the region. The important feature of this rugged area is an abundance of fast-flowing streams which provide highly suitable environments for the development of black-fly populations.

During some investigations on grasshoppers it became necessary to know how long they would survive without food or water after hatching. The literature contains only scanty observations. Washburn (1911) reported that grasshoppers “freshly hatched, can live from four to five days without food”. Langford (1930) showed that 30 per cent of Melanoplus femur-rubrum (DeG.) and M. differenrialis (Thos.) (adults?) survived for two days at 95° F. without food and 100 per cent survived for two days at 69° F. At 38° F. 40 per cent survived for 13 days. Telenga (1930) kept first-instar Schistocerca gregaria Forsk. in outdoor cages without food and water where they survived only two days. Bodenheimer (1929) found that the average life of newly hatched S. gregaria in outdoor cages without food at ± 15° C. was 3.6 days, with a maximum of nine days, and that later instars that were starved lived longer at higher humidities. Ludwig (1937) testing the effect of different relative humidities on survival showed that third-, fourth-, and fifth-instar Chortophaga viridifasciata (DeG.) survived starvation for 5.2 to 6.6 days at 25° C, at all re1ative humidities from 5 to 96 per cent.

Since 1947 a blueberry thrips, Frankliniella vaccinii Morgan, has been reported as a common pest of the low-bush blueberry in New Brunswick. In a previous note Wood (1956) described the injury caused by the thrips under the assumption that only one species was involved. During the summer of 1958, however, several specimens of thrips ollected in Charlotte County, N.B. were sent, by request, to L. J. Stannard of the State Natural History Survey Division, Urbana, Illinois, who discovered two species, F. vaccinii and Taeniothrips vaccinophilus Hood, were included. This information was quite surprising and prompted further examination of specimens collected in this area prior to 1958. These specimens were examined by W. R. Richards, Entomology Research Institute, Ottawa, who reported that both species were present. Specimens collected between 1947 and 1951, however, were all F. vaccinii, those collected in 1951 were about 75 per cent F. vaccinii, and those collected since 1951 were mostly T. vaccinophilus. These records show that T. vaccinophilus, which appeared in or about 1951, has rapidly replaced F. vaccinii as the predominant species infesting blueberry in this area.

It is perhaps because of their unimportance as insect pests that larvae of the genus Syngrapha have been so little studied. Syngrapha epigaea is no exception to this; but since it is one of the most common species of larvae found in commercial blueberry fields of eastern Canada, the following notes on its life-history and parasitism are here recorded.

Three biotypes of the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harr.), were reported from Southern Quebec by Cartier (1957, 1959). Of these, biotype R1 was adopted as the standard culture in studies of aphid resistance in peas. As the criterion of weight of individuals is frequently used in measuring resistance, the present study was undertaken to secure data on growth, reproduction and longevity of aphids of this biotype.

Experiments conducted in the greenhouse and in the field by Perron et al. (1958) on 44 varieties of Allium revealed that the varieties Nebuka and Hishiko of A. fistulosum (L.) were significantly more resistant to attacks by the onion maggot, Hylemya antiqua (Meig.), than varieties of A. cepa (L.). This is a report of experiments conducted in 1957 and 1958 in the greenhouse and in the field on the attractiveness of seven of these varieties to oviposition by H. antiqua.

In 1957 James R. Beer, Edwin F. Cook and Robert G. Schwab, of the University of Minnesota, conducted an investigation of mammals and their ectoparasites in the Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona. The area studied included varied habitats in the general vicinity of the Southwestern Research Station of the American Museum of Natural History at Portal. An account of this investigation has now been published (Beer et al., 1959).

Sitomyzus was erected for a grass-feeding species of aphid, S. vibei H.R.L. which is known to occur only in Greenland (Hille Ris Lambers, 1952). In this paper a second species is desdribed from British Columbia, and a third, common, widespread species, Rhopalosiphum rhois Monell, is also assigned to this genus. The latter species is placed in Sitomyzus largely on the basis of similarities between the alate viviparae of rhois and those of other representatives of this genus. The apterae of rhois are very distinct however, and a new subgenus is herein erected for this species.

The ‘clover’ mite, Bryobia praetiosa Koch, has long been known to be a complex of closely related species or biological races differing greatly in host range, life-history, and habits. Morgan and Anderson (1957) reviewed the problem and described the form occurring on fruit trees in British Columbia as a new species, B. arborea, to be known as the brown mite, and these authors (Anderson and Morgan, 1958) also published a detailed study of the life-histories and habits of this species and of the true clover mite, B. praetiosa. Although the presence of Bryobia mites on fruit trees in Eastern North America, including Ontario, has long been recognized, they have seldom received more than casual mention and no extensive study of their biology in this area appears to have been undertaken. The species has little economic importance in Ontario (Putman and Herne, 1959).

Since Summers described Bryobia curiosa in 1953 from an unknown host in the Mojave Desert, California, this unusual mite with the stylophore cleft mediodistally has never been reported elsewhere. In 1959, two new, closely related species were discovered: one was found at Summerland, British Columbia, and is described herein; the other was taken in California. I am indebted to Dr. F. M. Summers, University of California, Davis, Calif., for the loan of specimens of B. curiosa and for permitting me to examine specimens of his undescribed species from California.

One may well assume that almost all the Nearctic species of mammalian fleas have probably been discovered. Concentrated collecting and study of mammals and their parasites for more than half a century has not only yielded a largely complete roster of the flea species present but has also elucidated the geographical distributions and host associations of many of them. However, this can hardly be said for the bird flea, which have been relatively neglected. The distributions and ecology of the known species are imperfectly understood and interesting records and new species can still be found, especially in the western and northern parts of the region, if one takes the trouble to search. For example, recent collections from birds' nests in Alaska, made by Dr. Robert Rausch, have yielded a number of distributional surprises (e.g., Ceratophyllus gallinae (Schrank), formerly believed to be confined to eastern North America) and examination of the nests of a mere six species of birds by the writer and J. E. H. Martin of the Entomology Research Institute during a brief collecting trip on the Alaska Highway in August, 1959, revealed five species of fleas, all belonging to the genus Ceratophyllus Curtis, and including two of special interest. One of these is new to science. The second, identified here as Ceratophyllus balati Rosicky, a species recorded in the literature only from Czechoslovakia, is redescribed here for the convenience of North American students, and also to supplement the original description. In addition to describing these, the writer wishes, in this paper, to emphasize the paucity of our knowledge of bird fleas in the hope that ornithologists and others who may find opportunities to collect and examine birds' nests (after the fledglings have left) will search for fleas.

Casual examination of a series of three Silvius would indicate they are distinct from any described species. Examination in detail, however, shows a close relationship to S. pollinosus Williston. Since the material on hand is limited, it is probably better to regard them as representing a subspecies of pollinosus than to give this new form full specific rank.