When the foodplant is known as well as some outlook on biological happenings, Papaipema species for the most part are quite easily secured when bred through to the adults. To meet with them other than larvae or pupae is another matter, and except for a few, they classify as uncommon insects

Since its discovery in rodents by McCoy3 in California in 1911, tularaemia has been found to have a widespread distribution in North America. The same year it was described by Pearsd12 as an insect-borne disease. Francis1. in 1919- 1920 correlated these two manifestations and to him we owe most of our knowledge of the disease. It is now known to be contracted by man either by contact with infected animals or by the bites of flies or ticks which have become carriers through biting diseased rodents prior to attacking man, or even from the excreta of these insects.

This is the first of a series of papers on North American Mordeliidae. It is intendled that the entire family will, in time, be taxononically covered and that keys to the members of various genera will be included.

Unless otherwise noted types of species hereafter described are to be found in the collection of the writer.

In a recent number of the Canadian Entomologist I presented a generic key to the female Pediculoididae and described a new species of Pygmephorus. I now add three more species to this genus. Types are to be deposited at the United States National Museum.

In the Canadian Entomologist, August, 1935, the writer presented a short life-history of the mealy bug, Phenacoccus aceris Sig. Since the preparation of the above paper, further interesting observations have been recorded.

The female nymphs emerge from the winter cocoons and disseminate over the tree to feed, considerably earlier in the spring than was originally suppsed. When visiting an infested orchard near -Annapolis Royal on March 20, 1935, the writer was surprised to find that the females were already feeding in small numbers on the fruit spurs. An estimate of the emergence at this date was from 4 to 5 percent of the total infestation. A few were also observed emerging from the winter cocoons and beginning to make their way to the outer limbs. These observations were made on a clear bright day about 4 p.m. At the time, it was slightly below freezing in the shade. In the sunshine the temperature was probably a few degrees above the freezing point. There was nearly a foot of snow under the trees in the orchard.

The species considered below are commonly confused in collections under the name inflatus Say. They resemble one another very closely, but critical study of the material at hand has shown the value and constancy of the characters noted below. The most important characters are those of the antennae, noted in the first couplet of the following key, and of the aedeagus.

On a visit to lake Winnibigoshish, Minnesota, on August 26, 1932, my attention was attracted by numbers of this wasp engaged in dragging the mature larvae of the Notodontid moth, Symmerista albifrons S. and A. over the sandy surface of the broad beach. The lake shore is about 300 feet wide at that place and composed of several distinct levels. The lower areas nearest the water are covered with low growths of willow and poplar, among which the wasps seemed to prefer to bury the paralysed caterpillars. The latter had developed on the oaks in the forest bordering the lake and several were seen crawling on the sand below the trees, presumably seeking places for pupation. The wasps doubtlessly seized their victims on the ground.