Through the kindness of Mr. Hugh B. Leech I have been able to examine a large number of Pyralidae from the collection of the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco. Five new species found in this material are described here. A new genus is described to accommodate two of the species, and two known species are transferred from the genus in which they were described

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.

Baker and Wharton (1952) elevated the Phytoseiidae, formerly a subfamily in the Laelaptidae, to family rank and included two subfamilies: the Phytoseiinae and the Podocininae. Evans (1957) subsequently elevated the latter to family rank also, leaving only the subfamily Phytoseiinae in the Phytoseiidae.

Both Evans (1958) and Chant (in press) characterized the Phytoseiidae as having a two-tined palpal claw, a single dorsal shield in the adult, not more than 21 pairs of setae on the dorsal shield, and a ventrianal shield, or remnant thereof, in the adults of both sexes. One of the present authors (H.A.D.) recently collected specimens of a mite that has this combination of characters except that the dorsal shield of the adults is divided into two sub-equal parts instead of being single. Most of the features of this mite indicate that it cannot reasonably be separated from the Phytoseiidae and that the presence of two dorsal shields justifies the erection of a new subfamily, described below.

Malaria, a protozoan disease caused by infection with various species of Plasmodium, is transmitted solely by mosquitoes in nature. The transmission of human malaria depends entirely on certain species of Anopheles. The occurrence of a number of cases of Korean vivax malaria in Canada gave ris: to some speculation as to the possibility of the disease becoming re-established in the country (Neufeld 1952, O'Rourke 1953, 1955).

In the summer of 1958 a virus disease of larvae of Neodiprion swainei Midd., a serious defoliator of jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.), was investigated. The experiments were carried out near St. David de Falardeau in the Lake St. John region, Quebec, where the forest is largely composed of 15- to 20-year-old jack pine. The infestation was three years old, and judging by the production of eggs, had reached serious proportions in some places.

Results of an experiment reported previously (Rivard, 1958a) showed the influence of various humidities on mortality and rate of development of the immature stages of Tyrophagus castellanii (Hirst)reared on mould cultures at a constant temperature. Results of an experiment on the influence of humidity on the longevity and fecundity of the adult mites are reported in the present paper. Information gathered from both studies is used to calculate the innate capacity of the species for increase at different humidities.

Ogilvie (1927) lists five aphids of economic importance from Bermuda; namely, Illinoia (Macrosiphum) solanifolii (Ashm.) (=Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Thom.)), Myzus persicae (Sulz.), Aphis lilii Takah., Aphis gossypii Glover, and ? Fullawayella formosana Takah. (possibly Neotoxoptera formosanus (Takah.) or N. violae (Pergande)). Later, in 1928, he states that the species formerly identified as Aphis lilii Takah. was Aphis gossypii Glover and records eighteen additional species from Bermuda. The slides of these specimens presumably are in the British Museum (Natural History) since Mr. F. Laing and Mr. F. V. Theobald identified the aphids.

Scolytus tsugae (Swaine) is a bark beetle that occurs throughout the Pacific Coast and Rocky Mountain Region and is common in the interior of British Columbia. Although Bedard (1938) reported that it had killed small areas of Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) reproduction, it is of minor economic importance and usually confines its attack to tops, limbs, and logging slash. A knowledge of the life-history and habits of this insect is desirable for an understanding of the effects of interspecific competition on the development of the Douglas-fir beetle, Dendroctonus pseudotsugae Hopk., with which it is often associated in Douglas fir.

Though wireworms, the larvae of elaterid beetles, are among the most important agricultural pests, little is known about how they feed.

Langenbuch (1932) and Subklew (1934) made observations on the feeding behaviour of Agriotes lineatus (L.) and A. obscurus (L.). According to Langenbuch, Agriotes spp. cause a brush-like fraying of cereal stems, which results from the way in which the larvae squeeze the stems with their mandibles, ingest the fluids, and leave the fibres intact. Ctenicera aeripennis destructor (Brown), the most important wireworm species in Western Canada, causes similar injury to cereal crops. The stems are attacked underground and are shredded but not cut off

The Forest Insect Survey at the Forest Biology Laboratory, Winnipeg, has been compiling records for a number of years on the percentage of cocoons of the larch sawfly, Pristiphora erichsonii (Htg.), parasitized by the tachinid Bessa harveyi Tnsd. Sawfly cocoons were collected each fall from the soil in infested stands, and those containing living larvae were dissected to determine the percentage of parasitism by B. harveyi. These estimates have been used to provide an index of parasitism (Lejeune and Hildahl, 1954), but are of limited value for a number of reasons: (1) estimates can be expressed only as percentage of sound cocoons parasitized; (2) total parasitism cannot be estimated because a portion of the parasites emerge from the cocoons before collection; and (3) estimates of parasitism may not be representative of the stand because there is a tendency to collect cocoons where they are easiest to find; hence all the cocoons in a collection may be from one or two small areas. If the proportion of cocoons containing B. harveyi varies within a stand such collections may give unreliable estimates of parasitism.

In June, 1954, the alfalfa weevil, Hypera postica (Gyll.), was found in very small numbers (one per 500 sweeps) in alfalfa fields in the valley of the Milk River and in the area between the hamlets of Onefour and Orion in southeastern Alberta. These were the first records of its occurrence in Canada. As the host-specific parasite Bathyplectes curculionis (Thoms.) (Townes and Townes, 1951) emerged from some of the weevil larvae collected then, the weevil had been in Alberta for at least one year. On July 26 an intensive search was made in the irrigated areas around Lethbridge. Only two weevils were taken in approximately 25,000 sweeps from 25 fields. The distribution of the weevil at this time indicated that it had migrated from the irrigated areas of Montana that lie along the lower reaches of the Milk River by way of the river valley.

Nymphs of the clear-winged grasshopper, Camnula pellucida (Scudd.) have been observed to evacuate local habitats by marching (11). Except for a few stragglers, apparently all occupantsof the habitat moved in the same direction. Rarely, if ever, did these marches continue for more than 300 yardsin one direction, nor did the insects show much tendency to maintain identity as a band; nevertheless, the capacity of this species to march was clearly shown. The marches always occurred during the day and when the temperature was above 20°C. (8). In all recorded cases the nymphs moved into a cooler and more humid area. The authorhas not observed, or received reports of, instances of marching in the comparatively sluggish two-striped grasshopper, Melanoplus bivittatus (Say).

The following new species have been found in material submitted from various sources for identification.

Glyphodes obscura, new species

Fig. 1, 9, 13

Head, body and wings above moderately dark greyish brown, wings with a faint purplish sheen, hind wing a little paler and somewhat translucent in basal two-thirds. Markings very obscure. Fore wing above: antemedial band w-eakly fulvous. dark-bordered. somewhat oblique; discocellular patch obscure, quadrate; postmedial band weakly fulvous, dark-bordered, outwardly oblique to anal fold, then retracted to lower angle of cell and again outwardlyoblique to inner margin; an obscure dark subterminal line, almost parallel to margin; a narrow dark terminal line; fringe a little paler than an wing, with a dark midline. Hind wing above: a distinct dark dot at lower angle of cell; a very obscure, regular, postmedial band; traces of a dark, crenulated, subterminal line; terminal lineand fringe as on fore wing. Fore wing beneath: base and disc paler than above; ancerntdial line lacking; discocellular marking dark, geminate, joined posteriorly tn the inner end of postmedial line; the latter dark, roughly L-shaped, the part behind the discocellular patch obsolete; termen and fringe as above. Hind wing beneath: much ns above. but discocellular dot obscure and postmedial band dark, not fulvous. Female a little paler than male. Expanse 40 to 44 mm.

Recent rearings of the geometrid Melanolophia imitata (Wlk.) by officers of the Vernon and Victoria, B.C., laboratories of the Forest Biology Division, Canada Department of Agriculture, have yielded a series of a new species of Casinaria for which the following description is offered.

Casinaria melanolophiae, new species

Female. Length 7 mm. Head thin, temple rather weakly receding for a considerable distance behind eye, and beyond rather strongly rounded to occiput; antenna with 29-31 segments, the shortest flagellar segments at least a little longer than broad; cheek short, about 0.30 breadth of base of mandible; ocelli large; greatest diameter of lateral ocellus twice as great as ocellocular space and three-fourths as great as post-ocellar line; head and thorax dullish, with granular sculpture; mesoscutum and scutellum densely, shallowly punctate, with punctures somewhat obscured by granular sculpture; sides of thorax finely granular and with only a few minute punctures; propodeum and abdomen as in C. semiothisae Wly.

On July 7, 1958, at Churchill Park, St. John's, a number of wasps were observed boring holes into the mortar between the bricks of a private dwelling. A total of 41 holes, three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter and up to three inches in depth, were counted. The majority of these holes faced south and a few faced west. Some were provisioned with small green caterpillars and capped, and others were in the process of excavation. This unusual nesting habit, and the presence of the wasps, caused much anxiety to the owner. One spraying with a five per cent DDT solution, concentrated in and around the holes, eliminated the infestation.

At Ottawa, during studies on the parasites of the armyworm, Pseudaletia unipuncta (Haw.), in 1955, 1957, and 1958, 20 species of Hymenoptera were reared from larvae or pupae of the armyworm collected from fields in the area during July and August. Of the 15 species thus far identified, 12 were primary parasites; four of these, namely, Euplectrus mellipes Prov. (Eulophidae), Hyposoter annulipes (Cress.) (Ichneumonidae), Microgaster auripes Prov. (Braconidae), and Therion sassacus Vier. (Ichneumonidae), have not been previously recorded as parasites of P. unipuncta.

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.

In recent years there has been a renewed interest in aphids, primarily as to their role in the dissemination of plant viruses. As a result many new species are being discovered, even on some of the more common plants. The notes and descriptions that follow arise from collections made in British Columbia.

Study of material of Palpita from a variety of sources has revealed the existence of numerous superficially similar species differing in striking characters of the genitalia. In this paper I describe certain species for which names are required at the present time. I hope when time permits to publish a full revision of the species of the genus.

In the laboratory, females of Typhodromus tiliae Oudms., T.(N.) rhenanus Oudms., T. finlandicus Oudms., T. fallacis (Garm.), T. corticis Herb., and Phytoseius macropilis (Oudms.) were given various stages of the phytophagous mites Panonychus ulmi (Koch), Bryobia arborea M. & A., and Tetranychus telarius (L.), and Vasates schlechtendali (Nal.) to determine their ranges of feeding. The influence of these prey species on growth of phytoseiids and their ability to oviposit was not determined.