Framinghamia Strand, 1920: 160. Monotype: [Pionea helvalis Walker=] Framinghamia botys Strand.

The common species helvalis Walker has ordinarily been placed in Phlyctaenia Hübner; this arrangement is unnatural even on the old definition of the genus. The third joint of the labial palpus is exposed and the species runs to Archernis in Hampson's (1898) key. The species of that genus, however, are of much stouter build and have radically different genitalia; there is accordingly, I think, no direct relationship. Framinghamia helvalis (Walker), new combination, like the species of Archernis, belongs to the group of Pyraustinae that has lost the frenulum hook. Framinghamia may be differentiated from Udea by the different configuration of the palpi (Fig. 12), as well as by genitalic characters (Fig. 8). Among the more striking features of the male genitalia are the absence of the uncus, the conspicuous fringe of long, heavily pigmented scales along the costa of the valve, the broad transtilla, the minute, furcate juxta, and the twisted, ribbon-like coremata, with simple scent tufts.

At the time of my retirement on December 31, 1950, a number of notes on synonymy and generic transfers had accumulated. Many of these are thought worthy of publication and this paper is made up of a number of them. Those included notes which deal with Nearctic forms will clarify the treatment of certlin genera and species in the catalog of North American Hymenoptera, now in process of publication by the U.S. Department of Agiculture, the Chalcidoidea section of which catalog has assembled and edited by O. Peck of the Canadian Department of Agriculture but which is based in great part upon the classification and arrangement of the collection in the United States National Museum. The catalog will probably appear in print before this paper does. Several notes dealing with forms not known to occur in the Nearctic region, hence not appearing in the catalog, are also included.

Swaine and Craighead (1924) have presented evidence that outbreaks of the spruce budworm occurred in Eastern Canada in 1806 and in 1878. In those days the wood supply appeared to be unlimited and the forest represented, to some extent, an obstacle that had to be removed so that the land could be cultivated. Balsam fir, the tree principally affected by the budworm, was seldom used for lumber when spruce was available. It can hardly be considered, therefore, that these early outbreaks caused much direct economic loss. If the trees had not been killed by the budworm, over-maturity and related factors would have removed them to make way for a new stand. In fact, were it not for the undesirable effects of budworm outbreaks on subsequent forest composition, it might even be argued that they were beneficial under certain conditions.

In 1945 injury to shoots of balsam fir, Abies balsamea (L.) Mill., by sawfly larvae was very common in York and Madawaska counties, New Brunswick. Since then, similar injury has been noticed throughout most of New Brunswick, eastern Nova Scotia, the upper peninsula of Michigan and northern Wisconsin.

New Brunswick specimens were identified by Dr. O. Peck of the Systematic Unit, Division of Entomology, as presumably Pleroneura borealis Felt, the specimens running to this species in Ross' Key (2); however, as stated by Ross (3), the recognition of species in the genus is not at present based upon fundamental characters. P. borealis was originally described in 1917 by Felt (1) from three specimens collected at Lake Clear, N.Y., in 1907. Except for the taxonomic revision by Ross (2), no other reference to this species was found in the literature.