Ten species of the larger, primarily aphidophagous, coccinellids were present in peach orchards of the Niagara Peninsula. Adalia bipunctata (L.) and Coccinella trifasciata perplexa Mulsant were the commonest. All were most numerous in the spring while the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae (Sulzer), was present but their population densities were low at all times, apparently because suitable prey was scarce. They were not attracted to dense populations of the European red mite, Panonychus ulmi (Koch), and were of no importance as predators of peach pests.

At least 7 species were bivoltine but the second generation was only partial.

Presence of a caudal appendage or tail in the last larval instar of three genera of the Porizontinae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) is reported. The structure is described and illustrated and it is suggested that it may be responsible for the jumping of cocoons known to occur in some of the species considered and not known in species that lack the tail.

A widespread epizootic of the fungous disease caused by Entomophthora grylli Fres. occurred among grasshoppers in Saskatchewan in 1963. Camnula pellucida (Scudder), in particular, suffered high mortality and was nearly wiped out in those areas of central and east-central Saskatchewan where heavy infestations had been present. Weather was warm and humid during the outbreak with above normal rainfall in the seriously affected areas.

Field-cage studies showed that proper timing of rainfall was essential for continuation and spread of the disease. Rainfall shortly after death of the diseased grasshopper induced profuse growth of conidiophores along with intense discharge of conidia. When death occurred during hot, dry weather, no sporulation was noted and the insects rapidly dried up. The interval from infection to death of the grasshopper was about 13 days.

The fungous disease also developed in natural field populations of Melanoplus bivittatus Say, but none was noted in field cages where this grasshopper was being reared alongside of or together with C. pellucida that were dying continuously from the disease; this suggests that different strains of E. grylli were involved.

The life history and behaviour of Scelio calopteni Riley, an internal parasite of grasshopper eggs, is described. This insect was reared for the first time in the laboratory through one complete cycle. Newly emerged adults readily oviposited in eggs of Melanoplus sanguinipes F. By dechorionating the grasshopper eggs the developing stages of the parasite could be clearly observed.

Although three larval stages have been reported by other authors for different species of Scelio, careful observations suggested only two in S. calopteni.

Betulaphis quadrituberculata (Kalt.) is an inconspicuous leaf-feeding aphid on birches in North America and Europe, now recorded on Betula papyrifera Marsh and B. alleghaniensis Britt. in the Province of New Brunswick. Some aspects of its morphology are described in order to complement the incomplete accounts already in the literature. The viviparae are seasonally polymorphic in size and color.

In New Brunswick the aphid has an annual monoecious holocycle comprising up to 10 generations. The seasonal history and habits of the various morphs are described. The insect disperses mainly by the flight activity of the stem-mothers in spring, but in succeeding generations almost all individuals are apterous and rather sedentary in habit. Data on rate of development and fecundity are presented and briefly discussed as factors contributing to the seasonal population pattern.

The eggs and oviposition sites of six species of predatory mirids from Nova Scotia apple orchards are described. These species are Hyaliodes harti Knight, Atractotomus mali (Meyer), Deraeocoris fasciolus Knight, Diaphnidia pellucida Uhler, Blepharidopterus angulatus (Fall), and Pilophorus perplexus D. & S. The differences between the eggs of each species are great enough to identify them in situ.

Variation between samples of the Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say), and between mortalities from some factors, on potato, were determined in long-term study plots at Merivale, Ontario. For each of six age intervals (spring adults; egg masses; larvae, Periods 1 and 2; pupal cells; and summer adults), inter-hill variance was the major source of sampling variance. Intra-hill and block differences were rarely significant. The most appropriate sample unit for the above-ground stages was the potato stalk and for pupal cells, the soil quadrant. Optimum allocation procedures indicated that not more than one sample unit per hill need be taken for the immature stages. For adults, the whole hill should be sampled. To estimate population means with acceptable limits of precision (10% standard error), it is recommended that 50 to 200 hills be sampled for the various age intervals.

Cottony spot of Anjou and Bartlett pear fruits in British Columbia is caused by the feeding injury of the spined stink bug, Euschistus variolarius (Beauv.). Symptoms are small white cottony-like pockets about ¼ inch in diameter and ⅛ inch deep in the flesh immediately beneath the skin. Anjous may show irregularly depressed areas where the bugs have been feeding, but no symptoms are apparent in Bartlett unless the fruit is peeled. Most of the injury appears to occur in August during the second peak of the stink bugs.

An investigation into the abundance of spiders in a three-acre apple orchard of northeastern Wisconsin was conducted in a natural and two artificial environments (captan and DDT) from 1959 through 1961. Six families, 17 genera and 24 species were recorded, with 15 species of hunting spiders and 9 species of cobweb forms present. Most abundant were Paraphidippus marginatus (Walck.), Philodromus cespiticolis (Walk.), Philodromus sp., Araniella displicata (Hentz) and an unidentified species of Salticidae. Comparisons are made with reports from the northeastern United States and Canada. Highest numbers were in the fungicide environment which was attributed to the more abundant and lush foliage there. Extremely low counts were obtained from the insecticide environment. Captan was deemed highly recommendable for increasing the total number of predacious spiders in an apple orchard.

Pissodes terminalis Hopping attacks the terminal leaders of jack pine and at least two of the four geographic subspecies of lodgepole pine. The development on Pinus contorta murrayana in central California is described and compared with the development on jack pine in Canada. The oviposition period is synchronized with leader elongation, early spring to mid-summer. Feeding of the first three instars is in the phloem-cambial region and the fourth (last) instar is found in the pith. Part of the population completes development in late summer; adults emerge and presumably overwinter in the ground. The balance overwinter usually as mature larvae and occasionally as pupae, completing their development in the spring.

Mortality is high and is caused by feeding of associated insects, possibly resin flow, high parasitism and other unknown factors. Seven parasite species from five families were reared.

Ten Taeniothrips species known or expected to occur in Canada are keyed, described and illustrated, and information on their host plants and distribution is given. Methods of collection and preparation, and characteristics used in the identification of Taeniothrips species are described. A few new terms for structures are adopted.

A rearing chamber designed to test colour preference by biotypes of pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harr.), indicated preferences for orange or yellow or both (615 mμ, and 595 mμ). Aphids of biotype R1 confined to chemical diets back-lighted blue or white survived only for a few days, whereas they lived longer and grew rapidly on diets lighted orange or yellow.

Five species of leafhoppers in the genus Erythroneura subgenus Erythridula have been collected and reared on birch hosts in New Brunswick. These species, E. cornipes Beamer, E. sinua Johnson, E. noeva (Gillette), E. aspera Beamer and Griffith, and E. betulaspera Richards and Varty, have similar seasonal histories and habits, but there are differences in their host relationships and ecology. The morphology of adults and nymphs is described and illustrated.

The average number of ovarioles in three species of grasshopper reared in the laboratory was: Melanoplus sanguinipes (F.) 28.1 ± 2.4, M. bivittatus (Say) 80.1 ± 10.1, and Camnula pellucida (Scud.) 27.6 ± 2.7. Not all ovarioles developed mature eggs; some eggs were resorbed. The number of egg rudiments in the ovarioles increased somewhat with age of the grasshopper and would not limit the number of eggs laid. Some abnormalities are described and some discussion of the corpus luteum is included, particularly the relationship between a pigmented corpus luteum and ovulation.