veri aly siete : } lie 7 14y 3 ey Piat me boy veneion ope see) ee weve 14 ry Veet ahi! Shad sav igteby th Hi ASH Lhes ofr aapeh rit Sade jt yt beberte Mest) an MATL Ads 9 BRINE Ot i atte saa) pe bbavetith cub ted ee 0443 1 ase ah ie ; ie “aly iMoney Aaa fishes ies Bese ino eae vier poe nes “i “ eb A oF digit 1 ae te drys tye ris Meath, Japiesie 5 E iy i Mr | in; ay Tah de OF ey ne it Heabae aster MAGE Hal Meedaatys ae i sat 4 coh Mita) Toric gabita nay apsytl theg Aene a ae ‘ ats isu « F ci debe teres rae a4 by ot Mort At ie f | | | Ontario Brent of it siculture 1% Bs . . ; ~ a -Fifty-First Annual Report OF THE ‘Entomological Society OF ONTARIO 1920 we PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO c TORONTO: Printed by CLARKSON W. JAMES, her e the King’s Most Excellent Majesty 1 Bocce Me oY 2 i Sues ers vy 5 Paes Ontario Department of Agriculture Fifty-First Annual Report Entomological Society OF ONTARIO 1920 PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO TORONTO: Printed by CLARKSON W. JAMES, Printer to the King’s Most Excellent Majesty 1921 Printed by THE RYERSON PRESS. To His Honour, Lionet H. CLARKE, Ineutenant-Governor of the Province of Ontario. May 1T PLEASE Your HONOUR: I have the honour to present herewith for your consideration, the Report of the Entomological Society for 1920. Respectfully submitted, ManNING W. DOHERTY, Minister of Agriculture. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2009 with funding from University of Toronto http://www.archive.org/details/proceedings51 ento CONTENTS PAGE. PESISER PE SUM OE 9.2 (1 9.251 Meter cies ote sl c6 a) cnsiisyS areitie ous Sycteselrelesevetossiaceteieleiel« »,c-0/e] se). s\e's).0.siwieTelele Val 6 PORTA OAL, SIG oe Be Ges geri Siree a blo oe bo ooo bn On U OOO OCOmr camo cooonbianro ny 5.0m 6 PREGA on VEO RTI Gaer aiict afiel cveyalte Javoue \ ois cheat alle eisicnchee! sich ele Sus oh ove ‘ot «] e wileile, ores) #auereievele-e\elimisteversiaie Us VCO Rim Ota Om OUNCI en sca pisrcc'< le apes fe cleietecbete enclci ce ousiie nia lei eft ele) cheues sie: 1 (el asshole) =\ere exelieira 8 a ILAMATRMEN DT Laat mitdlo’ Ob 0.60 6. Gan ODO OD Coa OUC clo Clo inloicigHinio oO OLiCIOS 9 i WiGyirOA| BIG NG OS CSR SG aie ode Bld o cos Combos obo OD onda don odic 9 ee AMoTopRGy, “ATO OY “SS Sods pow ea de aan dou Gobo oueL UUaUaacoU OD ooo das 10 a Iie Colkrnenore, Iie 66 ooccsobunudoocusedcn0oVocod0g00g= 10 zs NOVAS COLT ANE Inaun Chafee cee cic sere ccc terete icles eel ekekee caciok-cl.eyol'er loneneeeKenopeie 11 Reports on Insects of the Year: Division No. 3: A. COSENS ............++.--- 12 Reports on Insects of the Year: Division No. 4: F. J. A. Morris ................-.; 113? Notes on Leaf Bugs Attacking Fruit Trees in Ontario: L. CAESAR .......... 14 The Manitoba Grasshopper Campaign of 1920: A. V. MITCHENER ............ 16 Some Phases of the Present Locust Outbreak in Manitoba: N. CRIDDLE ...... 19 The Influence of Locusts on the Ranges of British Columbia: E. R. BUCKELL . 23 The Invasion of Southern Alberta by Beet Webworms: E. H. STRICKLAND .. 29 The Present State of the Hessian Fly in Western Ontario: H. F. Hupson .. 32 meeioeetne Saison: tio E ELUDSON ae. o.5.-.s-eee 1,000 00 $1,833 29 $1,833 29 Tompalance dieson printings ee see eee $467 51 To.Hditor’s ‘salary... isis occa ceo be eee eee 100 00 Mos AnnualReport. 225.6 6.Ress coi eee ies ee ee 25 00 $592 51 By cash’ in Bank igen 36s a Se cee ee eee 94 15 Net. deficit, 02-5. o. osc i cscc s Sense ee eee $498 86 Respectfully submitted, A. W. BaKer. Secretary-Treasurer. Auditors: L. CAESAR. J. E. Howitt. Entomological Society of Ontario ANNUAL MEETING The Fifty-seventh Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of Ontario was held at the Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph, on Wednesday and Thurs- day, November 17th and 18th, 1920. The daily meetings were held in the En- tomological Lecture room of the College and the evening meeting in the men’s sitting room. The following members were present: Dr. E. P. Felt, State En- tomologist, Albany, N.Y.; Rev. Prof. C. J. S. Bethune, Prof. L. Caesar and Messrs. A. W. Baker and G. J. Spencer, O. A. College, Guelph; Messrs. Arthur Gibson, L. 8. Mcluaine, H. G. Crawford and E. Hearle, Dominion Entomological Branch, Ottawa; Prof. W. Lochhead, Macdonald College, Que.; Father Leopold, La Trappe, Que.; Mr. F. J. A. Morris, Peterborough, Ont.; Prof. E. M. Walker, Toronto, Ont. ; Mr. W. E. Biggar, Hamilton, Ont.; Mr. Jas. Dunlop, Woodstock, Ont.; Mr. E. R. Buckell, Dept. of Agriculture, Victoria, B.C.; and the following officers of the Dominion Entomological Branch: Messrs. C. E. Petch, Hemmingford, Que.; W. A. Ross, Vineland Station, Ont.; H. F. Hudson, Strathroy, Ont.; Norman Criddle, Treesbank, Man.; and E. H. Strickland, Lethbridge, Alta. Among the visitors present were Prof. C. R. Crosby, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.; Messrs, W. R. Walton and L. H. Worthley, Bureau of Entomology, Washington, D.C.; Mr. A. V. Mitchener, Manitoba Agricultural College, Winnipeg, Man.; Mr. A. H. McLennan, Dept. of Agriculture, Toronto ; Mr. R. H. Gurst, Dominion Pathological Laboratory, St. Catherines, Ont.; and Professors R. Har- court, J. E. Howitt, D. H. Jones and J. W. Crow, Dr. R. E. Stone, and Messrs. C. R. Klinck and W. G. Garlick,.O. A. College, Guelph. Letters of regret on their inability to attend the meeting were received from the following: Rev. Dr: T. W. Fyles, Mr. George Maheux, Prof. P. J. Parrott, Prof. O’Kane, Prof. Headlee, Prof. J. J. Davis, and Messrs. Moore, Winn and Corcoran of the Montreal Branch. On Wednesday morning a meeting of the Council was held, at which the report of the proceedings of the Society for the year was read by the Secretary and approved and several important matters concerning the welfare of the Society discussed. A-committee, consisting of:the President and secretary of the Society and Dr. E. M. Walker was appointed to deal with the matter of adjusting the finances of the Society. It was also decided that the following policy with re- spect to the journal of the Society be followed in future as closely as possible; : viz:_that no papers be published unless the author be a subscriber or member of the Society and that the author bear the full cost of all cuts. It was suggested that in view of the fact that the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science is to be held in Toronto in 1921, that the Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of Ontario be held in the same city at such a time that visiting entomologists could attend our sessions. WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON The regular meeting was called to order by the President, Mr. Arthur Gibson. The various reports of the Society, except that of the treasurer, were taken . as read. The financial statement was then read by the Secretary-Treasurer. 7 8 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 Professor Caesar spoke a few words of appreciation of Dr. Hewitt’s work, and moved that a letter be sent to Mrs. Hewitt expressing great regret that Dr. Hewitt was not with us. This was seconded by Prof. Lochhead and carried. The remainder of the afternoon was occupied by the reading of papers and discussion. REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. The Council of the Entomological Society of Ontario begs to present its report for the year 1919-20. The fifty-sixth annual meeting of the Society was held at Ottawa on November the sixth and seventh, 1919. The attendance was good and very representative of the National character of the Society, members being present from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia. In addition to the Canadian members there were two welcome visitors from the United States: Mr. C. L. Marlatt, Assistant Chief of the Bureau of Entomology, Washington, D.C., and Dr. Summers of Massachusetts. The following papers were read:—“ Insects of the season in Ontario,” W. A. Ross and L. Caesar. “Insect Conditions in the Province of British Columbia,” R. C. Treherne. “ Results of some Preliminary Experiments with Chloropicrin,” G. J. Spencer. “Ephydra hians and its Occurrence in Western Canada,” Dr. C. Gordon Hewitt. “Our Common Cercopidae,” George A. Moore. “ Further Notes on the control of the Pear Psylla,”’ W. A. Ross and W. Robinson. “ My Experience this year in Dusting and Spraying,’ Rev. Father Leopold. “ The Chief Factors in the Natural Control of Insects,” J. D. Tothill. “The Present Condition of the Balsam and Spruce Injury in Quebec,” J. M. Swaine. “ Recent Observations on Eastern Ticks,” S. Hawden. “How the United States is pre- venting the Introduction of Foreign Insect Pests and Plant Diseases,” C. L. Marlatt. “ Hopkins Bioclimatic Law,” W. Lochhead. “On the Wings of the Wind,” A. F. Winn. “Locusts in Manitoba with Special Reference to the Out- break in 1919,’ Norman Criddle. “Ecological Notes on certain Species of Locusts prevalent in British Columbia,” E. R. Buckell. “ Symposium on the Cabbage Root Maggot and its Control in 1919,” W. H. Brittain, R. C. Treherne, Arthur Gibson and L. Caesar. “ Present Status of Pests of Canadian Flour Mills,” E. H. Strickland. “Life-History of a hobby Horse—Part II—Boy and Man,” F. J. A. Morris. “Some Notes on the Life History of our Common June Beetles,” H. F. Hudson. “Further Notes on the Life History and Control of the Straw- berry Root Weevil,” W. Downes. “ The Strawberry Weevil,” W. A. Ross. “ Borers in Corn and other Field and Garden Plants which have been or may be mistaken for the European Corn Borer,” Arthur Gibson. The Canadian Entomologist, the official organ of the Society completed its fifty-first volume in December last. The size of the magazine was enlarged in order to be uniform with the standard size of bulletins, and the number of pages in each issue was reduced but without making any diminution in the amount of reading matter published. The volume contained 287 pages, illustrated by 20 full page plates and 36 figures from original drawings. The contributors to its pages number 65, and include writers in Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia, and also in twenty-one of the United States. Ten papers were pub- lished on “ Popular and Practical Entomology,” which continued to form an attractive and instructive feature for the benefit of the general reader. 1921 _ ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. J) Ten numbers of the 52nd volume have so far been issued and the volume will be completed by the publication of the November and December numbers. It is again the sad duty of the Council to record the loss of one of our most eminent members, and it is difficult to express in suitable terms the profound regret that all Entomologists feel at the death of Dr. 'C. Gordom Hewitt, Dominion Entomologist and a former President of the Society. He died at Ottawa on Feb- ruary the 29th, 1920, of pneumonia, following a brief but very severe attack of influenza . By his death Canada has lost one of her ablest men of science and the Department of Agriculture a most valuable and efficient servant, through whose wide knowledge of economic zoology, great administrative ability and far-seeing judgment, the Dominion Entomological service has developed to a re- markable extent since his appointment as Dominion Entomologist in 1909. A full acount of his life and work, together with an excellent portrait, was published in the Canadian Entomologist for May. REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN. No books have been purchased for the Library during the year ending October 31st, 1920, owing to the lack of funds for the purpose. Thirty-six bound: volumes, nearly all of them the gift of the Librarian, have been added to the Society’s collec- tion making the total number 2,328. There is a large accumulation of periodicals, bulletins and other publications, many of which should be bound in order to be available for reference, but at present there is no prospect of any means being available, nor has it been possible to have them classified and catalogued. Respectfully submitted, Cuaries J. S. BerHune, Librarian. REPORT OF THE MONTREAL BRANCH. The 392nd regular and 47th Annual Meeting of the Montreal Branch was held on Saturday, May 8th, 1920, in the Lyman Entomological Room, Redpath Museum, McGill University. The following reports were given :— The Council reported that during the season 1919-20, eight meetings had been held with a total attendance of eighty-one or an average of ten per meeting. This was larger than for the previous season. The Annual Field Day was held at St. Hilaire on Victoria Day. During the year twenty-one papers were read on the following subjects: MEET STAC Sm tO OT OSS ts reve -o0e aoe Tels cette cre ae eT ee ee ies Sess Saba eke BS WINN, PE CHOM ECHO coe CELT EGTA) 4 hats ore aoe een ce eet deh ass Ae knees Gro. A. Moore. 3. (CUM eRe Pi eM erste fis CRS a 2 1 (ict A. F. WINN. SPEED BUM L AMLOUISAC,/ QULC Es ysis hare ccapcta me Re eayeie eo orale ies efe fe Hapaneie oct a @uele's.2 A. F. W1NN. WaRnCEAMTMUalMeeting at. Ottaway teccis.c tone cas becleat cb eceiwecvoeee Gro. A. Moore. 6 Common characteristics of the Ephemeride ................ssseccee Dr. CORCORAN. iene North America species. of Coelambus\.. . fo.) ou... oace ee sce sndauscceee J. I. BEAUNE. 8. The House Centipede, Cermatia forceps Raf. in Montreal ............ Dr. A. WILEY. PEVCESTIIOUSEAUOILE INSCCUSR- FE? cette tants atm nce Uh eon Bio oc are barnes A. F. WINN. POT COMMNIOL: CeClCOP 1G oaiaiyes'-te > ele oF A Ones anes civlo cites ee ane Geo. A. Moore. eS SATIRIC me Ua eA) OTT CLA ars) fs Rear chores ee a oboe wae bie Diels G. CHAGON. iapNorth American species of Parnassius® : cco sok ie. Sees vac bas ceslenle A. F. WINN. iaeDanserous, insects found, in Montreal: = ce.na-% cee cans clececscocecde J. I. BEAUNE. NC WERVIEALIS IVICSSAS CUS 5. 5 cin a catacls eee ee bce shen on bbb see cebu A. EF. WINN. 10 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 rte DN ee ee ee 15. Woodboring beetles found at Ft. Coulonge ..................2+-eeees J. I. BEAUNE. TCR 0 ers) 1h eee en de I Reema aad eis bbe GOO US CIOUd aoc ad Ge OGmE GEO. A. MOORE. 17. The preparation of Entomological material for the microscope ...Dr. F. S. JACKSON. 18. Studies in the genus Podisus (Hemiptera) ....................--:- Gro. A. Moore. 19. Notes on a collection of Lepidoptera from Murray Bay, col- Nei we dah Cadehohitecy A546 po onudodooreud cosdOd oO Us oOo NCO CoO OUR SoS A, F. WINN. 20. Specific, subspecific and varietal categories ..........-. sees eee eens Gro. A. MOoRE. 21. Note on a species of Bot Fly, Bogeria grisea Coq. taken at ABBY (KR Sima can ConOMOOn Ono UT OUdu Gs ddcnoocoDonGEGD aos Dope S + A. FF. WINN: The Treasurer reported a balance on hand of $157.38. The following were elected orficers :-— PPHECSTMONE reer TT Re EET eluen s Shed alone eee OO Ree oie A. F. WINN. VACE=PTESTDCIUE ee ee Aaa ee Se Pave To aa Taleb siete) coeenctons G. CHAGNON. SAGO RU RIURAUSUAREP. oo clocic ono eco woe oT saGaooaonok toaaoos Geo. A. Moore. YBN RAY R AGN Oh RRO RE Ot clo EG RD ORO Rn Oca COO Cid SS ORS J. W. BUCKLE: GCOUNGCULE wre erets ous hee oes R. connonan? G. OH. Harty, A. C. SHEPHERD. Gro. A. Moors, Secretary. REPORT OF THE TORONTO BRANCH. The 239th regular and 24th Annual Meeting of the Toronto Branch was held in the Biological Building of the University of Toronto on Thursday evening, October 21, 1920. The report of the Council showed that during the season eight regular meet- ings amd a field meeting were held, with an average attendance of twelve persons. During the season the following papers and addresses were given before the Society :— VW Oohtahrtia. vi2ileasva Hailmoans ParasitGuseesoiwiciee comicierienenrteris Dr. E. M. WALKER. Collecting vat, Porte Sydney. ane Ou 91 eee ea ee ein rete re eas N. K. BIGELow. > Collecting -at,-Go- Home Bay. Ont 2.12 sie ere ee eee eee H. V. ANDREWS. { Habits of Our Commoner, Dipterous anv esa. cis caterer N. K. BIcELow. Exhibit of the Entomological Collection of the Royal Ontario Museum of OGlORYy Sass eons eco eceneueie ek -ueeet romeo S. Locier and N. K. BIGELOw. - “Insects as’ Carriers, ofspiseaser 242... .2 06 so oat ee ole Cee H. V. ANDREWS. “May flies? ot iors nus. Se © core ton ee Dr. W. A. CLEMENS. , “Grasshoppers! ind Tiocusts??)i 74.0 eee. cae eco. orem Dr. EB. M. WALKER. af @)-
    cicwe «cle ticle We cso soe eels cues cierele's wie em ese ene G. O. Day. Hiunener motes om Aecolothripide: <2. 6. cra .w.cicec scree erm c ce see es ees ecese R. C. TREHERNE. Native flowers for bees settee enst eee ec ences ete t eect eens eee ee ees seerecya J. Davison. Some new species of Mycetophilidz ..........----2---cecceeeeeere cee: R. 'S. SHERMAN. MLeMHISEGLVaLOl ADALCTICUS CLOGALIS ic 6 ccs = crsperc scree ieee sowie oe le ss econo W. Downes. TRieweAreynnids-and Brenthids’ of BC. vy... jase ewe cece ten eee e vee E. H. BLACKMORE. Prpomolorvaninerther SChHOOIS Haas acl cig asta eelaic’s ere ectese eo slejcloreleie efeiailc om es J. W. Grsson. Further notes on the control of the Onion Maggot ................ R. C. TREHERNE and M. H. RUHMANN. Further notes on the Tent Caterpillar and its natural control ............/ A. B. Batrp. AM GU ONOV-CACINE LAT VA Ua cre orsielsrs! » "orsictoreus nde «) S)steile wlohe) o's ol sia wlelonelelersyeye 'ai@iehia aie J. W. COCKLE. SESE LLCVererSkgy Ne 1E Ch ogee Be See oetO no oti re ier eercl iia eect cro choranc E. R. BUCKLE. The following officers were elected :— [EOKtis TERRY TRC OO 6 CO DO XO OC OU CSOD DOCS COCO oe FRANCIS KERMODE. VE SULT Ea ronstnhe es oh dado Sie cete eu to nual Shesdisha on eee socal elelsies eves ene eiets E. H. BLACKMORE. Ni CE-LLCSI@eNE ACCOASL)) “Ssteciccictste o Silos Jrelcrstae sie ens R. S. SHERMAN. WAGCE-ETEWSt CEN Fe GIMCCLIOI))! erate akties ci sisieke Sloe See nuebels, «pegs hs R. C. TREHERNE. ACEISOTY BOOKG Hs oi558 oe oy siohs Shae -.... Messrs. J. Davipson, J. W. GIBSON, L. E. Breun, E. W. WHITE, L. E. MARMONT. ALAN G. DustTAn, Secretary. REPORT OF THE NOVA SCOTIA BRANCH. The sixth meeting of the Entomological Society of Nova Scotia was held in the biology lecture room at Acadia University, Wolfville, N.S.. on August 24th. In the absence of the President, Prof. W. H. Brittain, due to illness, the chair was taken by the Vice-president, Mr. J. D. Tothill. At the business meeting, which was held in the morning, it was decided to hold in future two meetings of the Society each year; a summer meeting, to take the form of a field day; and a winter meeting, at which papers and addresses would be presented. The fol- lowing officers were elected for the ensuing year: 12 5 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 FIGHNOTOLYMETESIMCNE Fi aa ral Pyrausta nubilalis))2>...--eeer on acie oe, FSLGAIIpPeSULIS! 2) scitee meme al: Raspberry, Saw-lly 22.2) oeeee eee 38 iLinGr Gt iveacteoncmoggccasouddac 12 Rhagoletis pomonella ....... sisvors! 3 OFNROEL Locust in British Columbia ...... Re Rheumaptera hastata, ---eeeeeereeeele Locust outbreak in Manitoba ...... 19 Rose. \chater:.... i220 4... soe eee 37 Loxostege sticticalis ........ mcd 7) Rose, midges... 5s... see BAS 42, 63 lbyzidea mendax =~ ~ 1 e--l 14 Rose scale 2... 0... - cone ee = iio Lyeus communis: -~-.-.-....--.- 14, 35 Rosy apple aphis ......... «. sioeeneropene 36 66) GALYAC™ lonesome er 16 Sanninoidea exitiosa ............. 37 43 FORERWEINSIIS| g soacloclgsoddocs 42, 72 Saperda puncticollis .............. 13 —) (quencallbacieates ocr terete 14, 37 Sarcophaga —kellyi = ..-= beeen 21 Macrobasis unicolor’ i.c...csscess ) tn Sayomyia trivittata 2). 5.eeeeeeee 69 M. unicolor var. Murina .......... 22 Seale, San Jose ........ oacefole ieee 35 Macrodactylus subspinosus ...... Shes tr Scelio luggeri << ..t 3... ee eee 22 Mansonia pertubans .............. 68 Schizoneura Janizera ~~ -seeeeeeeee 71 Mayetiola destructor ............. 34, 40 Schizura= concinnay..- s.- 2 eee 7fal Mealy elim slousen mero ate eee 38 Seed corn maggot... -- eee 35 Melanoplus atlanis ........... Uh 2s WZ Shearmark, black and white ...... 12 a DADE o weal da Solon ae iG Smynthurus hortensis ........... (fil femur-rubrum . ....... aE Snow-ball “Aphids -:2e—-eeeee eee 42 Metalhis bethunel seen cece eee 38 Soldier bug ois0.. ice coe eee 12 IMeteorus loxostegii ......cce0cce0. 29 Squash ‘bug ......0.2: see 49 Meromyza americana ............. 40 Strawberry weevil’ -- 42.5 sneeeeeee 3 38 MONAT Chm DUGleliya rane iecieieciereet 12 Stem-boring wire worm <=....2see8 39 Monophadnus rubi ............... 38 root-worm' . "2... eeee 38 IMYSUS" COrasinl vee ae eee ete 3 Systena: drontalis. 22.5) 3 see 38 Neurocolpus nubilus ............. 14 ss taeniata..- 2.2 6c eee 40 Occanthus, nigricormis! = seers. 1 39 Systaechus: vulgaris ~.. 13s eeeeis 22 Oniom magicots.:'. es eine ee eee 3 Tarnished iplantsbuge -.....-..222-% 42 Onton’ thrips le.c.5 oe eee ee 39 Tarsonemus pallidus” 322 22e eee 42 Oystershelll ‘scale= - 24. «nemesis 35 Tetranychus ‘bicolor ~.”..- eee 42 Papaipenia witela. oc eee soe 29 Tetranychus pilosus...2.22--eueee 37 Cataphractalieeieeee oe 39 Thrips: tabaci*-. 2:4... eee 39 Paracalocoris, colony as-cast eee 14 Tmetocera. ocellana ©: 25--seeeeeee 71 Parspip WebwOrlt ...2 enum ssce sk 35, 39 Tortrix argyrospila ©. 7-2 oeeeeerae 35 Pea aphis, destructive ............ 39 Tree enicket™ .1.5. 5. «c < | eee 6 50 | at MIIERORO Oe coe cee late ok: 109 68 To Accounts Payable ......... $626 77 Do) 10) ar 1 8a By Accounts Receivable and Balance Cash in Bank ...... 55 25 Cashwin Bank Jh2.2-a.. os 254 11 $2075 22 Net Deficit $372 66 A. W. BAKER, Secretary-Treasurer. ~ a ~~ 4 i nd » \ By 2 hh ) % j er } ae _ ' ; P i ; aa i wf “ q y {= iv ¢ h, : ; r ' yi A = ' nee -*, ; ; mth it = oie am, | aoe 7 t r ae Sey were cae re y i i ES. “rue Meee ont’ Q to “Usio0g ts ein | | 4 ) Li f Me 7 ree i Le were eae eee he ‘ . i , $e ey Hos ‘esa fe An vl i q i i ‘ Pata TS th WE lh pre ‘cee Pesibroniel gare ieee ee Peet ti, ee ome AY ie Al eal Git Rade! PAR, Ad nei iyi tt uaatty! i aL. si Lie Wu ered, hd nee Peal eR pth oh Pry AL ey bode anaes? tiedlietylaraeba tc. cles Ve ae ok ere HERES aevily ANE Bb RE Seeley A em am Aosta Sly bck FAL AHW, Cy elite aie ene aM PH anh At * Seite oA,” fe AM. ie bay er Wy pels! a : amen bee pa gan yet ais ye he ee coast PEE UBhaaS i : ‘ OE Let TRON A alee CE gh eat rane mek Ah With Gate pre! bhatt yes Siceh abies’ BAP. teu a, Daas ii 1 Kec Lait VE sl ncblnase WAT Lert en oy i te A: Oh oa OT wall Cong “bt WiAna base aa cover stated F BM osu} js ‘T, AW Ka Payer nee belie bis Us eg PTT Ge 2a lean” ‘Wiew itary! Ruy PAR iy bt atte h Cee keke’ me dnb Ay ctty | a aN pintggneaytal jae laryt bead Saas yevtinert ot Me ALS het lial Sean oak ae eh eee Ia er M stint int ’ eines test wha : tipo ian aes A Pee rare sit RL AIA path ey hes: al Ba batt et way) pote peta My a ' Pato ol cee Cw = ie ie a a roe = | a 4 ay vob eg 1 i Ph adi - Cie ait ee : ate a) Lt RR: Mh OAT , ih ful ee an , \ : | 1 : oe EE ihe, AgAM ey Pete, see ba Rat Cher pate: tt) LF i Soe | Cungnet (ieee : ta te i apeR ATE LS ‘ ESL Te es - (se) ES Net . |. ta wa eae te kt ARN ot ear a mi ai B - + i Fr b wa a wie te Rh Are) dae S cue Pie ‘ies . . ra Yet ‘ aUAd | a Bie Oe, Q z ga: o Tl hfe) eee ari a ees Ot Bape PT OSE OES a 4 3 te A : ae oe ahs oe a ’ esr et ~~ try a an 0, i rr { . 7 Legs j = 9 f ‘ » P) Pees > r v fai baat 5 f We, Hd a d i ; } : b - Entomological Society of Ontario ANNUAL MEETING. The fifty-eighth Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of Ontario was held at the University of Toronto during the week of December 28th. The meet- ing was held at this time in order to afford our members an opportunity of meet- ing with the members of the Entomological Society of America and of the American Association of Economic Entomologists. Among the members present were Dr. C. J. S. Bethune, Toronto, Ontario; Mr. J. D. Evans, Trenton, Ontario; Prof. J. H. Comstock, Ithaca, N.Y.;Dr. L. O. Howard, Washington, D.C.; Dr. E. P. Felt, Albany, N.Y.; Prof. E. M. Walker. Dr. W. A. Clemens, Dr. Craigie, Mr. Bigelow and Miss Norma Ford, Toronto University ; Messrs. A. Gibson, Dr. Swaine, L. S. Mchlaine, R. C. Treherne, H. G Crawford, F. C. Craighead, Dominion Entomological Branch, Ottawa; Profs. L. Caesar, A. W. Baker and Messrs. G. J. Spencer and W. G. Garlick, O. A. College Guelph, Ont.; Miss Edna Mosher, Albuquerque, N.M.; Father Leopold, La Trappe, Ont.; Prof. W. H. Brittain, Truro, N.S.; Mr. F. J. A. Morris, Peterborough, Ont.; Dr. J. D. Detwiler, Western University, London, Ont.; Mr. C. H. Curran, Orillia, Ont.; Mr. W. E. Biggar, Hamilton, Ont.; Prof. A. V. Mitchener, M.A. College, “saree Man.; Dr. Matheson and Mr. H. C. Huckett, Cornell Univer- sity, Ithaca, N.Y.; Drs. S. Hadwin and A. C. Baker, Washington, D.C.; and the following officers of the Dominion Entomological Branch:—Messrs. G. E. "Sanders, Annapolis Royal, N.S.; J. D. Tothill, Frederickton, N.B.; C. E. Petch, Hem- mingford, Ont.; W. A. Ross, Vineland Station, Ont.; H. F. Hudson, Strathroy. Ont.; Norman Criddle, Treesbank, Man.; E. H. Strickland, Lethbridge, Alta., and W. Downes, Victoria, B.C. The meetings were also well attended by members of the Entomological Society of America, The American Association of Economic Entomologists and others. On Wednesday afternoon a meeting was held with the Entomological Society of America in Room 10, Medical Building, at which a number of papers were con- tributed by members of the two societies. On Friday evening an Entomologists’ dinner was held at the Prince George Hotel under the auspices of the American Association of Economic Entomologists. Many members of our society accepted the kind invitation of this society to be present. The business meeting was held on Saturday morning. Considerable discussion in regard to the financial condition of the society took place. REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. The council of the Entomological Society of Ontario begs to present its report for the year 1920-1921. The fifty-seventh annual meeting of the society was held at the Ontario ‘Agricultural College, Guelph on Wednesday and Thursday, November 17th and 18th, 1920. ~ 8 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 ee The meeting was well attended by members of the society from the various provinces of the Dominion, members of the staff of the Ontario Agricultural Col- lege and other visitors from Ontario, as well as several distinguished ones from the United States. Among the latter were Dr. E. P. Felt, State Entomologist, Albany, New York; Professor C. P. Crosby, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York: Messrs. W. R. Walton and L. H. Worthley, Bureau of Entomology, Washington, D.C. The following papers were presented at the meeting: “Notes on Leaf Bugs (Miridae) Attacking Apples in Ontario,” by Prof. L. Caesar; “The Manitoba Grasshopper Campaign, 1920,” by A. V. Mitchener; “Some Phases of the Present Grasshopper Outbreak in Manitoba,” by N. Criddle; “The Influence of Locusts : on the Ranges of British Columbia,” by E. R. Buckell; “The Beet Webworm Outbreak of 1920,” by E. H. Strickland ; “Paris Green should be Discontinued as an Insecticide,” by Rev. Fr. Leopold; “Present Status of the Hessian Fly in Western Ontario,’ by H. F. Hudson; “Life-history of a Hobby Horse, 3rd and concluding part,” by F. J. A. Morris; “Recent Investigations in Forest Insects,” by Dr. J. M. Swaine; “Further Evidence of the Effectiveness of Mercury Bi- chloride in the Control of the Cabbage Root Maggot in British Columbia,” by R. C. Treherne; “Some Further Data on the Cabbage Maggot (Phorbia brassice) ,” by Prof. L. Caesar; “Some of the Broader Aspects of Insect Control,” by Dr. E. P. Felt; “Codling Moth Investigation in Michigan,” by Prof. R. H. Pettit : “Insects of the Year in Ontario,” by Prof. L. Caesar and W. A. Ross; “Inter- relations in Nature,” by Prof. W. Lochhead; “Notes on Psyllia mali Schmid,” by Prof. W. H. Brittain’: “Collecting Lepidoptera in the West and Far West,” | by Dr. J. O. Corcoran; “The Control of the Rose Midge” by W. A. Ross: “Insects of the Season in Quebec District,” by George Maheux; “Some Mosquito Problems of British Columbia,” by E Hearle. In addition to the papers presented at the meeting a very interesting dis- cussion took place on the European Corn Borer in which many members and visi- tors took part. The Canadian Entomologist, the official organ of the society completed its fifty-second volume in December last. The volume contained 290 pages, illustrated by eleven full page plates and twenty-five original figures. The contributors to these pages numbered fifty-eight, and included writers in Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia, and also in sixteen of the United States, in south America, Hawaiian Islands and Japan. Ten papers were published during the year on popular and practical entomology. It is the sad duty of the council to record the loss of two of our best- known members. The Rev. Dr. Fyles was one of the oldest members of the society. He has long been a contributor to'the pages of the Canadian Entomologist and to the annual report of the society. His presence at our annual meetings was looked forward to by all members. For thirty-four years he did not fail to furnish a paper for these meetings. He died at Ottawa on Tuesday, August 9th, in his ninetieth year. A full account of his life and works was published in the Novem- ber number of the Canadian Entomologist. Mr. F. W. L, Sladen, Dominion Apiarist, met accidental death by drowning off Duck Island in Lake Ontario on September 10th. Mr. Sladen joined the society in 1912, and has been an active worker in the various groups of the aculeate hymen- optera since that time. An obituary appeared in the October number of the Canadian Entomologist. 1922 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 9 It would not \be fitting to close this report without a reference to the fact that Dr. C. J. S. Bethune has given up active work in Entomology at the Ontario Agricultural College and is now living in well earned retirement in Toronto. The council also wishes to express its regret that the illness of Prof. Loch- head has prevented him from being present at this meeting. It is hoped that soon he again will be able to take up his duties in Entomology. REPORT OF THE NOVA SCOTIA BRANCH. Since the last report was presented to our parent Society our scope has been broadened out to include the Maritime Provinces and our name changed to the Acadian Entomological Society. A new number (1920) of our “Proceedings” was published in March 1921 comprising 89 pages and including considerable new data on the biology and control of insects. Two meetings have been held—one in Halifax, N.S. and the other in St. John, N.B.—The papers presented at the Halifax Meeting were published in the last Proceedings. At the St. John Meeting the following papers were read and discussed : The Alpine Flora of British Columbia, (Public Lecture) Dr. JoHN D. ToTHILt. Some Properties of the Lead Arsenates .................. A. IKELSALL. Insecticide Investigations in New Brunswick ............ G. P. WALKER. Some notes on the Female Reproductive Organs in the LBS HEDYETACTOET ET hl Gag ieecter sacisies Ap Ree ioe Sicha ieee Ach Oona Ronee Renee IoC A. B. BArrp. The Work of the Museum of the New Brunswick Natural PME Sieve SOCLCLY mi t= OMI Nin see! cyeccdercl als slater etsierevers ay elefe Wm. McIntTosH. Experiences in the Collection and Study of Hymenoptera A. GorDON LEAVITT. The Production of Altae in certain Aphidide ........... Pror. W. H. BRITTAIN. Life History and Natural Control of the Pine Leaf ScaleR. P. GorHAm. Losses caused by the recent outbreak of the Spruce Bud- MAING WwW! COMUNS WICK sc cisrae uiciaiale cw sid/s ive eislee cree J. D. TOTHILL. The following officers for the year 1922 were elected: EMO TCSIVLOMNE. oop cic ccc ces De. A. H. Mackay, Halifax, N. S. (2D PO IMEI Fe a Mr. Wm. MecIntrosH, St. John, N. B. IWAGEMPETESTGENt =... 0.205008 Pror. W. H. Brirrain, Truro, N. S. MECMETMEUSUTEN (oi sc's eck cee Mr. A. B. BArRD, FREDERICTON, N. B. PUSSt MVE OSUT CT... i cisisie safe ssie Mr. W. E. WHITEHEAD, Truro, N. S. Member of Committee...... Dr. EpnAa MosuHer, ‘Albuquerque, New Mexico. A. B. BAIRD, Secretary-Treasurer. REPORT OF MONTREAL BRANCH. The 400th regular and 48th Annual Meeting of the Montreal Branch was held in the Lyman Entomological Room, Redpath Museum, McGill University on Thursday, May 12th, 1921. The President read his Annual Address which was entitled “The lighter side of Entomology” which was both amusing and entertaining. The Council’s report showed that eight meetings had been held during the season with a total attendance of 91. Field Days were held at St. Hilaire on Victoria Day and Labour Day at which good catches were taken. 10 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 Papers were read and talks given by nine members during the year as follows :— 1. President’s Address. ‘The Value of a long series of Specimens ..A. F. WINN. PePATACUS -ILCOLUSiVIES « jis Gore chaceee eR cee clo oe Bee Gro. A. Moore. seo@olleeting «in. Hnelands. PONS ci eee ies eae 3 ae eel ood stains eee L. GIse. #~ ihe breeding” of Antsain=a-formicary, 2. oases ek) cae G. Hae 5: Hemiptera from) Peaks ds siiet 1918-19-20 isso ck eee ale oe Gro. A. MOORE. 6-1Collecting, at..Great. Chebeasue> We. .4 . ise ene eee ee A. F. WINN. iastrip, through “thes Western serovineess —- oe eee eee. eee DR. CORCORAN. Spuszaring for Catacolas 27. ccc. ss oe eee eee J. W. BUCKLE. OP PHeredity. vais bisens ace eee eee eee eee S teitede os Beas GEO. A. MOoRE. 10. The Association of Pentatomids with certain plants .............. A. F. WINN. 11. Work of the Entomological Branch of the Dominion Department OF AZTICUIEUTG Pl SeE sce ood tie soe ee ee Se eee A. GIBSON. 2. Notes son ANGtonectidas 24S! Be eS eee aes T. C. BAINES, 13. Annual meeting of the Quebec Society for the Protection of PIANtsS Sas cgeveos0 ooo Srore cena rere ee Oe A. F. WINN. 14;“intomology “in Wranee ! oo Sh See, Pe ee eee. M. Du PorTE. 15. Notes on the genus Utetheisa Hubn. (Arctiide) ...... Lee ee A. F. WINN. L Gs ULS OTIC? eis iso acer gs aad

    ) Aes ee de Mr. N. K. BIGELOW: “The Rearing of (hepmoptera’ : © .). 22.) elec eee eee Mr. R. W. HALL. “Insect Hood! of Bears’ta. ) ae. 2h. osha hee ee MR. N. K. BIGELOW. “The Ant Fauna of the Nipigon Region” :.2..:.......-.ee Mr. S. LOGIER. One new member was elected, viz, Miss Mary Pettigrew. The Treasurer’s re- port showed a balance of $22.52. j (1922 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 1l For the season of 1921-1922 the following officers were elected :— ETRE REIT SPOOR CIE og aso ave av crsiave, cuole« eic’ele veers eeeee MB. S. LOGIER. ERASTUS) Se Se oe ae ee Re Mr. A. H. LEM. EIT COSI ER ete ec ey IN 8 tad oh Ba wore BR ah ...Miss NorMA Forp. (EIST, BLA SU OS a ee ee nO Mr. N. K. BIGELOW. IE ia aan ek a seeeeee DR. WALKER, MB. ANDREWS, . the Mr. BuaKEty, Mr. HALL. NorMa Forp, Secretary-Treasurer. REPORT OF THE BRITISH. COLUMBIA BRANCH. The twentieth annual meeting of the B.C. Entomological Society was held in Chamber Court Room of the Provincial Court House, Vancouver, B.C. on Saturday, February 12th, 1921. There was an attendance of seventeen BE: at the morning session and twenty-two in the afternoon.. The meeting was called to order at 9.30 a.m. and. the Secretary read the annual report and statement of accounts. Among the resolutions passed it was decided to take steps to have the Society ideon erie under the Benevolent Socie- ties’ Act. The annual subscription was raised to $2.00. ea for During the morning and afternoon sessions the following papers were read :— A review of Economic Entomology in British Col- : umbia and its progress in recent years.......... R, C. TREHERNE, Notes on the early stages of Nepytia Phantasmaria ..G. O. Day. nheweepidoptera, of the Kootenay ...............s.s2. J. W. Cockle. A Talk on insects imported from the Orient........ W. H. Lyne. Notes on the Fauna and Flora of Mount McLean..R. GLENDENNING. | Man’s influence on the native flora with special re- PEECNICC LO. INSCCE: DOSES) oy) ciciictc aes weiss roe elev J. DAvIDSsoN. The Sphingidae of.British Columbia 7:...05..264.... E. H. BLacKMorE. Notes on Amnesia decorata and the Holly Bud Moth. W. Downkss. Meee EHO SACI SIMOUIL ~.) 5). 010,c,. o%. 0.6 ss ie s sareierreterncs R GLENDENNING. Report on collections of Hemiptera from B.C. ....... Dr. H. M. PARSHLEY. Notes on the ecological distribution of some Orth- optera from the Chilcotin district of B. C. ........ E. R. BUCKELL. In celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the Society the members met supper at the Citizens Club and later returned to the meeting room and listened to a lecture by Mr. W. B. Anderson on “Collecting Places in B.C.” il- lustrated with lantern slides. It was decided to hold the next meeting in Victoria. During the season the Society will publish four numbers of its annual Pro- ceedings, namely, Nos. 16 and 18 of the Systematic series and No. 13 and 15 of the Economic series, and a complete index to all numbers published, from 1 to 15,, is being prepared by one of our members, Mr. E. P. Venables, and will be published shortly. one, The Society is in a flourishing condition and the members now number forty- W. DowNngs, Hon. Secretary-Treasurer. REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. The twenty-first annual meeting was held in. Victoria on Saturday, vanuary 21st, 1922. The President L. E. Marmont was in the chair and 14 members were present. The Secretary’s Report and Financial Statement was read by Mr. R. Glen- denning, Assistant Secretary, in the absence of Mr, Downes. 12 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 The business and discussion upon it occupied nearly the whole of the morning session, the subjects being:—The continuance of the Entomological Record; The Society’s Cup offered for school competition; The by-laws revised for meorpora- tion, and the proposed increase in subscriptions to the parent society. The following motion was passed relative to the last subject “That this Society thinks a subscription of $1 to the Ontario Entomological Society is sufficient, in view of the decrease in prices.” The following papers were read :— The use’ of Spreaders in Poison Sprays... eee eee eee A. i. LOVETT. Hemisarcoptes malus andits relation to Oyster shell scaleE. P. VENABLES. Economic Insects of the Year in the Lower Fraser Valley.R. GLENDENNING. A talk on the ‘Chilcoten country and its Orthoptera. ....E. R. BUCKELL. (illustrated with lantern slides). The Teaching of Entomology in the public schools ....... J. W. GIBSON. Aerial Surveys as an aid to Entomological Investigation... E. HEARLE. ThemMifesof the poplar SAwily, ee cae oe oe ee crorerentn ner W. DOWNES. The Hiunopeanwearwic. ant BiG 2s eke coe eee ose R. C. TREHERNE. Incidental observations regarding certain insects ........ W.-H. LYNE. Election of officers resulted as follows: — TONOLOTY-ENCSLOCINE: Waa < eet sice eRe COR te eee ee F. KERMODE, TETRA OME SA EES OTOP NSO Ts ORS Lone CRE oe Oe oe aT near oe L. E. MARMONT. aeviai the tafe tees owe era e euevs (cettusececdeaseececscdt. SO. SHERMAN ECCOaStE M. H. RuuMaANN (Interior). Advisory Board.—The above and E. H. BLAckMmorgE, W. H. Ropertson, J. W. GIBSON, W. H. LYNE. E. HEARLE. LONG BS CChELOLY- DEC OSUT CIs mee CE cine ao vie eget R. GLENDENNING, Agassiz, B.C. A hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Mr. W. Downes, the retiring Secre- tary, for his valuable services. It was decided that the next meeting would be held in Vancouver. R. GLENDENNING, Hon, Secretary-Treasurer. REPORTS ON INSECTS OF THE YEAR. Division No. 3. Toronto DISTRICT—A. COSENS. The promise of the warm weather of April was not fulfilled in an early spring. There were no insects of any kind plentiful until June. On May 28th, the Toronto Entomologists held a field day at Lawrence Park, north of the city. Although the day was warm and sunny only a few captures were made. Two butterflies were taken :—the Meadow Fritillary. Brenthis bellona, and the Common Blue, Lycaena ladon. A few Cabbage butterflies and Common Sulphurs were seen, also two or three Tiger Swallowtails, Papilio turnus. Again this season as in 1920 and 1919, the Monarch butterflies were rare. They became more plentiful later in the season as the following dates on which specimens were seen show:—Sept. 21st, 22nd, 26th, 29th, Oct. Ist and 3rd. Early in June, from about the 10th to the 14th, large beetles were reported to be emerging from a lawn in the northern part of the city. The question con- cerning whether they were harmful or not led to the examination of a couple of specimens. They were found to be Stag Beetles, Lucanus dama. The group owes its name to the peculiar mandibles of the male, which are very long, sharply pointed, sickle-shaped and bear in this species a small tooth on their inner edge near the centre. The head is correspondingly large in the male, being much 1922 | ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 13 smaller in the female. The eggs of the beetles are deposited, about the end of July, in the bark of a tree, commonly willow or oak. The long, thick, white larve require several years to reach full development. When mature they build a cocoon of the chips formed in their feeding. By boring into the trunks and the roots of the trees they sometimes do considerable damage. An explanation of their emergence from the lawn is found in the nature of the soil in that part of the city. A great deal of filing in was done in that district when it was opened up for building operations. Trunks of trees were no doubt buried at that time and from these the bettles were emerging. The Stag beetles are closely related to another family, the Scarabeide. This includes two main groups, the,beneficial scavenger beetles and the injurious leaf- chafers. The former contains forms that have the curious habit of rolling up balls of manure to provide food for their larve. The historically interesting Sacred Scarabeus may be taken as a type of this group. These beetles were held in such high; veneration by the (Kgyptians that paintings and carvings of them are often found among the relics of this ancient people. Some of the beetle models are small and made of gem stones or of gold, while others are large and fashioned from less expensive materials, a granite specimen in the British Museum being four feet in length. The June-bugs or May-beetles, Lachnosterna fusca, are the most familiar examples of the leaf-chafers. Their white larve, often plentiful in sandy soil, are very injurious to pastures, strawberry patches etc. The large, brownish black adult beetles feed on the foliage of fruit trees and in some instances do ap- preciable damage. POISONED MOLASSES FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF NOCTUID MOTHS. By E. H. SrrickLanp, ENTOMOLOGICAL BRANCH, OTTAWA. The annual loss on the western prairies from the destruction of grain crops by the Pale Western Cutworm (Porosagrotis orthogonia Morr.) has amounted ix recent years to several millions of dollars. ‘Numerous experiments, conducted in the infested provinces and states, have failed to produce an effective method of controlling this pest in its larval stage. For this reason the problem of destroying the adults before they have reproduced has received considerable attention. Three methods have presented themselves to us as a possible means of gain- ing this end, namely, light-traps, molasses troughs and poisoned molasses. In experimenting with these we have aimed at producing a method that will have the following qualifications; all materials used are readily procurable in any farming community, very frequent attention to traps is unnecessary, and it is inexpensive to operate. The employment of poisoned molasses approaches more closely to the fulfillment of the conditions than does either of the other methods. LIGHT-TRAPS, In 1913, we placed a few light-traps in fields around Lethbridge, where an outbreak of P. orthogonia had been somewhat severe. The nightly catch never exceeded 58 moths of this species, and of the total capture 97.5% were males. For this reason we considered the method to be economically ineffective. In 1920, Cireular 94 of the Montana Experiment Station recorded a night’s capture of as many as 1,500 moths of this species in individual light-traps which were of a superior type to that which we had used in 1913. This year Mr. H. L. Seamans, 14 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 who has recently come from the Montana Station to take charge of the Dominion Entomological Laboratory at Lethbridge, constructed a number of traps similar to those in which these large captures were made. ‘Two of these were set out in a badly infested field at Lethbridge, and about six were operated by our assistant Mr. W. Carter with the help of some farmers in the very heavily infested dis- trict around Retlaw, which is about sixty miles to the north-east of Lethbridge. These traps were set out from the middle of July till September 8th, when snow and frost put an end to the flight of P. orthogonia. During periods of moon- light, high wind and other unfayourable weather these traps were not operated. Trap So arranged that the inalority of moths will The most suitable type of trap for moth destruction. be retained. Tue ALBERTA Mots Trap The results were disappointing. The largest capture of P. orthogoni at Leth- bridge was 517 males and 17 females, the average per “trap-night” being 84.3 males and 2.03 females. The Retlaw traps captured 41.3 males and 3.8 females per “trap-night.” Of the total capture of 34,500 specimens of P. orthogonia which were taken in the field by light-traps 94.97% were males. This percentage was very little better than that obtained in 1913. We do not know to what extent the males are monogamous in nature, but it would appear that on this factor alone depends any appreciable benefit to be de- rived from light-traps. 1922 | ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 15 it We consider light-traps to be unsatisfactory as a general method of control i on the prairies for the following reasons : — if 1. They require attention twice daily. 2. They are somewhat expensive to operate. 3. They are practically ineffective during periods of full moon. _ 4, They are not well adapted to a windy country. i, 5. For the species under consideration they catch too small a percentage of females. Mo.nasses TROUGHS. This method was suggested by the experiments conducted by Dobrovljansky* for the control of #. segetum in Russia. Early in September 1920, three gal- vanized iron troughs, 2 feet long and 6 inches wide and deep, were set out in a badly infested area. Each was half filled with a 66% solution of molasses in water. On the first night they captured a total of 382 moths of which 135 were females of P. orthogonia. A slight crust had formed on the surface of the molasses by the following night when 16 moths only were retained. Of these 8 were females. It was obvious that we might be attracting to the field moths that we were unable to capture and that possibly our troughs were doing more harm than good to the owner. Attempts to improve the consistency of the molasses solution: failed to give satisfactory results. In a 50% solution many moths swam to the sides and escaped while any stronger solution crusted over in a very short time. Some twenty troughs were used in 1921, and attempts were made to retain the moths in weak solutions by the addition of vegetable and other. oils, with tanglefoot and with poisons, but without success. . i This method was early abandoned for the following reasons: ik 1. The troughs require very frequent attention. i 2. A great many of the moths escape. ib PoIsoONED MoLassEs. * P. orthogonia comes very readily to “sugar’’ applied to fence posts. A fence bi post can be kept permanently “sugared” every evening for from ten to fourteen iv days by means of a simple apparatus. The only material required is a quart bottle if with a cork to fit, 6 inches of lamp wick and a small piece of absorbent cloth. The iy bottle is filled with the sugaring mixture and the end of the wick, which has first been well saturated in the mixture, is inserted. A. well-fitting cork, that has been slightly flattened on one side by cutting away a small portion with a knife, is pressed fairly tightly into the bottle with the flattened side next to the it ‘wick. The bottle is then inverted and wired or tied to the west side of a fence re | post, and the free end of the wick is nailed to the post through a piece of absorbent pl cloth. When a rapidly killing poison is used, and it is desired that material | obtained be preserved, a partial funnel of mosquito netting or paper can be attached | to the post. A modification, suggested by Mr. Carter, is to replace the cloth with a shallow pan made from a tomato can. This forms a reservoir for any surplus flow of poison. The bottle is fastened to the west side of the fence post in order that it will not be exposed to the direct rays of the sun till the afternoon. The heat then ‘causes its contents to expand and to drive some of the liquid down the wick and on to the cloth. This action usually continues till nearly sunset and it liberates sufficient bait to attract moths throughout the night. After the sun has set a reverse pressure in the bottle draws in sufficient air to replace the expelled liquid. *PExtract in Rev. applied Ent. Series A. Vol. I, page 490, 1913. ~ 8, pee oe See I 16 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 Provided the variations in temperature are not too extreme, or fermentation too rapid, a quart bottle will run every evening for from ten to fourteen days. We have tried several modifications of reservoir and methods of controlling the flow of bait, such as the “drinking fountain,” siphon, and gravity feed, but find the inverted bottle to be as satisfactory as any. Having obtained a satisfactory apparatus, our next concern was to find a suitable poisoned bait. As a basis a 10% solution of cane molasses was used in all cases. This ferments within a few days of mixing. In the fall of 1920, ex- periments were made in which the decantation from a saturated solution of white arsenic was used as the diluent. This killed moths in the laboratory in from 8 to 40 hours, but was found to be somewhat deterrent to feeding. When this solution was used in bottle traps moths fed on it and obtained suf- ficient poison to cause their death within 24 hours. This was proved by captured specimens. In the field, however, they all flew from the traps ‘before dying. It was hoped that some immediate killer could be obtained in order that we might estimate the value of the traps, and be certain that gravid females were unable to deposit their eggs before dying. It was also highly desirable that those who might be using the traps as a practical means of control should be able to see some results from their efforts in the form of dead moths. To this end we planned a series of experiments in 1921, but it was not until nearly the end of the season that Mr. Seamans found quassia to be the nearest approach to what we desired. Subsequent observations showed that this material must be used in conjunction with some other poison. Among substances employed with the hope of obtaining an immediate killer were various arsenicals, soluble strychnine, copper sulphate, formalin, mercuric chloride, sodium cyanide in solution, and sodium fluoride. All of these failed to kill in less than about 12 hours except in strengths that proved to be deterrent. Arsenical poisons showed the least deterrent effect in the field when they were employed in weak solutions. Various objections to most of the forms of arsenic that are readily available to a farming community decided us to adopt commercial fly pads, at the rate of one pad per quart of solution, as the most satisfactory source of supply. At this strength the arsenic is very slightly deterrent and there is no precipitation. The pads can either be soaked in the solution over-night or cut into strips which are inserted into the bottles. Moths captured while feeding on bottles so poisoned ‘died in from six to one hundred hours, depending upon the amount of feeding prior to capture. The majority of poisoned moths died within 36 hours. Checks taken from. unpoisoned bottles lived for an average of 130 hours without subsequent feeding. The season was unfavourable for bait traps. A very dry summer had resulted in the failure of many crops and had seriously hampered summer-fallowing, with the result that nearly all classes of fields were covered with Russian thistle. This was flowering at the time of flight. Noctuide feed freely on these fiowers, but the favourite food plant in Alberta appears to be golden-rod, which flourishes in restricted areas of waste land. Experiments with traps placed in these golden-rod areas showed that fermenting molasses, when used alone, was not sufficiently at- tractive to overcome the predilection of the moths for these flowers. With the’ ad- dition of eight drops of amyl acetate per quart of the solution, both sexes of P. orthogonia could be attracted to feed on the bait despite the close proximity of a strong counter-attractant. 1922 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. fi The abundance of feeding is very variable, and we did not obtain very definite data upon the probable catches made by our experimental traps. At night there were frequently as many as 20 to 30 moths, of which over 50% were female, feeding on a single trap at a time when very few were attracted to troughs of molasses. By day males were found feeding at all hours, though they were most abundant between the hours of two and five p.m. Females appeared less frequently in the morning and were seldom seen in numbers till about 4 p.m., by which time they visited the traps freely and were nearly as numerous as the males on golden-rod blossoms. We did not discover that quassia would retain the majority of moths that visited a trap till too late in the season for this to supply ws with many data, In the laboratory, however, and with a few bottle traps, we found that the deterrent effect of quassia is very slight and that it is readily overcome by the addition of a little saccharine to the bait. The effect of quassia on moths is very variable, and it cannot be predicted for the individual. Moths captured feeding on flowers, were offered a choice of formule. Those containing quassia and saccharine were preferred to straight molasses. ‘This was also demonstrated in the field. At a strength of two ounces to a quart of solution quassia (kills about 65% of all moths that feed on it. In some cases death is rapid, and within ten minutes of feeding either sex of P. orthogonia loses all power of locomotion, lies on its back and response to stimulation becomes continually less apparent till it ceases entirely. Death in such cases appears to be gradual and progressive. In other cases moths feed freely on the bait for a few minutes and suddenly flop around the receptacle as though in great pain, till sudden death puts an end to their activity. On the other hand some 35% of the moths which have imbibed quassia solution, sometimes more extensively than have those which die, become either very sluggish or quite inactive a few minutes after feeding and they may remain in this condition for two or three days. ‘Sometimes females, which have been quite inactive for over 24 hours, will laboriously struggle to their feet, lay a few eggs, and relapse into inactivity. Recovery in other caseS appears to be complete, and since it per- mits oviposition, we have retained the use of fly pads in addition to quassia. Our experiments indicate that very few moths will recover from the effects of the latter before they succumb to the arsenical poison of the former. At present our poisoned bait formula, therefore, consists of :—a 10% solution of cane molasses, the diluent being water in which quassia chips have been soaked overnight at the rate of two ounces to the quart. In each bottle of this solution is inserted one fly pad, sufficient saccharine to cover a Canadian 5 cent piece (1 gram), and eight drops of amyl acetate. This formula undoubtedly can be improved considerably both as regards its attractiveness and poisoning quality. As it stands, all of the materials, with the exception of amyl acetate, which is not essential, can ibe obtained in any village. The present retail cost of materials for a dozen traps, including the bottles, is approximately $2.65. We have no definite data as to what distribution of traps will give the greatest returns for money expended, but believe that one to every ten rods of fencing around a field that is free from fiowering weeds should be sufficient to reduce an outbreak very materially. On weedy fields subsidiary posts erected in the field might be necessary. 18 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 Poisoned molasses traps give more promise for controlling noctuid moths than do other methods tried because :— _1. They require attention, at the most, once a week. 2. Females are attracted as readily as males to bait and they are usually gravid. 3. With a combination of quassia and arsenic very few females that feed on the bait are able to lay eggs subsequently. 4, Quassia 1s non-poisonous to stock and is distasteful to them. 5. Individual traps attract more moths than do corresponding troughs of pe . All materials are cheap and are readily obtainable anywhere. ) . The bait is effective by day as well as by night and its efficacy is not re- faced by moonlight. 8. Climatic conditions affect the eae very little. THE WESTERN WHEAT-STEM SAWFLY IN CANADA. NorMAN CrIDDLE, Dom. ENTOMOLOGICAL LABORATORY, TREESBANK, MAN. The Western Wheat-stem Sawfly—Cephus cinctus (Nort.) is a native insect that has become a pest because of the introduction of cereals such as wheat and rye. It originally lived in various native grasses such as Agropyron, Elymus, Calomogrostis and Bromus. While confined to these food plants it fluctuated from year to year according to the prevalence of flowering stems in which the larve lived, or to the presence of natural enemies. These two factors usually kept the insect well in hand until the grains mentioned above were introduced when abundance of new food became available. The sawfly, however, was slow in adapting itself to the new conditions and it was only towards the beginning of the present century that it finally became established in our grain fields. Since then it has steadily increased. To begin with, only the edges of wheat fields were attacked by the overflow from native grasses but gradually the adults flew fur- ther afield until, eventually, whole fields became infested and in some instances more than eighty per cent. of the wheat stem was cut by the larve. Both Saskatchewan and Manitoba suffered heavy loss in 1921, the total amounting to several million bushels and in south-west Manitoba exceeding twenty-five per- cent. of the crop. The insect is steadily spreading and so far as we can judge, it will continue to do so until the entire spring wheat area is invaded. Natural Controt. The Wheat-stem Sawfly appears to have been kept well under control in the past by various natural factors which include natural enemies and meteorological conditions. Of the natural enemies Hymenopterous parasites seem to have played the leading part though there was, at times, quite a high death rate brought about by an unknown cause apparently of a fungus origin. The rainfall has always been an important factor because it has controlled the insect’s food supply by governing the number of flowering stems in wie the larve live. The sowing of cereals over large areas of country has entirely upset the con- trol conditions that previously existed. Factors that were then of the utmost value have been almost eliminated, the available stems of grain having done away with the check of limited food supply. while for reasons that are only beginning to be understood, the parasites so prevalent in grasses are unable to follow their hosts into the grain fields. On account of these conditions the sawfly has practically a free hand, and as a result it has spread over large stretches of country. 1922 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 19 PARASITES. Two hymenopterous parasites were reared by Ainslie in North Dakota and Utah namely Microbracon cephi Gahan and Pleurotropis utahensis Crafd. The same insects have been taken by us in Manitoba, while two. others Eupelmus allynit French and.a species of Eurytoma also are present in some numbers. All these parasites are natives of the country and they occur where- ever infested grasses are-met with. Cultivated grasses which are attacked by the sawfly have proved equally suitable to the parasites, but when it comes to fields of grain there is a sudden check which practically leaves the saw- fly free of enemies. The sudden check of the parasites when they come to grains is the most important and interesting of the problems before us and a number of details will have to be supplied before we can ultimately define what the causes are that bring about this change. There are, however, several significant facts to be taken into consideration; firstly, both Hupelmus and Hurytoma emerge in large numbers during August and September, the Cephus larve being at this time in their winter quarters in the stubs below the ground where it is doubt- ful whether the parasites would find them. If this is so, in what do the above parasites oviposit during the Autumn months or do they hibernate and remain inactive until the following July? If the parasites breed in their hosts then they would obviously have to return to the plants harbouring them and consequently leave the grain fields. This might well account for the insects’ abundance in wild grass lands, but it would only partly explain the problem before us. We know that Microbracon hibernates in cocoons, either as larve or pupe, to emerge as adults sometime during the following spring, in this case there being probably no secondary host. We must, therefore, look to other causes for the absence of this parasite in infested grain fields. Turning to Pleurotropis utahensis we find that this parasite is late in matur- ing. and that it is even more restricted in its habits than Microbracon. It has been found in most of the Cephus infested grasses and once in fall rye, but not in wheat. It was comparatively rare in 1921. The third parasite Hupelmus allynu (French) is a very general one, being known to attack various other grass-infesting insects, but it has not previously been recorded from Cephus. Our specimens emerged in September. The fourth Eurytoma sp. appears in August. It has been reared from both grain and grasses as a host of Cephus. The second point is that sawfly-infested winter rye is quite thickly inhabitated by parasites when said rye is found growing as a volunteer crop amid other grasses and weeds of various kinds, but not when it is growing alone. Thirdly, infested wheat and spring rye are both found to contain Micro- bracon and Eupelmus around the edges of fields next to grass areas but very rarely towards the centres of fields. All of which points strongly to the para- sites having their home among the grasses, in which they find necessary factors not present in the growing grain. We are still at a loss to know what; these factors are, but it is significant that parasites of sawfly larve may be found in both grain and grasses when those plants are growing together on land that has been left uncultivated. Cuimatic ConTrou. It is noteworthy that there is a marked fluctuation in the yearly development of the sawfly, even though the species has gradually become more numerous. In North Dakota, for instance, the infestation of 1921 did not apparently exceed that of 1917, whereas had the insect developed at what 20 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 might be termed a normal ratio it must have wiped the wheat crop out of existence. We have noted similar conditions in Manitoba more than once, which have led us to suspect that meteorological factors play an important part in the development of the sawfly. This has been still further borne out by a survey of the province and by an examination of the reports issued by the Manitoba and Saskatchewan governments, together with those of the Manitoba Free Press. We found in these surveys that the greatest prevalence of Cephus followed very closely the areas of least rainfall, and that where the moisture was ample the injury fell to a marked degree. This fluctuation, apparently due to humid- ity, was even well marked over local areas. It was also apparent that the low, moist, portions of a field were much less infested than the high drier parts. More data is necessary before definite conclusions can be arrived at but judging from our experiments, rain in itself is not harmful except during the adults’ life. It would seem, therefore, that the cause of the greater immunity lies in the quicker growth, this in its turn perhaps providing an excess of sap that is detrimental to the sawfly larve. In any case the facts of this flutuation are hopeful because they indicate that with the passing of dry seasons the sawfly menace may become less acute. ReMeDies. The remedies for the Western Wheat-stem sawfly are entirely cultural, and the most important of them consists of ploughing down the in- fested stubble any time between August 1st and June Sth of the following year. In order to be thoroughly effective the ploughing must be well turned so that there is no overlapping edge to the furrows, and it should be not less than six inches deep. A wide furrowed plough is better than a narrow one for this purpose. Fall ploughing will pack during the winter, but that done in the spring should be packed by machinery. ; In addition to the destruction of larve by ploughing a good deal can be accomplished by sowing immune, or partly immune, crops. Oats, for instance, are perfectly free from attack; barley; owing to its rapid growth escapes, with -small injury, while winter rye is able to withstand the insects’ effort to a marked degree and, on account of its early ripening, is cut before loss occurs. Indeed, there are indications for the belief that winter rye may prove one of the most important checks to the development of the sawfly owing to the fact that it is often heavily infested but the sawfly larve are usually unable to mature in it. Moreover, even should they develop normally, the early ripening of the rye enables it to be harvested before the larve can get below the point where the straw is cut by the binder and as a result they perish. Trap Crops. We have noted that volunteer wheat on land intended for summerfallow is often a great attraction for adult sawflies that have emerged in the vicinity. On one such plant we counted 14 of these insects at rest, while on another three were attempting to oviposit at the same time. It is probable, therefore, that a single plant of this nature might be the receptacle for many egos, especially as it is not uncommon to find the remains of two or more larve in one stem. For this reason we believe that a narrow strip of thinly sown wheat round the edges and across the middle of a field intended for summerfallow, might attract and be the means of destroying a large number of these insects. Crop Rotation. Should the sawfly continue to maintain its present pro- portions or increase still further, then it will be necessary to consider more drastic measures of control and make an initial sacrifice in order to reduce the pest sufficiently to make wheat growing profitable. To do this farmers in in- 1922 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 21 fested districts will have to discontinue wheat and spring rye growing for a year, and in their place sow crops that are free, or nearly so, from the insects’ attack. Crops that can be recommended for this purpose are: Oats, winter rye, barley, corn and any broad-leafed vegetable or fodder plant, including. flax. GRAINS THAT SuFFER Most. Spring wheat is the most severely infested, with spring rye a close second. Durum wheat, according to Ainslie, suffers almost as much as common wheat, and our own observations made over restricted areas, bear out this contention. Some of our correspondents in North Dakota, however, claim a much greater immunity for durum than other wheats, but it is necessary to know more about the conditions under which it was grown before we can reach definite conclusions as to its utility. Speltz also is badly infested As a general rule, it seems that quickly maturing crops are \safer to sow than late ones, and in this respect it might be worth while testing one or more of the new early wheats. A winter wheat hardy enough to stand our climate would probably prove an ideal factor in overcoming the sawfly depreda- tions. THE DESTRUCTION OF Grasses. It was C. N. Ainslie who first questioned _ the utility of destroying infested grasses owing to the fact that these harboured large numbers of parasites. The problem is a moot one and requires careful study. In 1921, we found Brome grass (Bb. enermis) infested with sawfly to the extent of 70 per cent but from these infested stems not more than 5 per cent of the larve reached maturity and of those that cut and plugged the stems, not more than 6 per cent survived. In other words there was a death rate of 94 per cent very largely through parasites. To cut the grass in July for the purpose of destroying the larve would, under such circumstances, be of no practical value, and might do considerable harm. Judging from our work of 1921 other grasses mature a larger number of sawflies than does brome. A field of Agropyron tenerum, for instance, showed a parasitism of about 35 per cent in a total infestation of 72 per cent, and practically the same death rate was recorded in Agropyron richardsonii. In these there would seem to be an overflow of adults sufficient to infest nearby crops, leaving their enemies to attend to those that remained to breed in the grass; whereas if these grasses were cut early in July all the sawfly larve would be killed while the parasites which had not yet oviposited might be induced to fly to infest hosts in the growing grain. From the evidence so far obtained we believe Brome grass can safely be left to rear sawfly parasites, but that other grasses should be cut before the middle of July to kill the sawfly larve infesting them. HarpInuss or Larva. The larve are capable of great endurance, and for that reason we have been unable to discover any practical method of destroy- ing them in the fall. Immersing the infested stubs in water for three days merely produced a torpor which passed off after a few hours. Exposing the stubs to all the vicissitudes of autumn, winter and spring on top of the ground was also of no avail. Burning the stubble is likewise abortive. In conclusion, it is my pleasure to acknowledge the help I have received from Mr. C. N. Ainslie, both ‘personally and through his publication. I am indebted to Mr. W. R. Walton for his kindness in arranging for the determination of parasites, and to Mr. M. P. Tullis of the Department of Agriculture, Regina, for information concerning the sawfly outbreak in Saskatchewan. Finally, I have to acknowledge the assistance of my fellow worker, Mr. P. N. Vroom, who has been with me during the last two summers. a 22. THE REPORT OF THE ‘No. 36 TABLE SHOWING PERCENTAGE INFESTATION OF VARIOUS GRASSES AND MorTaliry AMONG THE CEPHUS LARV2. WINTER RYE. Sown in 1920 but not cut; 21 per cent. of stems not infested. Harve Matured) iss. Sees. AS ee Poe HS. Sth tee ee 19 WGAT VE: GEAG. oe sis iss Siarasays, 80 apsuec cee cae ae coi neo dine Ee S1 Volunteer crop among ather grasses; 19 per cent. of stems not infested. Larvae: i Matured: Geiss teed eee Oe ES Seah i ie! lary. dead: catisesaim an awison ee ee 78 LarvVe “Parasitized” soc cee eke oon Sonne oe ee eee 11 BROME GRAss (B. Enermis.) Collected in August; 12 per cent. of stems not infested. Larve, mabure. Jciries os byes) nei eniesos + Ms Ree eee eee 23 Larve: dead; “causes tmkin OW ge.).5 nee eee a eee ee ill LAr Vie! “ParaASiiZed eres eee eee ee eee ete ete to ere eee 40 Collected in October; 14 per cent. of stems not infested. , aT Vie MACE Cc paca ere rnin Soin elated uislagei te Mae see ee 8 harve dead, cause: WMKMOWI 2.1 Neo. icles. See eee eee Sat ee 44 Liarveel! parasitized "itis atest SIS. ee ee eee 48 Collected in late October; 13 per cent. of stems not infested. IAT Vile TNALUTC 72 .ojetecia ccs niece ieee os ee ee Pe aoe ry Pieris )- 2 larve, dead: cause unknown © oss. eea coe ae e eeE ee 44 Lanvees-Darasitized osc 658 os ested lo wo ee oes Se eee 54 é Agropyron tenerum Collected in October; 32 per cent. cf stems not infested. arves *Matune: Pi nes soe Oe ea cake eee De eects es, cee 42 larver dead: cause pun knowns ists. deci. anv} PaArasitazed’: nee. Ula Ee oe ne Sets eae 36 Collected in October; 16 per cent. of stems not infested. harves, Mature: “6.050 wiih eee OE AE oe ee eRe 26 harvee* dead;* cause “Unknown. tee oe ee eee ee ee eee 37 Larve parasitized: sce .(6e Sa ea a seis oe ae oe ere 37 The above tables are compiled from the examination of several hundred stems in each instance. THE EUROPEAN CORN BORER (Pyrausta nubilalis Hubn.) : LIFE HISTORY IN ONTARIO. H. G. Crawrorp, ENTOMOLOGICAL BRANCH, OTTAWA, AND G. J. SPENCER, ONTARIO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, GUELPH, ONT.* The apology for presenting so incomplete a study rests upon the fact that this is a recently introduced and already widely distributed insect, spreading with great rapidity and capable of doing very serious damage. Consequently, its re- action to Canadian conditions where it has demonstrated its ability to increase over 300 per cent. in a single year, and where its presence results in severe damage to our corn crop, cannot but be of interest and value. * A joint progress report cf the life history studies carried on at the laboratories ¥f the Dominion and Ontario Departments of Agriculture in the season of 1921.. 1922 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 23 The larve of the European corn borer normally winter in corn stalks or stubble, either standing or lying on the ground. Almost any other not absolutely submerged shelter, from a corn leaf in the ground to the centre of the cob in the crib, will serve for successful wintering. In the spring as soon as the weather warms up, the larve do a variable amount of boring and possibly feeding in pre- paring the pupal chambers from which an outlet for the escape of the adult is made. Pupation in the field in 1921 began on May 27th being practically complete by June 22nd, though one or two larve were taken in the following week. Adults. began to emerge June 16th, and by July 4th 90 per cent. of the moths had issued, the balance following more slowly ; a small percentage failed to develop. In the laboratory where the whole process of development was delayed, pupa- tion did not begin until June 6th, ten days later. The males began to pupate 7 days before the females, outnumbering them until just before the end of the pupa- tion period. Similarly with the moths the males began to emerge about 4 days be- fore the females, and exceeded them in number until just before the end of the emergence period, which extended from June 29th to August 12th. The duration of the pupation period of the males varied from 8 to 18 days, an average of 12.33 days, while for the femalés it was distinctly less, from 7 to 17 days, an average of 11.29. At the laboratory located a little further inland the average durations, however, were 12 days for males and 10.19 for females, a distinctly more rapid rate. The male moths lived in confinement for from 6 to 21 days, averaging 13 days, while the females lived for from 10 to 31 days, averaging 17.4 days, with a _pre-oviposition period (20 females) of from 3 to 9 days, averaging 4 days. After this period they laid from 95 to 988 eggs per female, at the rate of from 12-231, an average of 75.3 eggs per day, in masses containing from 1-64 eggs, an average of 33-per mass. All of the eggs kept under observation hatched. The duration of this stage was from 3 to 8 days, averaging for the period between June 28th and August 2nd 4.71 days. In the field a study of the incidence of egg laying on corn henate on May 31st in a field adjacent to the northern margin of an old corn patch of 1920, at this time in oats and barley, was started. The moths began to emerge on June: 18th from the old stubble in the standing grain, and eggs were not found until July 1st when 5 masses were secured from 100 plants, though a most careful: search was maintained in the intervening period of 14 days; on July 3rd 15 masses: were secured on approximately 200 plants, at which time egg laying was be- coming general, and some masses were observed to be hatching. The corn at this time was from 9-20 inches high. No eggs were laid until the corn averaged about 15 inches in height. In the interval the adults were, without doubt, flying southwest to another field planted on May 18th which, at this time, was markedly in advance of the field: under observation in development and finally suffered a loss of 65%. The field under study in the north, however, was but 63.2% infested and the loss would not exceed 5%. The first eggs taken in the season, however, were found in the field June 21st, and by July 15th hatching was general, and the infestation was shown up very clearly on the unrolling leaves where the newly hatched larve were feeding at the base. The evidence of attack became clearly marked in the first week in July, and by the second week the tassels were falling on the early planted flint 24 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 and sweet corn. As the plant increased in length and the larve on the rolled up leaves were exposed to light, they bored into the stalks, which by the end of July in the early planted corn began to break over. By the third week in July in the very early sweet corn, and to a much less extent in the flint, the majority of the larve were full grown. At that time a very small second brood developed in the very earliest planted sweet corn, involving but a fraction of one per cent. of the larve. In this sweet corn 10 pupe in all were collected between July 21st and 26th and 4 pupe were secured from larve collected at the same time. From these pup, after a period of 13 days, 2 male moths and 1 female moth were reared. The female laid fertile eggs, the larvee from which established themselves on a corn plant in an experimental cage. The only other evidences of the second brood were 1 pupa and 2 female pupal cases from the earliest fiimt corn, an adult male in late July, an egg mass found on August 9th and a few 3rd instar larve taken late in August. The larve in all varieties of the later corn, matured distinctly later on the average and showed no signs of developing a second brood, but prepared for winter about the middle of August and where not disturbed, would probably not move until spring. At harvest time about the last of August and in early Sept- ember in a flint corn field showing 70% total loss, the estimated number of larve per acre was 191,800. Of these 27% were within 12 inches of the ground and a four inch stubble carried 28,079 larve, 6.82% of the larval population. There was no movement of any import in the standing field corn in the fall, the distribution in the middle of October being practically the same as at the end of August. However, there is a noticeable movement outward and downward in the stalks in shock, but none of any importance from the shock to the ground and neighbouring stubble. The date of sowing was closely correlated with the degree of infestation, the larval population and the total loss both in experimental and field conditions. In general, corn sown before May 24th was either practically ruined or suffered severe loss: that sown between May 24th and June ist was heavily infested, but suffered relatively less or but slight actual loss, depending of course upon the type of corn; while the corn sown after June 1st, although in some cases showing a fairly high percentage of infestation carried few larve and practically no loss except in the case of sweet corn. Thus, on one farm of three corn patches within 100 yards of each other, the sweet corn sown April 25th carried a larval population of 234.200 per acre with a loss of 100%; sweet corn planted June Ist developed an infestation of 75% and carried a larval population of 80,000 per acre with a loss of 20%; while flint (smut nose yellow) planted May 22nd, only carried 54,400 per acre. a stalk infestation of 67% and a total loss of not more than 10%. The sweet corn here doubtless protected the flint by attracting a large number of the moths. In the experimental plots the effect of the date of planting shows up most clearly, as can be seen in the tabulation below, though here the loss was slight and the larval population meagre, the corn all being planted after May 24th. 1922 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 25 Variety Date Per cent of Per cent of Per cent of stocks infested |stocks broken over | cobs infested Golden Bantam May 24 30.18 16.93 16.9 sweet corn May 31 34.4 20.00 2.14 June 3 15.33 7.66 1.89 June 9 7.52 4.30’ ale ie, Dent Corn May 31 24.30 69.44 4 Early Leaming June 3 13.45 1.50 .99 June 9 aah 1.62 ae aly Golden Glow May 28 53.42 Weil 22 June 3 21.08 9.73 .99 June 9 7.44 4.65 63 Wisconsin No. 1 May 28 54.44 16.14 2.65 June 3 15.61 200 1.29 June 9 3.66 2.44 1.16 Flint Corn May 28 70.9 20: 77 13.31 Saizers’ June 3 10.62 10.12 Ba Tle North Dakota June 9 14.74 Drala 4,11 Compton’s Early May 28 82.4 50.00 10.47 June 3 _ 44.14 WAGs 9.68 June 9 15.10 4.17 3.45 . Smut Nose Yellow May 31 30.14 11.41 6.10 June 3 Pasa} 14.29 4.11 June 9 3.45 { . 86 1.89 The larval population in badly infested fields attained enormous magnitudes ; a dent corn field sown May 18th carried an estimated total of 294,152 per acre, a flint field sown on the same day suffered a total loss of at least 65%, supported a total of 258,400 per acre and left when cut, in the stubble (less than 4 inches in height) and the crop refuse, a residue of 43,487 caterpillars going into the winter. In general, all things considered, there seems to be no marked preference for any particular type or variety of corn; the severe loss associated with sweet corns and the flint varieties being due to the early planting, the ability of the larve to establish themselves and the small dimension of the stalks. The obvious relatively slight loss in the dent corns is due to the later planting, its vastly greater bulk and its harder and coarser texture preventing a large proportion of the larve establishing themselves in the first instance, THE INFESTATION OF PLANTS OTHER THAN CORN. About the middle of July in the very severely infested fields of early sweet corn, to a less extent in severely infested flint and to a very slight extent in dent corn except in the one severely injured field, the nearly full grown and full grown larve become restless. At this time large numbers of them leave the now breaking, shrivelling and drying corn stalks and carry on an apparently, haphazard migra- tion throughont a period of about two weeks. In the course of this migration as many as 24,400 larve per acre found their way into the weeds in one field of sweet corn sown April 25th. Others doubtless returned to the corn plants. ' Cen- siderable feeding was done in the larger weeds, the pigweeds, the lamb’s quarters and barnyard grass breaking over in a high percentage of cases. ‘The barnyard grass was infested as high as 88% and in one instance a plant with 26 stems was found to contain 17 larve. The weeds infested in this field in the order of frequency were: barnyard grass (Echinochloa crus-galli, Beauy.), redroot pigweed (Amaranthus 26 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 retroflerus L.), yellow fox-tail (Setaria glauca Beauy.) Lamb’s quarters (Cheno- podium album 1), tumble weed or Russian thistle (Salsola var. tenuifolia G.F.W. Mey), green fox-tail(Seteria viridis Beauy.), Lady’s thumb (Polygonum persicaria Li.), wild buckwheat (Polygonum convolvulus L.) ground cherry (Phrysa- lis heterophylla Nees.) ; other weeds present but not infested were: purslane, Canada thistle, bitter sweet. milkweed and crab grass. However, throughout the district of the weeds found to be infested in addition to the above the following can be listed: orchard grass (Dactylis glomerata L.), Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense Scop.) wild sunflowers (Helianthus sp.), blue weed or vipor’s bugloss (#chium vul- gare u.), ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.) ; mullein (Verbascum thapsus L.), goldenrod (Solidago sp.), old witchgrass (Panicum aatiare L.), yarrow (Achillea millefolium L.), burdock (Arctiwm minus Bernh.). In cultivated crops and flowers larve have been secured in the field feeding on dahlia, geranium, aster, golden glow, beets, mangolds, tomatoes (fruit), beans, oats, squash, vines, broom corn, sudan grass, early amber sugar cane, Hungarian grass and Mann’s Wonder sorghum. No success was achieved in establishing larve upon a long series of common weeds by attaching eggs laid upon a slip of corn leaf. The eggs hatched but the larvee rarely were able to infest the plant. In a series of experiments with paired adults caged over 35 common cultivated vegetables and flowers the larve in very small numbers established themselves apon mangels, potatoes, celery, cauliflower, peas, beans, peppers, eggplant, radish (gone to seed) salvia and aster. Summing up, however, the entire infestation in the open of plants other than corn, with the exception of the dahlias, and possibly barnyard grass and Mann’s Wonder sorghum was due entirely to the migrating larve. These larvee, particularly in the weeds, together with those in corn stalks, stubble and refuse have gone into the winter in very large numbers with every prospect of coming through successfully and giving rise to an increased infestation in 1922. THE SPREAD OF THE EUROPEAN CORN BORER IN SOUTHERN ONTARIO. L. S. McLANE, ENTOMOLOGICAL BRANCH, OTTAWA. . When the European Corn Borer was realized to be a serious pest, that 1s, m the summer of 1918, the Canada Department of Agriculture took steps to warn the general public of the danger of introducing this insect into Canada, and also carried on investigations to determine the amount of corn, and other products likely to harbour the borer, that had been imported into the’ Dominion from the infested districts in Massachusetts. As a result of these investigations scouting for the pest in the maritime provinces was carried on during the summer of 1919. With the discovery of the insect in western New York in the fall of that year, the attention of the Department was directed to the possibility of the pest having spread into the province of Ontario. Some scouting was done in Welland County and along the Niagara River that fall, but was soon discontinued on ac- count of the lateness of the season and the unfavourable chmatic conditions. Plans were made, however, to resume the scouting in this territory the following summer. . Ee On August 10th, 1920, the first infestation was found near Lorraine Station. Humberstone township, Welland county. The larve were small in size and were collected in a field of ensilage corn, A preliminary survey of the infestation showed EEE wt oT 1922 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 27 that it was exceedingly light, but widely scattered. On August 22nd, a farmer living near St. Thomas, Ontario, submitted some samples of larve found in his field corn which were readily identified as caterpillars of the European Corn Borer. A prompt examination of this district showed the degree of infestation to be much greater than that in Welland county. With the co-operation of the Ontario Department of Agriculture extensive scouting was started at once. The extent of the infestations exceeded by far anything that had been anticipated, and as the season was advancing rapidly, the scouting had to be carried on at undue speed. At the close of the scouting work it was found that there were two distinct infestations in southern Ontario, the first centering about Welland county, and the second centering about Middlesex and Elgin counties. During the scouting sea- sons one hundred and five townships in thirteen counties were examined, thirty-five of which were found infested by this insect. The area found infested covered ap- proximately 2,780 square miles. ‘ The season of 1921 was unusual in several respects, the continued hot dry weather in June and July causing all vegetation to develop with abnormal rapidity. and it was necessary to start the scouting work two weeks previously to the time originally planned. The scouting was actually started on August 1st and com- pleted by October 3rd. During this period one hundred and ninety-seven town- ships were scouted, of which sixty-five were found infested; these added to the thirty-five townships found infested in 1920 make a total of one hundred town- ships infested to date. The area found infested by the scouting this past season is approximately 4.910 square miles, which, in addition to the 2,780 square miles infested in 1920, make a total of .7,690 square miles now infested by the European Corn Borer in this district. The following townships in Ontario are infested at the present time: Oakland, Brantford, Burford, and Onodaga in the county of Brant; the seven townships in Elgin county; Gosfield South, Mersea and Pelee Island in Essex county; nine out of ten townships in Haldimand county, the tenth township was not scouted on account of the small amount of corn grown, but was included in the quarantine, Goderich, Hay, Stephen, Tuckersmith and Usborne in Huron county; Gore of Cam- den, Harwich, Howard, Orford, Raleigh, Romney, Tilbury East and Zone in Kent county; Brooke, Euphemia and Warwick in Lambton county; Clinton, Grantham, Louth and Niagara in Lincoln county; the fifteen townships of Middlesex county ; the eight townships in Norfolk county; Pickering in Ontario county; the eleven townships in Oxford county; Blanshard, Downie, Easthope North, Easthope South, Ellice, Fullerton, Hibbert, Logan and Mornington in Perth county; Water- loo, Wilmot and Woolwich in Waterloo county; the eight townships in Welland county; Guelph in Wellington county; and Lancaster in Wentworth county. The degree of infestation is heaviest in Elgin and Middlesex counties, and on the outer edges of the infested area borers were very hard to find. It is also to be hoped that the past season was an unusually favorable one for the European corn borer, for there has been a general spread from practically all points of the 1920 area, but the most notieeable spread has been north, northeast and east. The scouting work of 1920 showed that there are two distinct infestations in the province at this time, and the results of this past summer’s work appear to bear out that conclusion. This season the scouts had no difficulty in making several collections of larve in the townships adjacent to the western end of the old rns) oA) THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 Welland infestation, and in townships adjacent to the eastern end of the Middle- sex and Elgin infestation, whereas great difficulty was encountered in locating borers in the centre townships, that is, between the two infestations. The infestation is exceedingly light on the extreme western edge of the infested area, that is, in Kent and Essex counties, in fact the only collections in the town- ships found infested in these counties this year, were taken along the main high- way which runs east and west. The spread into this area may be due to artificial spread, either from carriers such as automobiles, or from infested corn refuse washed up on the shore of the lake, as the highway is adjacent to the lake in this district. The discovery of the borer on the Lake Huron shore was made late in the season, and only a single collection of larvae was taken in the township of Gooderich. As the neighboring township was found to be lightly infested, it appears as if the infestation in Goderich township may be due to an exceptionally long flight of the adult moths. The only isolated infestation was found in Pickering township, about twenty miles east of Toronto and bordering Lake Ontario. The collection of larve was made in the town of Pickering. Although the entire township, as well as the neighboring townships were carefully re-scouted, no further collections were taken The nearest infestation to this point is in Lincoln county approximately forty-five miles away. Upon the completion of the scouting season in 1920. a domestic quarantine was placed on the infested area prohibiting the movement of corn stalks, broom corn, green sweet corn, roasting ears, corn on cob and corn cobs from the area placed under embargo. Exception was made, however, to seed corn on the cob consigned to recognized fairs and exhibition, which were inspected immediately upon arrival at destination. This quarantine was amended in May 1921, and three additional amendments were passed during the summer and early fall, quarantining the additional townships found infested. In order to bring the attention of the general public to this embargo, warning notices were placed at the intersection of every road leading out of the quarantined area. In addition, large canvas banners 2/2 feet by 11 feet were stretched across the main automobile highways leading out of the district. ‘Automobiles were stopped and searched on the main highways on Sundays and holidays for evasions of the quarantine. A careful watch was also kept on all markets and fall fairs. It was found that live stock men were in the habit of taking corn stalks as fodder for their live stock exhibits at the larger shows, thus making it necessary to station inspectors at such fairs. Although no direct evidence has been secured as to the origin of the out- break of the European corn borer, this may have been due in Elgin and Middle- sex counties to importations of broom corn from Europe. From correspondence it has been learned that all Canadian broom manufacturers prefer to use broom corn grown on this continent, but in 1909-10 there was apparently a shortage of this product and one firm at least, located in this district, imported large auantities of corn from Central Europe. 1922 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. a THE IMPORTED ONION MAGGOT IN BRITISH COLUMBIA WITH NOTES ON ITS LIFE HISTORY AND CONTROL UNDER “DRY BELT” CONDITIONS. R. C. TREHERNE, DoMINION ENTOMOLOGIST IN CHARGE FOR B.C.. AND M. 1H. RuuMmann, ASSISTANT PROVINCIAL ENTOMOLOGIST. The imported Onion Maggot, Hylemyia antiqua, (Meigen), is known to have been present in British Columbia for many years. William Couper, writing in the 1875 Report of the Ontario Entomological Society, states that this species “is a terrible pest throughout the extent of the Dominion.” Inasmuch as this date was ten years before railway connections were made with the Prairies and only five years after British Columbia entered Confederation, the record is of interest. Dr. James Fletcher in his first Annual Report as Dominion Entomologist in 1884 records the Onion Maggot as having been very injurious in many districts in Canada. His correspondent, Mr. Homer of New Westminster, in this year, how- ever, makes no mention of the Onion Maggot in British Columbia. In the second Annual Report for 1885 the Onion Maggot is dealt with in detail and particular attention is drawn to the serious attacks of this insect in Ontario and Quebec, but no reference is made to British Columbia. In view of the lack of published data, it is possible that this insect did not occur in British Columbia at this early date. This belief is based on the lack of references to British Columbia in Dr, Fletcher’s Annual Reports between the years 1885 and 1903. In the 1904 report, however, we find the first direct suggestion that this insect occurred in British Columbia. It was not until the year ending 1909 that direct proof that this insect occurred in British Columbia was received, according to these same reports. During the past ten years reports of injuries caused by this insect have been common in the humid transitional areas of the Pacific Coastal region, but they have been confined usually to garden and small vegetable plantations. In the arid transitional areas or in the so-called “dry belt” of the province, onion growing on a commercial basis has been in vogue for about eight years, but the first specimens bred to maturity were obtained in 1912. In 1914 this insect had become very injurious and extremely numerous especially in the north end of the Okanagan Valley. The acreage in onions during the past few years comprises between 500 and 800 acres at the two settlements of Vernon and Kelowna. During 1914 and 1915 some growers were literally forced to abandon commercial onion growing and to-day are undecided as to the value of the crop with this insect prevalent in the country. In the year 1917, in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, the demand for information as to the control of this insect became so insistent that the senior author decided that some actiqn was necessary. Consequently in the year 1918, re- view of the literature on this insect under North American conditions was under- taken. A surprising lack of detailed information both as regards the life-history and the control was revealed. The sodium arsenite and molasses bait as a remedial Measure was receiving prominence at the time and while several authors were subjecting this method of control to certain criticisms, the method seemed to possess the weight of authority behind it. We were unable to conduct any material investigations in 1918, owing to the pressure of other duties, but we felt justified in advising our growers to apply the sodium arsenite bait using the open “pie dish” method of application, believing 30 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 this method to be better suited to our low humidity conditions than the broad- casting of the bait in coarse drops across the plantations. Several leading growers adopted this method in 1918, and without exception each one reported a very serious loss by the onion maggot, the poisoned bait apparently having failed to influence the degree of infestation. An average field of three acres, for instance. grown under the ordinary cultural methods and treated with the bait in open “pie dishes” yielded only 900 lbs. when a total crop of sixty tons should have been received. Twenty “pie dishes’ were used to the acre and they were kept continually moist with bait renewals for the best part of six weeks commencing at the time when the seedling onions were three inches high. These results severely tested our faith in the poisoned bait method of control under irrigated conditions, but with no information as to the habits of the fly under such conditions we decided to test the bait more fully in the following years. Hence during 1919, 1920 and 1921. certain life history notes have heen obtained at Vernon, B.C., and we take pleasure in presenting them in summarized form together with further results on control operations. Lire History. The individual egg stage lasted from 3 to 8 days. The number of eggs laid in clusters, evidently the product of an individual female’s deposition during the height of the spring oviposition period, varied from 3 to 27 on seedling onions and from 11 to 59 on volunteer onions, growing from the remains of the previous year’s crop. Solitary eggs were common, clusters of 10 to 15 eggs were frequent. but clusters of 5 to 7 eggs were most usually seen. The most interesting records, which in principle were ordinary, were 59 eggs laid in the soil in a single cluster two inches away from the nearest plant and 39 eggs laid in a cluster on a leaf three inches above the soil surface. The individual larval stage varied from 14 to 29 days, during spring and early summer, while the puparium stage lasted approximately the same length of time. Puparia were usually seen between the roots of the plants during the ~ summer but, later in the season and in stored onions, pupation frequently occurred between the outer fleshy layers of the bulb or beneath loose epidermis. Adult male flies, bred. held and fed in confinement lived from 3 to 13 days and females from 3 to 33 days. Sweeping and breeding records indicated that the sexes were about evenly divided throughout the year. During the past three years the first adults to develop from over-wintering puparia in the field appeared at the same time i.e. between May 10th and May 15th, at the time when the seedling onions were 1 to 1% inches high. In the same three years oviposition commenced in the field between May 16th and May 19th and continued into September or until the crop was harvested. Second generation adults, developing from the spring deposition of eggs first made their appearance under field conditions on July 7th, 1919; on June 29th. 1920, and on June 17th, 1921, and in each year continued to appear until late in August. Second generation eggs, larve and puparia were present in the field shen July, August and September. Third generation adults, developing from eggs laid during the first aa weeks. of July appeared, under field conditions, between August 13th and August 20th and deposited eggs, a few resulting puparia overwintering. hile the studies necessary to prove the existence of the third generation were successfully negotiated, we are unable to give the exact percentage of second generation puparia that produced third generation adults. Suffice it-to say that,. 1922 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 31 in 1920, from material bred in sequence from eggs laid in May and recovered _ during July, 55% of the July second-generation puparia hibernated while 45% _ emerged as third generation adults in mid-August. Second-generation puparia, of course, were being produced during August and September, hence only a fraction of the second generation really produced a third generation. From our records we are able to state, therefore, that two generations are eomplete at Vernon, B.C., while in certain years, a partial third generation occurs. NATURE OF JNJURIEs. While adults were extremely active on the wing on bright sunny days and very sluggish on dull, cloudy days, weather conditions did not seem to affect the rate or degree of oviposition per diem. Eggs were laid most frequently on the strongest growing seedlings in the early spring, and at this time of the year oviposition nearly always occurred at or just below the surface of the soil on or in the vicinity of a plant. After the end of June the leaves and leaf sheaths were most favoured, particularly those of the weaker plants or those previously injured by the first generation larve. Eggs were rarely laid on those plants with the bulb showing and seldom on plants with a prominent ‘neck.’ In the earlier part of the growing season larve hatching from eggs laid on the soil surface enter the plant at the junction of the roots and the forming bulb, presumably finding their way down through the soil and not. so far as we have heen able to determine, entering the plant in the stem and then passing down to the bulb. The larve, after feeding at the base of the bulb, gradually work their way towards the top, causing the plant to decay and wilt. Partly grown larve also migrate from one plant to another in a row and have frequently heen observed entering the stem of the new plant just below the surface of the soil. These larve do not necessarily descend to the roots, although this down- ward movement is usual, but occasionally burrow upwards to the tops, causing the leaves to wilt, leaving a sound and uninjured bulb below. When eggs are laid on the leaves or in the leaf sheaths the larve usually find their way to the bulb as soon after hatching as possible by passing down in- side the sheath. Larve have frequently been taken within the hollow stems from one to six inches above the soil surface, as many as one to sixteen maggots being found at times in a single leaf, but these doubtless have been forced up by the decomposition of the bulb and stem below ground rather than have hatched and lived together in the leaves. Larve, even in small seedling onions, will continue to feed in the plant they are attacking, passing up into the leaf above the soil surface before they migrate to another plant in the same row. In general, this insect causes loss by the direct destruction of seedling onions in the early spring, by the decay or rot of developing bulbs in early summer and by a reduction in weight in the marketable crop as a result of larval feeding which has not been sufficient to cause the death of the plant. CONTROL MEASURES, From records under North American conditions it appears to be conceded that soil treatments with gaseous substances, dry and wet applications to the soil surface and such like treatments are of no value under commercial methods of onion growing. Commercial fertilizers have had the effect of increasing the tonnage and have to some extent enabled plants to withstand an attack. The poisoned bait mixture consisting of sodium arsenite, molasses and water, applied a Th oe i. a ame? > eed 8 eS. HO 32 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 in the form of coarse drops and placed in open “pie-dishes” finds favour in many sections of North America. In such sections this bait is regarded as the most satisfactory commercial control operation, but it must be conceded that even it has not always been successful in preventing infestation. Too much rain during the spring oviposition period or adverse climatic factors are offered as excuses for such failures. Nevertheless, judging from information at our disposal, onion growers, particularly in Eastern Canada and United States, are being advised to use the sodium arsenite bait. Under conditions that prevail at Vernon, B.C. and doubtless applicable to all “dry belt” conditions, we are clearly of the opinion that this bait is of no practical value, possibly owing to the presence of irrigation water in ditches or furrows. This statement is based on four years’ records in its use at Vernon. In 1918, the ordinary “pie dish” method of application was employed and the growers took a decided loss following its use. In 1919, an improved “pie-dish” was devised containing a bait-saturated felt pad over which was arranged an air tight reservoir capable of holding a half gallon of water. The felt pads were thus maintained in a continuous moistened condition for about two months with occasional renewals of water and bait. The same dishes were used in 1920 and 1921 and records on oviposition in baited and non-baited areas were carefully kept each year. No variable weather condition affected these baits and twice-a-week tests of liquids yielded 100% mortality with flies when fed in confinement. Dead flies were also seen in the field, but the simple fact remains that under field conditions results of value were not obtained, and we are now forced to abandon the poisoned bait control measure as a recommendation to growers in the “dry belt” of British Columbia. We have, however, been able to devise another controi operation which judging from results thus far obtained, is more efficient and less expensive. This operation takes advantage of the selective habits of the adults for ovi- position. It was noticed that any volunteer onion growth present in the field invariably attracted the first flies during the May oviposition period and further it was observed that the stronger growing seedling onions, near an irrigation ditch, attracted the adults during June. As pointed out in the life history notes oviposition commences in the middle of May when the onions are only 1% inches high. At this time the volunteer onion growth was four to eight times that of the seedlings. In other words, the volunteer onion growth of May was equal to the seedling onion growth of June and both attracted flies for the pur- pose of oviposition. We learnt, therefore, to recognize the fact that these volunteer onions were a powerful factor in trapping the first generation flies for oviposition and, on developing this idea, we also found out that a great deal depends on the type of erowth produced. We have already mentioned the fact thar in mid-summer, during the flight period of the second generation flies, the weakest plants or those often previously attacked, proved more attractive to the adults than the strong erowing bulbs. This observation, as it applies to the mid-summer habits of the flies also applies to the spring habits as it relates to the type of volunteer onion srowth. In short, the volunteer onion which shows a bulb or “neck” with the leaves arising some distance from the soil was not chosen for oviposition. The type of growth which proved most attractive was produced by a cull bulb in which the leaves grew flaccid and which arose at the ground level. As a matter of experience less than 10% of the volunteer onion growth under normal conditions vielded the most suitable type of growth, but on such plants practically the entire EEE eee 1922 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 33 first generation of flies oviposited. On this information we laid down the following plan which has been followed now for three years on commercial plant- ations of from eight to ten acres and results have been checked against the poisoned bait experiments. At the time the seed is being sown in the main plantation or following the seeding operations, plant a row of cull onions, held over from the previous year’s crop, every 100 feet through the plantation, setting them about four inches deep and about six inches apart in the row. Allow these culls to sprout and grow so that when the seedlings are an inch high, the volunteer growth is 6 to 8 inches. Pull up and burn these volunteers about June 15th or at the time when the greatest number of first generation larvee are present in them and before pupation occurs. Time and space does not allow us to present the data covering this “trap crop” method of control or the records on the poisoned bait measure as obtained at Vernon. B.C.. but we hope at some later time to do so. (A) Showing pallid, sickly appearance of mite-injured plum foliage; (B) Normal plum foliage. (Reduced) NOTES ON THE PLUM SPIDER MITE OR EUROPEAN RED MITE. W. A. Ross aND W. RoBINSON, DOMINION ENNTOMOLOGICAL LABORATORY, VINELAND STA'TION. . The following paper on the Plum Spider Mite is largely based on orchard observations made from 1914 to 1921, and on life history studies conducted during 1921 by the junior writer. History AND DISTRIBUTION. The Plum Spider Mite or European Red Mite (Paratetranychus pilosus Can. and Fanz.) is an European species which doubtless was introduced into Canada on imported nursery stock. It was first noticed in Ontario in 1912 by Caesar (1), 34 THE REPORT OF THE ; No. 36 and this appears to be the earliest record of its appearance in North America. Since then, it has been reported from Pennsylvania and Connecticut (2) and last summer (1921) specimens of the mite were forwarded to us from Vernon, B.C. . The spider mite occurs in all the fruit growing districts of Ontario, but is . especially troublesome in the Niagara district. In view of its wide-spread occur- rence in this province, it appears to the writers that it must have been introduced many years before its discovery, and that it must have a much wider distribution in North America than that recorded in literature. It is highly probable that in many cases P. pilosus has been mistaken for the common red spider 7’. telarius or for the clover mite bryobia pratensis and has been reported under one or the other name. Tiost PLANTS AND NATURE oF LNJURY. We have taken the mite on European and Japanese plums, apple, sour and sweet cherries, pear and peach. According to Caesar, it also occurs on hawthorn, and Garman (3) records its occurrence on rose. The European plum is by far the favourite host plant with apple next and then sour cherry. .In Connecticut the mite has caused severe injury to apples, particularly Baldwin trees, but in _Ontario it has proved to be, so far, only of importance as a pest of European plums. In the Niagara fruit belt, the mite is one of the major pests of the plum orchard. It attacks both surfaces of the leaves and, by means of its mouthparts, punctures the tissues and withdraws the plant juices. At first this results in a speckling of the leaves, due doubtless to the withdrawal of chlorophyll. Later on, if the infestation is severe, all the leaves become pallid, sickly in appearance, tough and largely functionless. From a distance the foliage on badly attacked plum trees looks as if it were coated with road dust. The injury to the leaves naturally robs the trees of vigour, and, when severe, checks the growth of the wood, dwarfs the fruit and retards its ripening. Two years ago the following data (table No. 1), showing the loss in weight and size of fruit and in growth of wood due to mite injury, was secured by comparing the trees in an infested block of plums with those in an uninfested block. The trees were the same age, and were grown under the same conditions, apart from the fact that the uninfested trees had been sprayed with lime sulphur and the others with bordeaux mixture. TABLE No. 1—SHowine LOSS IN WEIGHT AND SIZE OF FRUIT AND IN GROWTH OF Woop Due To Mitre INFESTATION Variety Loss in Weight of Loss in Size of Loss in Terminal Fruit Fruit Growth of Wood Gueii 41.5% 40.3% 23.9% Pond’s 20.6% 24.3% 45.6% Lombard Pap aes 19.1% 22.3% Reine Claude 28.7% 24.8% 85.0% On apple trees, according to Garman, the infested foliage becomes brownish or assumes a dull leaden appearance, and later in the summer many of the leaves drop. The same author reports a marked reduction in the size of the fruit on infested Baldwin trees. Co Ct 1922 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. Lirz History. The Eqq. ’ Description: The egg is flattened spherical in shape, and measures .15 mm to -.16 mm in diameter. When newly laid, it is pearly to pink in colour, and later on becomes a dull dark red. At the apex there is a hair-like process about as long as the diameter of the egg. The overwintering and summer eggs are similar in size, shape and colour. Location: The overwintering eggs are located on the bark anywhere from the tips of the twigs to the trunk, usually on rough bark and in the axles of shoots and spurs. The summer eggs, in the early part of the season, are laid on any part of the upper or lower surface of the leaves and on the petioles. Later on, some of them are deposited on the bud scales and on the bark. Hatching of Overwintering Egqs. The eggs commence to hatch at the time European plums are in full bloom. In the plum orchard (situated near the lake shore) which we had under observation this past season, the period of hatch- ing extended from May 2nd to May 9th. Incubation Period of Summer Eqqs: The period of incubation in our expeti- ments varied according to the temperature, from 13 days in the spring, to 6 days in midsummer. The average for the season was about 9 davs. More precise data on the duration of the egg stage is given in table No. 2: TABLE No. 2—SxHowrine Duration or INCUBATION No of |No of ' Incubation Period Temperature Brood Exp’s | Eggs Time of year Min.| Max.| Aver. |Min.| Max.| Mean Seen 72 |) May 2ardito Janeth |10\|- 13] 10.5 40} 85 61 Pos | st || Tmelghiouysh iev|. sl 75 Ser rer: oe es) | is |) July 11th te July 26th. |e s| 7.0. | eo 91| 77 eee eee iio |) July 30th to Auetofe | S|) bal. 9 Bull Ses) oes Beet a9. |) Aue 24th ta sept. cain | Sle aml 10 de] 2 gziee ceo. Stage of Growth when First Summer Eqgs are Laid: The first generation adults commenced laying eggs about May 25th, or, in other words, at the time the calyces on early varieties of plums were beginning to fall. IMMATURE FORMS, During its growth the spider mite moults three times and thus passes through three immature stages. The newly hatched mite is termed the larva, after the first moult it is the so-called first nymph or protonymph and after the second moult the deutonymph. Description: The larva is oval in shape, sparsely clothed with long bristles delicate, pearly pink to dull red in colour and measur2s about .16 mm by .083 mm. I¢ has only three pairs of legs. The protonymph has four pairs of legs and is somewhat darker in colour than the larva. It measures .198—.270 mm. x .162—.198 mm. The deutonymph in shape and colour resembles the other immature forms, The legs are translucent and sparsely covered with hairs. Like the larva and first nymph, the deutonymph is very delicate and soft-bodied. In size it is .32 mm. —.36 mm x .23 mm. a 36 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 Habits of Immature Forms: The larve and nymphs feed principally on the lower surface of the leaf, generally close to the veins. They may remain feeding in ene spot for several hours. Each moult is preceded by a quiescent period of one or two days during ~ ‘which time the larva or nymph remains attached to the leaf and shows indica- tion of life. Length of Larval-nymphal Period: t our studies this period varied from 17 days in the spring to 7 days in June and July, the average being 10.7 days. Fuller data covering the six generations are shown in Table No. 3. (a) Fellenburg plum severely injured by mite. (Reduced) TABLE No. 3—SHowine Duration OF LARVAL-NYMPHAL PERIOD | Nymphal Period Temperature | JES) eee Brood | No. of} . No. of | Time of year. Min. | Max. | Aver. | Min. | Max. | Mean Exp’s} Nymphs Days | Days | Days : Ist 11 48 May 3rd. to May 21st 16 18 ile 34 75 53 2nd 12 60 June 5th to June 20th 8 11 9 42 ios aae ea 3rd 213 are June 20th to July 13th 1:27 «1| AOU Emel isan oeta laa Ath 12 | 82 july 18th to -Saeacdnee ae 19 isola vse Lot Sven Sean ius (si Ml Aue 7th to Sept. 20th | gna ts pera ie mn ag |e 6th 13 35 Sept. Ist.to Sept. 23rd 11 15 13 48 90 66 bl 1922 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 37 THE ADULT. After the third and final moult the mite reaches the adult stage. Descriptions: The female is oval in shape and rather stout; carmine in colour with dark red to black blotches on the abdomen; and measures .36—.46 mm x 258—.28 mm. The legs are cream to dusky yellow in colour. On the dorsal surface there are 26 setose bristles, each of which is set in a conspicnous white tubercle. The male is considerably smaller than the female and measures about .20 mm. —.28 mm x .14mm—.16 mm. The cephalothorax is pearly pink to reddish with a median crimson eye-spot; the abdomen is dark red to purplish black and the legs are translucent. Egg Laying Actiwities of the Female: In our insectary studies, the female mutes commenced to deposit eggs 2 to 5 days (the average was three days) after reaching maturity. Each female laid from 11 to 90 eggs with an average of 38.6, (table No. 4). The daily rate of deposition per female varied from 1 egg to 12 eggs, and the egg-laying period ranged from 3 to 29 days. (Table No. 5). TABLE No. 4—Ssowine Dairy NuMBER anD TotaL NuMBER oF Haas LAID PER FEMALE No. of; Eggs Laid Daily Total Egy s Laid Time of Temperature Brood iat fo Ne SC ey ee ae Year area airs |"Min. ) Max. | Aver. Min. | Max. | Aver. Min. , Max. , Mean Ist 6 1 12 3 12 39 29 | May 19th to] 38 90 1 June 14th 2nd 7 1 9 4 11 62 42 | June ldthto} 48 98 74 July 14th 3rd 7 1 9 3 41 90 66 | July 7th to 52 95 abe Aug. 6th 4th (i 1 9 3 38 75 52 | July 26th to | 46 92 75 Aug. 30th 5th 7 1 8 3 13 52 31 | Aug. 19th to |. 46 92 60 Sept. 16th 6th 8 al 8 3 5 20 15 | Sept. 14thto} 45 80 |. 58 Sept. 29th Average throughout season: See: 38.6 38 THE REPORT OR TRH No. 36 - Length of Adult Life of Female: As shown in table No. 5, the adult females lived from 6 to 33 days, with an average covering the six generations of 17.7 days. TABLE No. 5-—-SHowine Eaa Layinc PERIOD AND LENGTH OF ADULT LIFE OF FEMALE Egg Laying Period | Length of Life Brood | No. of | Min. | Max. | Aver. | Min. | Max. | Aver. Time of Pairs — Year Min. |Max. | Mean days | days | days | days | days | days Temperature Ist 6 3 13 9 8 25 18 |May19thto| 38 90 61 June 14th 2nd 7 4 20 12 6 25 16 |Junel5thto| 48 98 74 July 14th : 3rd 7 6 24 19 19 27 23. | July 7th to: | +52 95 77 Aug. 6th 4th 7 12 29 19 18 33 24 | July 26thto| 46 92 75 Aug. 30th 5th i 6 17 12 10 29 18 | Aug.19thto} 46 92 50 Sept. 16th 6th 8 g feos |} “9 lage "eso" (Bape. Teh to! 245 ean eee Sept. 29th Average throughout season: 1285 thet (a) Typical Gueii plums from miteinfested trees compared with (b) plums from uninfested Gueii tree. (Reduced) Habits of Male and Length of Adult Life: The males are active, and appear to be engaged most of the time running nimbly over the leaf surface in search of females. They are occasionally found attending quiescent female deutonymphs. In mating, the male crawls under the female, extends his genital parts up- ward and curving slightly forward engages with the female. Several males may gather around a female, and each may in turn mate with her. The male is short-lived. In our studies, the average length of life was 3 days, the maximum 4 days and the minimum 2 days. Pea 2 1922 ; ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 39 Parthenogenesis. In order to determine whether this species is parthenogene- tic, six female deutonymphs were placed in separate cages and were kept isolated during their entire life. Four days after reaching maturity, all the females commenced to lay eggs, and each deposited from 10 to 41 eggs, the average being 25 eggs. All the progeny proved to be males. Proportion of Males to Females: At no time, during the past season, did our observations in various orchards show a preponderance of males over females. Counts made in the orchard at different times gave an average ratio of about 1 male to 10 females. In the insectary, the ratio was 1 to 4. This would indicate that, under normal conditions, most of the females are fertilized. NUMBER OF GENERATIONS. The activities of the mite extended this past year from May 2nd when the over- wintering eggs commenced to hatch, to mid-October, when the last eggs were laid. During this period—51,4 months—a maximum of six (“‘first hatched series”) and a minimum of three generations (“last hatched series”) developed in the insectary. This, of course, means that under our conditions, there are three full generations and three additional partial generations. . OVERLAPPING OF Broops. Except for two weeks in the spring, namely, from May 11th to 25th, when only immature forms were found, all stages from eggs to adults were present in the orchard throughout the season. The overlapping of the different generations is shown in table No. 6. TABLE No. 6—Ssowina Numser, DurRATION AND OVERLAPPING OF GENERATIONS. bleene May | June July Aug. Sept. | Oct. wintes | Fethicwckt Ged oie a Pas Rees | RRP 23 Gen PA aXe lea | le ete (a eee a 3 Gen 3rd Oia PaO! Soe saan dent ewes |i ps2 Petes 14S Be Se Gen 4th Tees ct meee sis tale 1 If ase I pied We ea Gen 5th S0| sa ere Se eee a PAA waters tosis, ob Te Gen. Gthy24ee lear eee 11 US al bea acta ete ta Gen. PeEriop oF MAxIMUM INFESTATION. From the first appearance of the mite in early May until the middle of June, the degree of infestation was very light. However, during the month of July the mites increased marvellously, at this time as many as 800 to 1,200 eggs being found on a single plum leaf. The mites spread throughout the trees and attacked every leaf. From the third week in August to the end of the season their numbers fell even more rapidly than they had increased. The explanation of this is noted under the heading of Natural Control. COMPARATIVE SUSCEPTIBILITY OF VARIETIES OF PLUMs. Notes made on the comparative susceptibility of over fifty varieties of Euro- pean plums are presented herewith in tabular form, 40 THE REPORT OF THE : : No. 36 TABLE No. 7—SHowrna CompARATIVE SUSCEPTIBILITY OF EUROPEAN PLUMS TO Mire Inuury. Severe Moderate Light Very Light Smith Orleans Arch Duke Duane Reine Claude German Prune ‘Victoria Quackenboss Shipper’s Pride Guell Lombard Shropshire Damson Washington Grand Duke McLaughlin |Hand Diamond Pond |Monarch ‘Tennant Prune King Damson Yellow Egg Warner’s Late Moore’s Imperial Gage Latechford French Damson | Kingston Bleeker’s Gage Ancaster [Bradshaw Hulling’s Superb Emerald Fellenburg Riley Damson John A. Belgium Field Pearl Klondyke Early Rivers Moyer Blue Prolific Early Transparent Gage Canada Orleans Hudson Large Golden Prolific | Curlew Sugar Plum Pacific Prune Improved Lombard Wyedale Lawson CONTROL. _ Natural Control. Depletion of Food Supply: The depletion of the food supply was undoubtedly the most important natural check on the multiplication of the spider mite this past season. The leaves of severely attacked trees became tough and dry in mid- summer, and ceased to provide the mites with sufficient nourishment, consequently most of them on such trees perished. Trees, which in July had been infested with countless numbers of mites. became almost free towards the end of August. Thus it happened that the smallest number of overwintering eggs were deposited on the most severely infested trees. Weather: The mites, feeding as they do on the upper and lower surfaces of the foliage, are not afforded very much shelter by the leaves during the storms. Rains wash them off the upper surface, and heavy rains accompanied by strong winds, wash them from the lower surface. Immediately after a heavy rain storm last summer, infested trees were examined and it was found that approxima- tely 90% of the mites had been washed off the upper surface, and approximately 707% from the lower. The eggs, of course, remained attached to the leaves. Predaceous Enemies: In view of the fact that the mite was so very abundant this past season, it was very surprising to find that predaceous enemies were remark- ably scarce. The minute, black ladybird beetle, Stethorus punctum Lec. was found in small numbers feeding on the mites. The well-known two-spotted lady- bird beetle, Adalia bipunctata Linn. was also observed on infested foliage ap- parently attacking the mites. But so far as we could judge, no predaceous enemies had any appreciable effect in reducing the numbers of the spider mite. 1922 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 41 Mortality Due to Location of Overwintering Eggs: In cases where the over- ‘wintering eggs were located a considerable distance from the leaves, for example, near the crotch or on the trunk, it was observed that quite a number of the minute, newly-hatched larve perished before reaching the leaves. Artificial. Lime Sulphur: It is very fortunate that, in order to successfully combat the spider mite on plum trees, it is not necessary to make any special applications or to use any special spray material. Our experiments have shown definitely that the pest can be controlled by spraying twice with commercial Lime Sulphur 1-40, Overwintering eggs on plum twig. X 10. Plum Spider Mite; male and female. X. 10. (Inset) at the times recommended for the control of Brown Rot, Curculio, etc. viz: (i) when the fruit is set and most of the calyces have dropped and (2) two weeks later. Needless to say the spraying must be done very thoroughly. The results secured in a Vineland orchard in 1920 were very striking. One large block of plum trees was sprayed with Lime Sulphur and another adjoining block, with the same varieties in it, was sprayed with Bordeaux mixture. By midsummer the foliage on the trees sprayed with Bordeaux mixture was pallid, largely functionless and stood out in very marked contrast to the healthy, green foliage in the blocks sprayed with Lime Sulphur. 42 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 Sulphur Dust: Preliminary experiments indicate that heavy applications of sulphur dust will control the mite. LITERATURE CITED. 1Caesar, L., Can...Ent. X1LVII, No. 2, pp. 57-58, 1915 2Garman, P. Bulletin 226, pp. 184-189, Conn. Agr. Exp. Sta., 1921. 3Garman, P., Journ. Econ. Ent., 14, pp. 355-358, 1921. INSECTS OF THE SEASON IN ONTARIO. W. A. Ross, DoMINIoN ENTOMOLOGICAL LABORATORY, VINELAND STATION, AND L. CArEsAR, PROVINCIAL ENTOMOLOGIST, O.A.C. GUELPH. OrncHARD INSECTS. Copitinc Motu (Carpocapsa pomonella). The very hot weather throughout July aroused fears that there would be an abnormally large percentage of second brood Jarvee and consequently a much greater amount of injury to apples and pears. Lygus injury on peaches. Note the unsightly scars. Fortunately these fears were not realized to any marked extent, apparently because the weather became comparatively cool in early August and remained moderately cool throughout that month. Pium CurcuLio (Conotrachelus nenuphar). In some localities this pest did much harm, but in most parts of Ontario it was not more troublesome than usual. C1GAR AND Piston CasE-BEAreRS (Coleophora fletcherella and C. malivorella). These two insects, usually considered minor orchard pests, were remarkably abun- dant in the Newcastle district. Almost every apple orchard which had not been well-sprayed the previous year, or which had only received the post-blossom ap- plication, was badly infested. In June many of the trees were almost completely defoliated and what foliage was left was brown and ragged. In one case about 30 acres of Stark trees were so severely damaged that the brown, blighted appearance of the trees was conspicuous a mile away. A cursory examination this fall of af- fected trees indicated that the outbreak was over. Bup Motu (Tmetocera ocellana). In the Newcastle apple orchards, infested with case-bearers, the bud moth was also quite abundant and contributed its share of injury to the foliage. In other parts of the province it was not especially con- spicuous. 1922 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 43 CaNKER Worm Work (FPaleacrita vernata and Alsophila pometaria). The spring canker worm was abundant in several parts of the provinces—notably in Huron and Pell counties. The fall canker worm was also present in large numbers, especially near the southern end of Halton county. It will not be surprising if there are several outbreaks of these insects this coming season. GREEN APPLE Bua (Lygus communis). In last year’s report we stated that this insect had been discovered in a few orchards near Newcastle, and that it had done much harm to pears and apples, especially to the former. This year we con- Peach tree severly attacked by fruit- tree bark-beetles. ducted experiments on the control of the bug in the two worst infested pear and apple orchards. Most of the trees were sprayed with nicotine sulphate, 1 pint to 100 gallons of the regular spray mixture, and the others were dusted with a sulphur contact dust, containing 2% nicotine. High pressure, 225 lbs. was used for liquid applications, and the trees were thoroughly drenched. Most of the spraying and all the dusting was done just after the blossoms fell, but some of the spraying could not be completed until four days later. The results! on all the early sprayed trees were excellent, scarcely a pear and very few apples showing any gréen bug injury. On the later sprayed pear trees, at least 50% of the fruit was injured by the bug. The dust proved to be very unsatisfactory; for instance, practically all the fruit on two rows of pears which were well dusted, was so deformed that it was unsaleable. Fruit Tree Lear Rotter (Tortrix (Cacoecia) argyrospila). This destrue- tive pest, unfortunately difficult to control, seems to be increasing and spreading More widely than in the past. Many fruit growers in the apple growing sections from Whitby to Trenton now consider it the worst insect pest in their orchards. 44 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 Approximately one-half of the crop in an apple orchard near Trenton was dam- aged by the leaf-roller this year. According to the owner, this particular orchard was badly infested about eight years ago, then it became nearly free from the insect. Tur Pium Spiper Mite (Paratetranychus pilosus). There was another severe outbreak of the Plum Spider Mite in the Niagara district, and more plum orchards were injured by it than in any other previous season. ‘To some extent Plum trees injured by leaf’ hoppers. Note the defoliation of the terminal growth. at least, this was undoubtedly due to the fact that, because of the very light crop of plums, many orchards did not receive the regular applications of lime sulphur. The life-history, habits, economic status and control of this pest are dis- cussed elsewhere in this report. Tur Prar Psyiua (Psyllia pyricola). This destructive pest was again very abundant and injurious in pear orchards at Burlington and Queenston and in other parts of the Niagara fruit belt. Oax PLant Buas (Lygus quercalbae and L. omnivagus). In last year’s report we mentioned that in a peach orchard at St. Davids the fruit was quite seriously injured by Lygus quercalbae. This year the same species and another 1922 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 45 plant bug LZ. omnivagus were found in June attacking peaches near St. Catharines. Later on peaches injured by Lygus were observed in fourteen other orchards in the section between Beamsville and St. Davids. In one planting, about 75% of Elberta and St. John peaches were more or less damaged. As one would expect, only orchards close to oak trees were affected. Se It is of interest to note that according to Prof. P. J. Parrott of Geneva, L. quercalbae and L. caryae were taken this year feeding on peaches in New York State. Knight* states that L. quercalbae has been found breeding ouly on white oak (Quercus alba), and that L. omnivagus is most abundant on oaks, particularly Q. alba, Q. rubra, Q. coccinea, Q. prinus and Q. velutina. Knight has also reared specimens from chestnut (Castanea dentata), Cornus florida, C. circinata and Virburnum acerifolium. lL. caryae breeds on various kinds of hickory. Fruit-Tree Bark-Beette (LHecoptogaster rugulosus). In the Niagara fruit belt and in Lambton county this species was decidedly more troublesome than usual on fruit trees, particularly on cherry and peach. In most of the cases we investigated, wood-piles and brush-piles proved to be the source of infestation. During late summer bark beetles were quite commonly found on cherry trees, boring into the spurs, which bear the leaf clusters, causing in this way what some growers referred to as a new “fire-blight.” Similar leaf injury was observed on apples and peaches. OrcHARD APHIDS: Apple aphids, Aphis pomi and A. sorbi caused no ap- preciable injury this year in most orchards. In the Fenwick district, sweet cherries were heavily infested with the black cherry aphis, Myzus cerasi, but in the other fruit growing sections, this species was not especially troublesome. Pear Buster Mite (Lriophyes pyri). We are glad to report that this pest has not increased, as we were afraid it would, to any marked extent. THE RippeD CocooN-MAKkER (Bucculatrir pomifoliella). Last winter the white cocoons of this species were sufficiently abundant and conspicuous on apple trees in a Simcoe orchard to seriously alarm the owner. He, of course, imagined that his trees were infested with a new and dangerous pest. LeAF Hoppers oN Fruit Trees. The outbreak of rose leaf hopper, Zmpoa rosae, referred to in our reports for 1919 and 1920, was to a very large extent brought under control, no doubt by natural agencies, and this year the insect, although common on apples, was of little importance. The apple or potato loaf-hopper, Empoasca mali, was very abundant on apple and plum trees throughout the Niagara district. On apples the feeding activities of the insect caused all the tender foliage on the terminal growth to become curled. In the case of plums the foliage not only became curled, but a leaf-burn, similar to hopper-burn on potatoes, developed, and on badly attacked trees many leaves on the terminal growth fell prematurely. PracH TREE Borer (Sanninoidea exitiosa). More inquiries than usual were received from the Niagara district regarding the control of this borer. Observa- tions made in Lambton county indicate that the borer is much more injurious in that county than in other Ontario peach growing sections. *Bul. 391, Cornell Agr. Exp. Sta., May, 1917. 46 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 GRAPE AND SMALL FRuItT INSEcTs. THE Grape LEAF Hopper (Typhlocyba comes). There was a serious out- break of the grape leaf hopper in the Niagara district, particularly in the section between Grimsby and the Niagara river. During late summer and autumn badly infested vineyards were conspicuous from a distance on account of the brownish, or, as some growers put it, “rusty” condition of the foliage. The severe injury to the leaves naturally affected both the size and quality of the fruit. Agawam grapes.—A. Typical bunch from sprayed vines. B. Typical bunch from hopper-infested vines. As a gerzieral rule, the leaf hopper is only troublesome in the vicinity of wood- lots and waste land, where the fallen leaves, long grass, weeds, etc. afford the insect favorable hibernating quarters, but this year it was abundant and injurious even in vineyards with comparatively clean surroundings. Immense numbers of hoppers went into hibernation in the fall and no doubt, if the winter is favorable for the insect, there will be another outbreak next year. Rosp CHarer (Macrodactylus subspinosus). A severe outbreak of the rose chafer occurred at Fenwick, and in the affected section graperies, which were not sprayed, were completely or almost completely stripped clean of blossoms and newly-set fruit. The chafers were present in the vineyards for some three weeks. There was also a small outbreak of the chafer near Beamsville. SrRAWBERRY LEAF BEETLE (Paria canella). Strawberry leaf beetles occurred in exceptionally large numbers last spring in the Vineland-Jordan district, and attacked and riddled the foliage of strawberries. They also attacked the opening buds of raspberries and in some cases destroyed them. The larvee were commonly - 1922 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. AY found feeding on strawberry roots, and, to some extent on the crowns. However, on account of the prevalence of “black-root” (winter injury) we found it im- possible to gauge the injury caused by the root-worms. Rose chafers feeding on apples. STRAWBERRY WEEVIL (Anthonomus signatus). This pest was again injur- ious in some strawberry fields in the Niagara district. RAspBeRRY SAW-Fiy (Monophadnoides rubi). This insect was very abun- dant in a number of places, notably at Burford, Waterford and Brighton. At Burford several acres of raspberries were nearly defoliated by it. ' A. Grape blossom cluster destroyed by rose chafers, B. Normal blossom cluster. Strawberry leaf beetles feeding on and destroying opening raspberry buds. RASPBERRY CANE Maccor (Phorbia rubivora). Hope the maggot of this fly caused considerable alarm by boring into and killing At Brighton and Port the young raspberry shoots.. It is seldom that injuries from this insect in Ontario are reported. The variety affected was Columbia, 48 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 BLACKBERRY LEAF MINER (Metallus bethunei). This miner was abundant in most of the blackberry patches in the Niagara and Burlington districts. We regret to report that all our efforts to discover a satisfactory method of controlling this pest have so far met with failure. VEGETABLE INSECTS CapBaGE Maacor (Phorbia brassicae). There was about the usual amount of cabbage maggot injury in the early part of the season. The very hot weather in the first part of July apparently had the effect of reducing the insect to insignificant numbers, because from that time to about the first of October scarcely a fly could be found. CABBAGE Worms (Pieris rapae and Autographa brassicae). The cabbage worm was apparently not more injurious than it is in the average season, but the cabbage looper was unusually abundant, at least in the Niagara district on cabbage, cauliflower and turnips. In a turnip field at Jordan Harbor, the looper practically stripped off all the leaves. Turnips nearly defoliated by cabbage looper. THE CappacGe APHIS (Aphis brassicae). This plant louse was quite abun- dant and injurious in the Niagara and Burlington districts. Onion TuHrips (Thrips tabaci). The thrips was again injurious in the onion growing sections of southern Ontario. THE Corn Ear Worm (Heliothis obsoleta). There was a remarkable out- break of the corn ear worm in Ontario, undoubtedly the worst outbreak of this insect that has ever occurred in the province. From almost every part of the province, even from Port Arthur and Northern Muskoka, the same story came that practically every ear of the late corn was infested with caterpillars. In certain districts, canning factories were closed down because there was not sufficient uninjured corn to keep them going. At Port Dover, Simcoe and Vineland, the ear worm was found on greenhouse tomatoes, boring into the fruit, and in this way making it absolutely unfit for consumption. THe Streep CucumBer BEETLE (Diabrotica vittata). This species was abundant and injuriéus in the Niagara district. 1922 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 49 THE Brown Fruir CHarer (Muphoria inda). For the first time in our experience, this insect was commonly found in different parts of southern Ontario attacking the ears of sweet corn. Enquiries regarding its economic status were received from the Niagara fruit district, Norfolk county, Burlington, Clarkson and St. Thomas. The insect was also found, as it has been in previous years, feeding on ripe fruit, particularly on peaches and pears. Bean WeeEviL (Bruchus obtectus). In June living specimens of this weevil were received from Ford, Ontario, where they were causing considerable damage to beans. Mention of this is made because injuries from the weevil are seldom reported. Curworms: Cutworms were again very destructive in the Niagara district. At Port Dalhousie asparagus was badly injured by them. ASPARAGUS BEETLE (Crioceris asparagi). Judging by the reports we received, this beetle was more troublesome than usual. A grower at Queenston had splen- did success in controlling the beetle in his large asparagus fields by dusting with arsenate of lime and hydrated lime. A power potato-duster was used in making the applications. Potato Insects: The potato leaf hopper (Hmpoasca mali) was undoubt- edly the most important pest of potatoes this year. Experiments and field observ- ations indicated that practically all the so-called blighting of early potatoes, in the Niagara district at least, was caused by the hopper. It is very fortunate that thorough applications of poisoned bordeaux mixture will control most of the major fungus and insect pests of the potato, including the’ leaf hopper. The potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) and potato flea-beetle (Hpitrix cucumeris, were abundant in most parts of the province. In the Niagara pen- insula the three-lined beetle (Lema trilineata) was common on potatoes. GREENHOUSE INSECTS. THE Rose Mince (Dasyneura rhodophaga). It is very gratifying to find that ‘the tobacco dust treatment (see last year’s report) will wholly eradicate this pest. In the two large greenhouse establishments at Grimsby no maggots have been found since the rose beds were treated in 1920. THE CHRYSANTHEMUM MidcE (Diarthronomyia hypogaea). We are pleased to report that experience has shown us that this pest can be eradicated by spray- ing with nicotine and soap every second day for a period of about six weeks. THE CYcLaMEN MITE (Tarsonemus pallidus). This mite was again decidedly troublesome in Ontario greenhouses, and on account of its depredations, great difficulty was experienced in growing cyclamens successfully. Conflicting reports have been received regarding the efficacy of systematic spraying with a nicotine- soap solution as a means of controlling the mite. EartHworms: Last September there was a veritable plague of earthworms in the rose beds of a iarge greenhouse at Grimsby. The earth was literally alive with worms; the manure disappeared rapidly; the soil lost its friability and be- came lumpy, porous and somewhat “sticky”; and the worms apparently disturbed the roots of the roses. At our suggestion the beds were given a very light dressing of hydrated lime. and the lime was then washed in. This treatment was successful; it destroyed most of the worms and at the same time caused no injury to the rose plants. 50 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 ForEST AND SHADE TREES. CANKER Worms (Alsophila pometaria and Paleacrita vernata). The preval- ence of these worms has already been mentioned under orchard insects. BircH LEAF SKELETONIZER (Bucculatrix canadensisella). Last year the work of this small caterpillar was very conspicuous in the Eastern part of the province. This year it was conspicuous in forests between Galt and London where in September the brown appearance of the birch foliage was very notice- able. Oak Twia Pruner (Hlaphidion villosum). In the Muskoka district great numbers of dead twigs and branches, killed by this insect, were everywhere to be | seen. ImporTED PopLAR AND WILLOW CurcuLIo (Cryptorhynchus lapathi). This destructive insect has now spread almost everywhere through the province and has destroyed great numbers of native willows and poplars. ‘Considerable damage has also been done to ‘Carolina poplars set out for shade or ornamental purposes. THE CABBAGE MAGGOT (Phorbia brassicae Bouche). L. CAESAR, ONTARIO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, GUELPH. This paper is a brief statement of some of the more interesting results obtained from a study of the cabbage maggot during the four years, 1918 to 1921. These are as follows :— There was no evidence to indicate that the insect winters in any other way than as a puparium in the soil or occasionally in the stumps of cabbage, cauli- flower or other similar plants. Adults from these puparia begin to emerge in April or May and _ the great majority are out by the end of May, a few, however, continue to emerge over a long period—in 1918 up to the end of August, in 1919 and 1920 to the middle of July and in 1921 to the 21st of June. Later broods have also a pro- longed emergence period. The shortest preoviposition period in our cages was a little over four days. Fifty per cent. of the flies that oviposited in the cages did so inside of six days. There is considerable evidence to indicate that in the field the preoviposition period may be as short as two days. This would not be at all surprising since we know that females can mature eggs at the rate of 20 or 30 a day. The largest number of eggs laid by any one fly was 117. These were deposited on six different days over a period of nine days—June 17th to June 25th. Another fly laid 103 eggs as follows:—May 28th, 51, May 29th, 29, May 30th, 23. Thus it is evident that egg laying may continue over a considerable period: and that 20 or more eggs may be deposited each day. It would, therefore, not be surprising if at least some individuals laid 200 eggs or more. The length of life of the flies is apparently, as Schoene suggested, three weeks or more. In cages situated in the north-east corner of pine woods males of the first brood averaged 19.1 days and of the second brood 16.6 days: females of the first brood 22.7 days and of the second brood 22 days. No fly was in any case seen to lay eggs where these would be exposed to the sunlicht but always in the shade. / The shortest incubation period for the eggs was slightly under 48 hours, 2% out of a total of 475, or 4.6 per cent. hatching in this time. In 1918 the average ..- 50 Cucumber beetle, striped .......... 48 (CHEE ADELIOANSE Sook eco La ee 49 COVCIETONGI O01 Re eae ie ie ne 49 Dasyneura rhodophaga ............ 49 PPT OMOULCO NS ULELOLD: sie barns. oes bec ee ne 48 Diarthronomyia hypogwa .......... 49 Loa iiet TE OTHE ES eee eae ee 49 HWECOBLOGUSLET, TUGUWIOSUS- 2.0.2... 3 45 ECR AULONM ULILOSUIM: soos as ceed eens 50 EPI IE METZO SOEs ak sive oS ova Searc dava aie ae 45 ETT OOSGM WUGUL. cia 2% ods Wesel ela ota e alt als 45, 49 GT EMMCICUNUCTUS) cists aie sn dinctiwa oe ee 49 OPUS] YT nc cl e.t > eade ey eiseiae s eee 45 Eupelmus allynii French .......... 19 ETE OUOMNILOG. oiditeuaiar ete mrelekss ole t oreteie s 49 [DTA IOTGS CA Paes Aa ee 19 Fruit-tree bark-beetle .............. 45 Henipetree leat Toller. .25 3. ...6. 606%. 3 ECCMID LC MOUS a iirc sieietere vo cee c 0 oe eye 43 ENCLEOHILU ST OUSOLCLG. - ok eitetelsie ts) oo 2! 22 48 EIULENUYUG ANLIGUE 2. bocce tis oss vee 29 Imported poplar & willow curculio .. 50 Insects of the Season in Ontario .. 42 Insects of the Year, Reports on .... 12 June-bugs Sana) sr elie Sle is.s 6 Bele 0 8.6 o1 6) 6 ere 0 LEGERNOSCERICOMUSGUD) ieicksis tele) sis ichenetetne 13 Lady-bird beetle. minute black 40 Lady-bird beetle, two-spotted ...... 40 Leaf- hopper, apple OAS eae Ate 45 SEANC. Rae cers cui ees 46 potatovwAay eee 45, 49 = TOSOY ae ee ee eae 45 LeMG, Crime acd Pee eee 49 Leptinotarsa decemlineata .......:. 49 LGUCONUS AUG. Tae ie eke 12 LY COCNG MACON. serie eee 12 LY GUS CORYME? 3:05 ae hoo 45 AGUS CONUNUILIVIST: se aie ete ee 43 EY OASHOMERCOUOT V7. ites on ee ee 44 LY GUSMONENTUGGIUS Weciaa se -iareerne 44 Macrodactylus subspinosus ......... 46 May=peectleSitacsacicmea es oe a ee 13 Mead owaebritillaryinee:s cri cele 2 ote 12 IMICTOUTUSROCTIVUIVC Aa ooo ae eee 48 MACE OUT UCONN Mere ate es Nore ce eee 19 Microbracon cephi Gahan .......... 19 Monarch putteriiiesh eee... 44 5-0. 4 1, Monophadnoides rubi .............. 47 May2r se COGS Bh loo oie < aa 45 Oak plant: Duss 222 eee ee ewes 44 Oak twas pruners ener ccs ae ace 50 Onion Masesot. Woes 2 tes noe ee 2 Onion maggot in B.C., imported 29 Onion thrips, .ceya tee celeron 48 OrchardMaphids aa se aces 45 POLECOCTILASDETILALO ee ieee ee ieee Ae Bill Pale Western Cutworm ~-:25.--..- 13 PED UO MUUTIVUS ae No eats er tear 12 PararernanyCnius PilOSUs 222-2 33, 44 POTiGsCANelia: 4 lea ee ee 46 iPeachwtree, borer, Sacra jc eee 45 Pearsplistemmmite aon. <4 ce tene eee 45 (PearcpSsydllae vicpelmote cbs «oe cae 43 Phorbia brassice Bouche .......... 50 BROROLAATNOLUOTU see eee 7 PRCTIUSIF EDO. oo 05 cal oe 48 Pistolm@ase-pearers, see cee eee 42 Pleurotropis utahensis Cratd. ...... ites Phim Curculioysc eae eee Lee 42 Pinm Spider Mites wees ane econ Potato: beetle: cea ac erate 49 Potato ‘flea-bectlewmsancmeen eee a. 49 Porosagrotis orthogonia Morr. ..... 13 SULLY DUGLGOLG metres eh ele= 34 Pyrausta, niovlanis, TMbDS =... = 22 Rasberry cane umareobe ee. oa 47 Rasbenryvercaweallive b.tech ee ec 47 RedevMiter(@buropean))) sss si see oe 33 Ribbed’ i@ocoon-makcer’ 72 .....-:-+5-- 45 LEXOR(SV (OIE HTSNey sey rea Chae Epok eco}, 46 EUOSG MIMIC Ce rrsnsrotecanant aries tok ree 49 SOMMUILOVUCD MCLULUOSO) ses ae eects 45 Sia SAM DECU OSes ne sien cote a ota, shel clone Ceapeete ne Stethorus punctum Wee. ............ 40) Strawberry leaf beetle .............. 46 StrawDerny, WeEeVIl- 2a. 5. settee 47 Tarsonemus pallidus .........-.--- 49 EREUDS NCUOGGE cis sean ats Pes Ole wai tT 48 Micer iswallowtalls, 22/0. een es 12 MECOCET. A OCCULANG snide eter 42 Tortrix (Cacascia) argyrospila .... 3 TyMilOCyOd. CONVES ‘rrcreersiete hereto 46 Western Wheat-stem Sawfly ....... 18 1" Ontario Department of Agriculture ] | | | Fifty- Third Annual Report OF THE IENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO 1922 | PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO TORONTO: Printed by CLARKSON W. JAMES, Printer to the King’s Most Excellent Majesty 1923 ie Pe we ANS Ontario Department of Agriculture Fifty- Third Annual Report OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO 2 PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO TORONTO: Published by CLARKSON W. JAMES, Printer to the King’s Most Excellent Majesty 1923 CONTENTS PAGE OFFICERS FOR. 1922-23 sinc RIS Hehe ew ye a I SNC a oS ee 4 FINANCIAL, STATEMENT. |e: 2 cots os ee oa ore new nee ie cheap cures pe Sant ek) ek ea Ba IANNUAL, MEETING. © 5 352 Seco eats Sie owe Se sae fe SE See NT sce 5 Report. of the Council cae olen es shag ote ante a eee ae 5 Report. of the Maritime Branch. -¢ :2 154227. soe a o2 eo tls a ee ee ee 6 Report of the: Montreal- Branch.’ 22...) 2 bce wie wo nm See se oe ee 7 Report of the Toronto: Branch®2,.\.\52. 2 4. De. Seats ates ae oer ee ge 8 Report of the Bratish Columbia. Branch: .. 2.6 .c2G5 520 J... 5 ts ke es 8 Report of the Entomological Society of British Columbia...............-...-+--- 9 Report on Insects of the year, Division No. 3: A. COSENS...............-2--5005 10 Distribution of the European Corn Borer in Ontario during the Summer of 1922: Ts Se MGLAING Sa.do Santee See oe Bee eae certs Fae cca Re ents es oe see 10 Ploughing as a Factor in the Control of the European Corn Borer in Ontario: H. G. (CRA WEORD o°: $sug 55 0% castes oe ee ele eg, Mee Fe Baia Rage oe ctral et ey Oh aco eee 13 Further Notes on the Life History of the European Corn Borer in Ontario: G. SPENCER: i5.caco slender IOS BINGE Ve Site DEE elas, Ele e petus aC EOD koe een a 18 DISCUSSIOM eye o5 S55 a nics Bb sas wns be os Ries tact alltaa, ee Sy Se as She Re 25 Economic Importance of Insects as Food for the Common Whitefish: W.A. CLEMENS 26 Provancher, The Canadian Linnaeus—His Life and Works: G. MAHEUX.......... 28 Relation of the Biological and Taxonomic Studies in Syrphidae: C.H. CURRAN.... 30 Insects of the Season in Ontario: L. CAESAR and W. A. Ross.................... 33 Notes on Franki:niglla tring Fitch: R. C. PREBERNE:.......0.....2--+-0sceeeee 39 Notes on the Biology of Two Buprestids infesting Blackberry and Hazel: C. G. ELUTCHINGS: 6 yiesse oe Se ie eon ee ee Rye es: 43 Insects of the:Season.in Quebec in 1922: (G. MAHEUK.. 22.22: .2. 50-2. = oe 46 The Feather: Mite—A New Pestof Poultry<. LO CAESAR, .222 522 oe 2 eee 47 The Grape Leaf-Hopper: W. A: Ross and W. ROBINSON... .22..:..----1-o=- re 48 Mechanical Devices as Aids in the Control of the Strawberry Root Weevil: W. BD OWINES }5.5ico 25) Silene Se des ae ee ae eco ee 61 Recent Work on the Rose Chafer in Ontario: W.A. Ross and J. A. HALL......... 64 Oviposition of Hypera punctata: H.F. Hupson and A. A. WooD................- 70 The Sunflower Maggot (Straussia longipennis Wied.): J. E. BRINK.............-. 72 Notes on the Seed Potato Maggot (Hylemyia trichodactyla Rond.): G.H. HAMMOND 74 The Entomological Record, 1922: N.CrmppLeE and C. H. CURRAN.............-. 76 | 5S) D>. Coe an eR er re ce ae Mout Nok coeds Coon oGoabaSsf2¢ 91 [2] To His Honour HENRY CocksuHutTtT, Esq@., Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Ontario. May IT PLEASE YouR HONOUR: I have the honour to present herewith for your consideration the Report of the Entomological Society for 1922. Respectfully submitted, MANNING W. DOHERTY, Minister of Agriculture. Toronto, 1923. Entomological Society of Ontario OFFICERS FOR 1922-23 President—Mr. F. J. A. Morris, M.A., Peterborough. x Vice-President—Dr. J. M. SwWAINnE, Entomological Branch, Ottawa. Secretary-Treasurer—Pror. A. W. BAKER, B.S.A., O. A. College, Guelph. Curator and Librarian—Mnr. J. A. FLocxk, O. A. College, Guelph. Directors—Division No. 1, Dr. J. M. SWAINE, Entomological Branch, Dept. of Agriculture, Ottawa; Division No. 2, Mr. C. E. Grant, Orillia; Division No. 3, Dr. A. CosEns, Toronto; Division No. 4, Mr. F. J. A. Morris, Peterborough; Division No. 5, Dr. J. D. DETWILER, Western University, London; Division No. 6, Mr. J. F. Hupson, Strathroy; Division No. 7, Mr. W. A. Ross, Vineland Station. Directors (ex-Presidents of the Society)—REv. Pror. C. J. S. BETHUNE, M.A., D.C.L., F.R.S.C., Toronto; Pror. JOHN DEARNEss, Vice-Principal, Normal School, London; PRor. Wma. Locuueap, B.A., M.S., Macdonald College, Que.; JoHN D. Evans, C.E., Trenton; PRoF. E. M. Wacker, B.A., M.B., F.R.C.S., University of Toronto; Mr. ALBERT F. WINN, West- mount, Que.; Pror. Lawson Caesar, M.A., B.S.A., O. A. College, Guelph; ArTHUR GIBSON, F.E.S., F.E.S.A., F.R.S.C., Dominion Entomologist, Ottawa. Editor of ‘‘The Canadian Entomologist’'—Dr. J. McDuNNovuGuH, Entomological Branch, Ottawa. Delegate to the Reyal Society of Canada—THE PRESIDENT. FINANCIAL STATEMENT For THE YEAR ENDING OCTOBER 3ist, 1922. Receipts. Expenditures. Cashion dands Ooty eee eee $55 25 Printing. .c.02 2. ocen 2 $1,284 28 SMDSchiplLiOnss -Y.. 5. oe os eae 442 25 EXpenSes.. ano ee eeer Beet 65:37 Miembexs’ Dues:.. sires ee eee 82 50 Cuts. 2503 see ee eee 66 97 Advertisements: 2.7... 2 lee eee 54 65 Salaries\ (arrears) .90. o47-eee eee 200 00 BackoNumbers: 22 -bi< sae Cee Sih aii AnnualReport: < 5-2... ae eee 25 00 Banke Interest: |. 2s fas: ose 45 Insurance! 32.) .5.5266 00 222 See 36 00 exchange se er. seat ee ee 15 Exchanges (as 9: 2895. Ga 4 76 USS ARE SiGe st ee eee £1191 Balance Cash on Hand.......... 384 39 Contributionsts.. © iu vate eee 137 15 ; Wifes Membersass {2 6. vac ee lveoene 175, 15 Government Grant... 2.5 #5. 020 1,000 00 $2,066 77 $2,066 77 Accounts Receivable. Accounts Payable. dVeRpISiien- (4 tease ccc. oo ais $338 17 Printing: 0) 3.6) 3 ja oe $460 00 Backs Nimibersess o5c5). cle gece cies 8 10 Salaty.i23 ss Fda es eee 100 00 Cashronshiandnese ayaa. yerieice 384 39 $730 66 $560 00 By Accounts Receivable......... $730 66 To Accountssbayablesey. os. «:. 2s 560 00 WetiBalance: sari ete '- $170 66 AL ns Jk ASELOCK, Respectfully submitted, Auditors - CAESAR. A. W. BAKER, Secretary-Treasurer. [4] Entomological Society of Ontario ANNUAL MEETING The Fifty-ninth Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of Ontario was held at the Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph, on Friday and Saturday, November 24th and 25th. The general meetings of the society were held in the lecture room of the Department of Entomology. On Friday evening a dinner was held in the College cafeteria, after which the members and visitors adjourned to the Common Room of Mills Hall for a smoker and social evening, when the President, Mr. Morris, read an interesting paper on a collecting trip to Rondeau Park and Point Pelee. Among the members present were: Mr. N. K. Bigelow, Toronto, Ont.; Messrs. A. Gibson, L.S. McLaine, R. C. Treherne, H. G. Crawford, C. Hutchings, Dominion Entomological Branch, Ottawa, Ont.; Profs. L. Caesar, A. W. Baker and Mr. G. J. Spencer, Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph, Ont.; Mr. F. J. A. Morris, Peterborough, Ont.; Mr. W. E. Biggar, Hamilton, Ont.; Mr. J. A. Hall, Guelph, Ont.; Father Leopold, La Trappe, Que.; and the following officers of the Dominion Entomological Branch: Messrs. W. A. Ross, Vineland Station, Ont.; H. F. Hudson, Strathroy, Ont. The officers of the society were re-elected save that Mr. J. A. Flock was elected curator in place of Mr. Spencer. REPORT; OF (aE -COUNEIL The Council of the Entomological Society of Ontario begs to present its report for the year 1921-1922. The Fifty-eighth Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of Ontario was held at the University of Toronto during the week of December the twenty- eighth. The meeting was held at this time in order that our members might have an opportunity of meeting with the members of the Entomological Society of America and of the American Association of Economic Entomologists. Many members of the society were present from the various provinces of the Dominion and from the United States. The meetings were also well attended by members of the Entomological Society of America, the American Association of Economic Entomologists and others. On Wednesday afternoon a meeting was held with the Entomological Society of America in Room 10, Medical Building. The following papers were contributed by members of the two societies: “Algonquin Days,” F. J. A. Morris, Peterborough, Ontario; ‘‘Hatching in Three Species of Neuroptera,” Roger C. Smith, Kansas State Agricultural College; ‘‘Ecdysis in Tmetocera Ocellana,’’ S. W. Frost, Arendtsville, Pa; ‘‘Cocoon Spinning by Species of Bucculatrix,’”” O. A. Johannsen, Cornell University; “The Ventral Pro-thoracic Gland of the Red-humped Apple Caterpillar (Schz- zura Concinna)’’ J. D. Detwiler, Western University; ‘‘Observations on a New Species of Chrysops from Central New York,’ Raymond C. Shannon, Cornell University; ““Are there Two Species of the Oyster Shell Scale?’’ Grace H. Gris- wold, Cornell University; ‘‘A Classification of the Larvae of Tenthredinoidea,”’ H. Yuasa, University of Illinois; ‘The Phylogeny of the Gall Mites and a New [S] Be _ eee 6 THE REPORT OF BoE No. 36 Classification of the Suborder Prostigmata of the Order Acrina,’’ H. E. Ewing, United States National Museum; ‘‘The Syrphid Genera Hammerschmidtia and Brachyopa in Canada,’’ C. Howard Curran, Orillia, Ontario; ‘“Taxonomic Results From a Study of the Genitalia of Male Syrphide,’’ C. L. Metcalf, University of Illinois; ‘Report of the Lepidoptera of the Cornell Expedition of 1919-1920,” Wm. T. M. Forbes, Cornell University; ““An Extreme Case of Delayed Fall Emergence of Hessian Fly (Phytophaga destructor),’’ W. H. Larrimer, United States Bureau of Entomology; ‘Importance of Insects in the Food of the Brook — Trout,’ W. A. Clemens, University of Toronto; “The effects of Vitamines on the Growth of Ephestia Kuehniella in Wheat Flour,’’ Charles H. Richardson, United States Bureau of Entomology. On Friday afternoon the society met with the American Association of Economic Entomologists when the following programme was delivered: “One Year of the Crop Protection Institute,” W. C. O’Kane, Durham, N. H.; ‘Poisoned Molasses for the Destruction of Noctuid Moths,” E. C. Strick- land, Ottawa, Canada; ‘‘The Western Wheat Stem Sawfly in Canada,’’ Norman Criddle, Treesbank, Manitoba; ‘‘Progress in Hessian Fly Control,’’ H. A. Gossard, Wooster, Ohio, and T. H. Parks, Columbus, Ohio; ‘European Corn Borer— Life History in Ontario,” H. G. Crawford, Ottawa, Canada; ‘“‘European Corn Borer—FPresent Distribution in Ontario,’ L. S. McLaine, Ottawa, Canada; “European Corn Borer; Control Under Ontario Conditions,” G. J. Spencer, Guelph, Ontario; ‘“The Corn Borer Problem in New York State,” E. P. Felt, Albany, N.Y.; ‘“Chemotropism of Chinch Bug,’’ H. Yuasa, Urbana, IIl; “Obser- vations on Insects Attacking Sorghums,’’ Wm. P. Hayes, Manhattan, Kansas; “The Onion Maggot in British Columbia Under Irrigated Conditions,” R. C. Treherne, Ottawa; ‘“The Cabbage Root Maggot,” L. Caesar, Guelph, Canada; ‘“‘A Forest Insect Survey From the Air,” J. M. Swaine, Ottawa, Canada; “Forest Sample Plot Studies in a Spruce Budworm Outbreak,” F. C. Craighead, Ottawa, Canada; “The Life History, Habits and Tnjusics of the Maple Case-bearer,”’ Glenn W. Herrick, Ithaca, N.Y. On Friday evening, an Entomologists’ png: was held at the Prince George Hotel under the gies of the American Association of Economic Entomologists. Many members of our society —o the kind invitation of this society to be present. The Canadian Entomologist, the official organ of the society completed its fifty-third volume in December last. The volume contained 342 pages, illu- strated by seventeen full page plates and nineteen original figures. The contri- butors to these pages numbered fifty-three and included writers in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, New Brunswick, sixteen of the United States, South Africa and New Zealand. Six papers were published during the year on popular and practical entomology. REPORT OF THE MARIFIME BRANCH The Eighth Annual Meeting of the Acadian Entomological Society was held in Amherst, N.S., on Thursday, December 14th, 1922. In the absence of the President, the Vice-President, Dr. Brittain, occupied the chair. A short business meeting was held and last year’s officers were all re-elected as follows: LONOTOTVER LESTMETE EN eee ty ear is eae eee Dr. A. H. McKay, Halifax, N.S. PESTAENE renee ig oe ae a Mr. Wn. McIntosu, St. John, N.B. Vice-President a: (Aa. Bae eae Dr. W. H. Britratn, Truro, N.S. SééretiryRTeaSUnerseen. ore oe ee Mr. A. B. Bairp, Fredericton, N.B. A sststant Secretary stereos as ation 1 oe Oe eee Mr. W. E. WHITEHEAD, Truro, N.S. Member of (Council age stesso. BO ee ee Dr. Epona MosHER, Kempt Shore, N.S. 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAT SOCIETY. | The remainder of the day was devoted to the discussion of entomological problems and the reading of the following papers: Some Notes on Entomophthora sphaerosperma, a Fungal Parasite of the Apple Sucker—A. G. DustaNn, Entomological Laboratory, Fredericton, N.B. Some Notes on the Natural Control of the Pine Bark Aphid in New Brunswick—A. H. McAnprews, Entomological Laboratory, Fredericton, N.B. Insect Pests of the Year in Nova Scotia—Pror. W. H. BRITTAIN, College of Agriculture, Truro, Insect Pests of the Year in New Brunswick—R. P. GorHam, Entomological Laboratory, Fred- ericton, N.B. The Results of Further Experiments on the Control of the Cabbage Maggot—Pror. W. H. BRITTAIN, Truro, N.S. Sulphur Dust as an Insecticide—A. KELSALL, Entomological Laboratory, Annapolis, N.S. Some General Results of Natural Control Studiesin Canada, Applying Particularly to the Spruce Budworm, Forest Tent Caterpillar and Larch Sawfly—Dr. J. D. Toruitit, Entomological Laboratory, Fredericton, N.B. The Use of Aluminium Sulphate in Place of Copper Sulphate in Insecticide-Fungicide Combina- tions—A. KELSALL, Annapolis, N.S. Some Notes on the Larch Sawfly and Larch Case Bearer and Their Natural Control in New Brunswick—A. B. Barrp, Entomological Laboratory, Fredericton, N.B. Since our last report was presented we have published the seventh number of our ‘“‘Proceedings’”’ which comprises some 88 pages and includes all the papers presented at our last annual meeting. An informal field meeting of the Society was held at Wolfville, N.S., on Friday, August 11th. Our membership remains about the same from year to year, twenty-four paid-up members being now on our list. A. B. Batrp, Secretary-Treasurer. REPORT OF THE. MONTREAL BRANCH The Forty-ninth Annual Meeting was held on May 13th, 1922, in the Lyman Entomological Room, Redpath Museum, McGill University. Eight meetings were held during the season with an average attendance of nine. The following papers and talks were given: Sioreite tein oide ot Butomology <<“. 2.20. hoe bye egy epee es Rots ales hee ed A. F. WINN. Rupeeeebind Catching a Green Veined White: 5. ./00....0...608-5. 50002. J. W. BUCKLE. Early Anjearance of Some of Our Common Butterflies ................0. J. W. BUCKLE. MimumomrelowebuttertlyAcesigi tote. jose. sink peeks Rw Razed A. F. WINN. Ran CEO OLMIS ee A ie RAs td et Aa Se ete gains Nu, WINN: MucmAeniMreLons Gents, IerceOCOriS: sss. he. eke ee cess ce cee tow on Gro. A. Moore. Pinna ae,Hemale of(C! Philodices: 2). 22%. Cu tone A. F. WINN. Hemiptera-Homoptera Taken at Peaks Is., Me., 1921................0... Gro. A. MOORE. Notes on the Gypsy Moth at Portland, iat 4 eo eee te oa A. F. WINN. Report of the Seventy-fourth Meeting of the American Association for the PEANG EM CUES Olt OCLeNCe sno. ti: Schr. nee da nde ae ee ea oe eae Dr. CORCORAN. = re) Lave aya Nein Gh ates Sheet Sk ae ge Ne Oe vee hier: 2 ae ne yey A. F. WINN. Mesewedre Githe- jungle,” by, Beebes¢ cf s.c acces cs tigen 2 hy crete od od tes Gro. A. Moore. fae White Border of Euvanessa Antiopa Lf... 62040. eee ol od A. F. WINN. The Cicadellidae Taken at Peaks Is., Me.; 1918-1920. :.2..22..0.-200505.- Gero. A. Moore. PeEMaPeSONE SK WOE LArVAG. «\-. kaos oe Ao ewe treks ccgeyips es wie ces « T. C. BAINEs. The Treasurer reported a balance on hand of $165.27. The following were elected officers: NEN LET LE a yee ot Bice cs Os Ee tes Ee Pon. ud A. F. WINN. OT be PLA RSET leks HES Se ela oe FA PEM 101 COED Od Rea G. CHAGNON. PTD APE SIUIC NIN Rs a,b 5 6s = 2 sb. oF OO, OF NL, WA a Geo. A. Moore. ca NESEY Cie G10 teppei Ais ee) Lent Oa Se eee ee J. W. BucKLeE. DEUCE, SR Seo A, bo as ee re Dr. Corcoran, E. H. HAti, A. C. SHEPPARD. GEO. A. Moore, Secretary. 8 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE TORONTO BRANCH FOR 1921-1922 The Twenty-sixth Annual Meeting of the Toronto Branch was held in the Biological Building on October 18, 1922. The report of the council showed that during the past season eight regular meetings were held at which there was an average attendance of fourteen persons. The following papers and addresses were given: A-Trip tothe Rocky Mountains. 2 2c. . ches. oct seein eee ee ee Pror. E. M. WALKER. INIDIBOM..... oe sere eee ee OE esta ae Ge ee Dr. W. A. CLEMENS. Rambling by the’GrandiRiver.. eo. ae a wees eee ate ee ae Miss Mary PETTIGREW. Education and Tnstinct: yes. Aland. ee Geo ae easier A ee eae Mr. C. W. Nasa. he Free Warval Chamber Gall. cyn.' oe ea eee eed eee eee Dr. A. COSENS. The Wasps‘of the Nipivom Region... 4.0 oe ass Soe ae eet ae ae ee Mr. S. LoGIErR. Arctic" Botterfiresyt 52 ieee oor ca aks coders Site eo eee ote aoe ere ae Pror. E. M. WALKER. Syrphidae in the Collection of the Royal Ontario Museum............. Mr. N. K. BIGELow. An interestineAnt trom: MiUSkokd eo cece. ee ee ee Mr. S. LociEr. The Planidium Stage of Parasitic Hymenoptera...............2.0.- Miss Norma Forp. New Records in Odonata and Orthoptera from Southern Ontario......PRor. E. M. WALKER. The Occurrence of the Strawberry Petiole Gall, Diastrophus fragariae, on Cultivated) Plants 2025 peticsaer $cc, ecin ee aeee o Dr. A. CosENs. imsects of The Nipigon Region... 2... ei ee eee cee eee Mr. N. K. BIGELow. One new member was elected, viz., Mr. E. C. Corfe. The Treasurer’s report showed a balance of $23.96. For the season of 1922-23 the following officers were elected: UP PE STLETE hx his cvs RT ee TOES Deere en Mr. S. LOGIER. Vice PPESICEIE hh Oe EO ie eet ato eater te Levees Dr. E. M. WALKER. Becrelary-RreaSUren® oi oc rope teks aval selon neat ths ety ode Ne hn ae Mr. A. H. Lem. TABPaTiGn. 20 ee See oe oe Te aac eaten eel Miss NorMa Forp. COURT... Pea Ree Dr. CosENs, Dr. CLEMENS, Mr. BIGELOW, Mr. HAtt. NorMA Forp, Secretary-Treasurer. REPORT OF THE BRITISH COLUMBIA BRANCH The Twenty-first Annual Meeting was held in Victoria on Saturday, January DI192 2% i The President, L. E. Marmont, was in the chair, and fourteen members were present. The Secretary’s Report and Financial Statement was read by Mr. R. Glendenning, Assistant Secretary, in the absence of Mr. Downes. The business and discussions upon it occupied nearly the whole of the morning session, the subjects being: The continuance of the Entomological Record; the Society’s Cup, offered for school competition; the by-laws revised for incorporation, and the proposed increase in subscription to the parent society. The following motion was passed relative to the last subject: ‘“That this Society thinks a subscription of $1 to the Ontario Entomological Society is sufficient, in view of the decrease in prices.” The following papers were read: The Use of Spreadersaum Roison Spraysieese se see eee A. L. LOVETT. He dic coupes Malus and Its Relation to Oyster Shell Scale....E. P. VENABLEs. Economic Insects of the Year in the Lower Fraser Valley...... R. GLENDENNING. A Talk on the Chilcotin Country and Its Orthoptera.......... E. R. BUCKELL. (Illustrated with lantern slides.) _ The Teaching of Entomology in the Public Schools. ........-.. J. W. Gipson. Aerial Surveys as an Aid to Entomological Investigation....... E. HEARLE. The Life History of the Poplar Sawfly...........-....++++-+- W. Downes. The European Earwig in British Columbia...............---- R. C. TREHERNE. Incidental Observations Regarding Certain Insects............ W. H. Lyne. 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 9 The election of officers resulted as follows: op BE) LESS THI eg A ec ee oS ea F. KERMODE. CEST D7 MGA ae BRE ClO 0 Oe OPN COS Sie Sone anne eo L. E. MARMONT. : : R. S. SHERMAN (Coast). EMILE PEL Se Ie ee eth cc PS cyctope tela biayalie late. «. syeisiecel’ (he. H. RUBMANN (Interior). Advisory Board—The above and E. H. BLackmore, W. H. RosBertson, J. W. Gipson, W. He LYNE, E. HEARLE. ann SECECLUTY 2 TEGSUTED ».. W. Downes. New Records of British Columbia Hemiptera................. W. Downes. Effect of Fumigation on Certain Insects...............-.-00:- W. H. Lyne. The Elm-Currant Aphis—(With lantern slides)............... R. GLENDENNING. Bema rOnIOlOGY: = 65 ahs 2 cos cele oA ee Dosen ee as R. HoppinG. seg Ontroliat, antl...) ).\stl aioe ots heise issn east See ee ee E. HEARLE. mention ar Botany to Entomology...) 2.05.02 0.c. cee eee W. B. ANDERSON. Under the microscope were shown slides of Mymaride by O. Whittaker. It was decided to hold next year’s meeting at Victoria, B.C. R. GLENDENNING, Hon. Secretary-Treasurer. 10 THE REPORT OF SHE No. 36 REPORTS ON INSECTS OF THE YEAR Diviston No. 3 Toronto District—A. CosENS The relatively low temperature of the past summer must have acted as a check on the insect pests, as some of them were less troublesome than usual. The Aphids were not so plentiful on the roses and spirzeas, a very little spraying serving to keep the bushes immune from attack. The Cutworms were much less in evidence, even in the sandy gardens of the northern part of the City, and there also seemed to be a smaller percentage of the fruit on unsprayed trees infected by the codling-moth. After three years in which the Monarch Butterflies were only rarely seen, they have again been very numerous this summer. They congregated in High Park during the latter part of August, but left that locality early in September. The introduced Ground Beetle, Carabus nemoralis, is becoming so common that anxious inquiries have been made as to whether it is harmful or not. These large, dark-coloured beetles, so often found under leaves and other garden debris are.among the most beneficial of our insects. That-they are not recognized as such is owing to their habit shared by their !arve, of hunting at night and re- maining in hiding during the day. They are closely related to other of our beetle friends, the blue-winged Caterpillar Hunters, Calosoma. In July my attention was drawn to Lepidopterous larve feeding in the flower buds of a cultivated Evening Primrose, Oenothera biennis. The buds were swollen, especially in the stalks, and were also much shortened. The adult moths were sent to Mr. A. Busck, Washington, and were kindly identified by him as Mompha stellella Busck. Although the Strawberry Petiole Gall, Diastrophus fragariae Beutm. is fairly common here, I have not found it on cultivated plants until this season. The gall consists of an elongated, cylindrical swelling of the petiole. The en- largement, when dry, has a regularly beaded appearance, owing to a constriction occurring between every two larval cells. The gall-bearing leaves die early in the season. Two other species of the gall-producing genus Diastrophus infect both the wild and cultivated species of their hosts. Dziastrophus turgidus Bass. forms ~ irregular, pithy swellings around the stems of the raspberry, and Diastrophus cuscuteformis O.S. deformities on the stems of bramble. The latter gall is made up of a large number of small galls clustered together. Each of these consists of a small, hard spherical mass of tissue surrounded by a rosette of minute filaments. THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE EUROPEAN CORN BORER IN ONTARIO DURING THE SUMMER OF 1922 L. S. McLaIng, DIVISION OF FOREIGN PESTS SUPPRESSION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, OTTAWA The results of the scouting work for the European Corn Borer carried on in southern Ontario during the summer of 1922, show that although this insect has spread over quite a large area during this past season, the amount of spread is not quite as large as was the case in 1921. It is to be hoped that the latter year was an unusually favourable one for the European Corn Borer owing to the long dry summer and excessive heat. 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. att The scouting was carried on under the same co-operative scheme which was adopted when this insect was first found in the Province, that is, the work was under the immediate supervision of the Canada Department of Agriculture, but the Ontario Department of Agriculture assisted by delegating four men and two Ford cars for the scouting work. A total of fifteen men and five Ford cars were engaged on the scouting which commenced on July 24th, and was completed September 20th. During this period one hundred and sixty-five townships were carefully examined, and of these forty-five were found to be infested by the European Corn Borer. This insect has spread during the past year over Kent, Essex and Lambton counties, and the important corn growing area of Ontario may now be said to be ‘infested by this pest. The infestation in the counties mentioned is, fortunately, extremely ‘“‘light,’’ and up to the present time no actual damage has resulted to the corn crop in these areas, although the same cannot be said for the ‘‘heavily”’ infested districts in Elgin and Middlesex counties. In 1921 a single township (Pickering) was found infested on the north shore of Lake Ontario, but the scout- ing carried on during the past summer adds nine additional townships to the infested area. The greater portion of these have undoubtedly been infested by the natural dispersion of the insect, but the cause of infestation in two town- ships (Clarke and Brighton) at least, is unknown. The infestations in these counties were very light and isolated, ane may possibly have been due to import- ing infested corn or corn stalks. There was very little spread of this insect in a northerly or As eee direction, which may be due to the fact that there is comparatively little corn grown in this area. In addition the infestation found in the northern territory in 1921 was very slight. The area known to be infested by the European Corn Borer up to October 1922 is as follows: The entire county of Brant, Elgin, Essex, Haldimand, Kent, Lambton, Middlesex, Norfolk, Oxford, Perth, Waterloo, and Welland; and the following townships, Culross in Bruce county, Clarke in Durham county; Trafalgar in Halton county; all but Ashfield, Wawanosh East, Wawanosh West and Howick in Huron county; all but Caistor in Lincoln county; Brighton in Northumber- land county; Pickering, Whitby East and Whitby West in Ontario County; Albion, Chinguacousy, and Toronto in Peel county; Guelph in Wellington county; Ancaster, Barton, Flamborough East and Flamborough West in Wentworth county; and York and Scarborough in York county. A total of one hundred and fifty-two townships covering approximately eleven thousand seven hundred and eleven miles is represented by the above area. The following table indicates the spread of the European Corn Borer in southern Ontario since its discovery in 1920, together with the number of town- ships and square miles infested up to October, 1922: Year Townships Infested Square Miles Infested eee? 35 2,780 ee ee x 52k ee as 45 3,497 : 152 11,711 *Seven townships were added to the quarantined area in February, 1922, in order to provide _markets and straighten the quarantine line. 12 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 In February, 1922, the European Corn Borert quarantine was amended. By this amendment a double quarantine was established which prevented the movement of corn on the cob, corn stalks, etc., from the heavily infested areas (Elgin and Middlesex counties), to the lighter infested districts. This was done in order to prevent shipments, heavily infested with European Corn Borer larve, being forwarded to newly or very lightly infested areas, and thus tostart up new and possibly heavy infestations on the border of the quarantined area. The advisability of taking this step can best be illustrated by the results obtained from the making of field counts to determine the degree of infestation in different districts. Port Stanley was taken as the centre for this work, three circles were drawn with a radius of approximately eight, sixteen and thirty miles. Fields - of corn were examined at frequent intervals on these circles. The degree of infestation in the inner circle showed a variation of from ten to one hundred per cent., whereas the variation in the middle circle was from seven to seventy- seven per cent., and in the outer circle from one to seven per cent. The per- centages were secured by counting the number of stalks infested in lots of one hundred stalks, three counts were made in each field and the results averaged. During the summer quarantine on the movement of corn and corn products was maintained in various ways. Warning notices were placed at all road inter- sections leading out of the quarantined area. Large banners were placed on the main automobile highways, warning motorists not to take corn from the infested area. Inspectors were stationed at Toronto, Hamilton, Sarnia and Windsor to watch for evasions, in the case of shipments of sweet corn on trains, boats, via express and freight,etc. At Hamilton 15,000 dozen and at Toronto 47,000 dozen ears of corn were examined and traced. When it is realized that sweet corn from southern Ontario goes as far east as Cape Breton, N.S., and as far west as the Soo and Port Arthur, the necessity of keeping a close watch on all shipments of corn to prevent the spread of the European Corn Borer can readily be understood. In addition, a close watch was kept on Fall Fairs, as it has been customary in the past to send green corn for fodder with exhibits of live stock. The general public is co-operating with the Department of Agriculture in a very gratifying manner. During the entire season it was only necessary to prosecute six individuals for evading the quarantine by shipping corn on the cob from the quarantined area. In July, 1921, the United States Department of Agriculture placed a quaran- tine2 on the province of Ontario, which prohibited the importation into the United States of certain cut flowers and vegetables unless the same were accompanied by a certificate of inspection, stating that the shipment was free from infestation by the European Corn Borer. Between February 15th and November 11th, 1922, nine hundred and sixty-five certificates were issued. The articles inspected and covered by these certificates included the following: Oatsiand Rye Straw.2 jane ste oaete Se eee 440 tons. CutsBlowersdoss. i. oc ae ee eee 2,059 dozen. BeetSiwithtops: cis cies oe cae Se ee ee 26,850 dozen bunches. Rhubarb ees ci, oe oe oe ee 200 dozen bunches. Beans. (greene. J. . 6. Yo Place ee ee oo Up asbele: Celery aseptic tio) 5 sae ad proto tame renee ae 290 crates. 100 acres inspected in the field. Spinachiseriivare ce estnc sk vas Bek ee ae 115 bushels. - Miuscellaneoustblants evo. sate or oem eae 150. spe ee eee eee eee 1 Quarantine No. 2, Domestic, (Revised), Canada Gazette, Vol. LV., No. 34, February 18th, 1922, page 3440. 2 Notice of Quarantine No. 41, with Regulations (Revised), United States Department of Agriculture, July 21st, 1921. 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 13 In regard to the European Corn Borer infestation in the United States it may be said that, since its discovery in 1917, the insect has spread over a large area, and particularly in Massachusetts has been responsible for a great deal of damage not only to corn but also to other crops. When first discovered in Massachusetts, Vinal3 reports corn as “‘the only valuable commercial crop seri- ously attacked by this pest.’’ He mentions it as also attacking pigweed, barn- yard and foxtail grass and dahlia stems. But conditions have changed, and the insect is now doing serious damage to beets, celery, beans, chrysanthemums, etc. In fact the list of host plants in the Massachusetts area is now one hundred and seventy.4 The following table illustrates the spread of the European Corn Borer in the United States:s Year No. Twp. Inf. States Infested 1108 ee ha eae 32 Massachusetts OTS ees. 122 Mass., southern New Hampshire, central and western New York, and Pennsylvania (1). MO DOR ey erced 53 105 Mass., N.H., and N.Y. A ee 127 Mass., N.H., N.Y., Penn., Ohio and Michigan. TODAS ace © 177 Mass., N.H., N.Y., Penn., Ohio, Mich., Maine, and Rhode Island Total. 563 Now that the European Corn Borer has invaded the corn growing sections - of Ontario, it is to be hoped that it will continue to confine its activities to corn and not attack other plants to the same extent as it has done in Massachusetts, for up to the present time in Ontario corn has been the only plant seriously injured; but time alone will solve this question. PLOUGHING AS A FACTOR IN THE CONTROL OF THE EUROPEAN CORN BORER IN ONTARIO H. G. CRAWFORD, ENTOMOLOGICAL BRANCH, DOMINION DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, OTTAWA During the preliminary investigation of the European Corn Borer it was noted that the larve, when buried with infested corn stalks under certain condi- tions, subsequently came to the surface of the ground. This was inferred in 1921, and clearly demonstrated in 1922. The weakness in the 1921 data was that the larvae emerging from below ground were not recovered. With this shortcoming in mind, the 1922 studies were carried.on with a view to recovering the larve as they came to the surface after the corn refuse had been buried or ploughed down. The technique of the study was simple. It consisted in burying, by hand 3S.C. Vinal, The European Corn Borer, Bulletin 178, Massachusetts Agriculture Experi- ment Station, December, 1917. 4E. P, Felt, The European Corn Borer, Extension Bulletin 31, New York State College of Agriculture, Revised March, 1922. 5 W. N. Keenan, The Distribution of the European Corn Borer in Canada and the United States. Ann. Rept., Que. Soc. Prot. Plants, 1921-22. Also from Quarantine No. 43 of the United States Department of Agriculture (2nd Revision), May 1st, 1922, with amendments to November 16th, 1922. 14 THE, REPORT. OF THE No. 36 in single or double layers, infested stalks containing an unknown number of larve, at a uniform depth of six inches, in variety of soils; as well as of other series of experiments by ploughing down the undisturbed crop refuse of stubble and stalk in a field from which the crop had been cut and which was known to have been severely infested. This material contained large numbers of larve. Traps were placed on the soil surface surrounding the material thus disposed of for the recovery of the caterpillars. About the burials, the traps were arranged to recover larve only on the inner side, while on the ploughed areas they were designed to capture the larve wandering about the surface on both the inner and the outer sides. These recovery traps were constructed to present to the wandering larve a suitable place in which to spin up for the winter, where the larve, thus taken, would be easily available for daily examination and removal. A description of this trap will appear in the Canadian Entomologist for 1923. Of the studies carried on between 1920 and 1922, the series of ploughings in the fall of 1922 most directly bear upon and illustrate the conditions to be met with in the field. This paper thus takes the form of a progress report and deals with the autumn activities of the corn borer larve ploughed down with the crop refuse left in the field after a severely infested crop had been harvested in the regular manner, that is, to say, with the binder cutting the corn at a height of approximately six inches. The study was carried on at Dexter, Ontario, upon the eastern edge of the area of most severe infestation in 1921. It consisted of a four acre sand loam field, planted on May 27th, 1922, to smut-nose, white and yellow Fiint corn in hills 3’ 6’’ square. By the end of the season it had sustained a stalk infestation of 100 per cent. and a farm loss of 40 per cent. The crop was cut early in Septem- ber and the stalks stooked in the field throughout most of the fall experiments. The larve under study were those normally present in the stubble and pieces of broken stalk left by the crop. The ploughing was done with an ordinary single furrow walking plough and skimmer about seven inches deep in strips about fifteen feet wide running north and south, at intervals across the field, of from 35-42 feet. The ploughings began on September 28th and were carried out at weekly intervals till November 9th. The work was done very carefully, and though there was present an average of 18.29 feet of stalk and 20 stubble per 36.75 square feet of surface, the surface of the ground was exceedingly clean. It was with difficulty that 25 feet of refuse for study was found on the surface of 1/10 of an acre. In 1921 a similar field, ploughed between September 19th and 24th and seeded to wheat, had practically all the larve leave the material below ground and come to the surface before the freeze-up in November. Hence, in 1922, it was of particular interest to determine the reaction under the later fall conditions. Seven ploughings were made, one upon each of the respective dates; Septem- ber 28, October 6, 12, 19, 26, November 2, and November 9, each strip involving the space between a row of stooks. On top of each ploughed strip a two-way recovery trap 8 feet square was placed, enclosing 64 square feet and supposed to surround nine hills of stubble and the associated refuse. The traps were placed in position immediately after the ploughing and were looked at daily, in the early morning until the nights became frosty, after which time the recording was done later in the day. The narrowness of the ploughed strip resulted in that the east and west outer sides of the trap were not as favourably situated for recovering larve in numbers as the other two sides and hence cannot be used in attempting to determine the direction of migration. The numbers recovered on the inside of 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 15 the trap can readily be looked upon as those coming out of the material ploughed down and surrounded by the trap. The observations were made early in the morning and scant opportunity was given for moving from one side of the trap to the other. The numbers recovered by the trap, together with those later recovered from the enclosed refuse from below ground, reasonably approximated the expectation upon an area of this size. Any lateral movement underground would be of little consequence and would equalize itself. Table I summarizes the weekly recoveries from each entire trap of the series for the period under observation. Table Il summarizes the records of the larvae recovered from the inside of the traps and from the material below ground within the area enclosed. The percentages are based upon the assump- tion that the larve recovered from the inside of the trap were those coming up from enclosed stalks and stubble. TaBLE I—Summary of Larve Recovered in Two-way Recovery Traps above a Series of Plough- ings in 1922. Total Larve Recovered in Traps by Weeks. N n Ko) N ion Ko) — oT? = = a : tf tes fh LIEN Date of Ploughing “Slo |/ Ag] R81 a5 1% aN 6 weer Total SOuesOrl OL sOnl see (RA pi | ee #3182182 | 82123123 | 2 Sepeesans -'Piec nee. 39 19 3 3 1 4 0 2 ial (Ort: (s') | tee Se ee 23 12 6 7 3 2 2 55 Oat IOS ee ae eee oe 49 39 9 24 3 2 126 (Oye: 1D ales eae 18 17 16 1 4 56 Octe26 Fhe) .42it- i 2st ae 4 10 1 3 18 INNA as Aes eee 2 1 2 5 iS LO Ose = 1 4 5 Motal anv involved vir. te seit 336 TasLe Il—Summary of Larve Recovered inside Two-way Recovery Traps above a Series of Ploughings in 1922. The recoveries are from the trap itself and from the ma- terial below the ground, examined November 20th, 1922. Total Number of Larve Recovered Inside Traps. Above Ground Below Ground Total Recovered No. Per cent. No. Per cent. No. 35 85.36 6 14.63 41 27 61.36 17 38.63 44 52 67253 25 32.46 if 23 29.87 54 E0212 77 11 1255 Hil 87.5 88 3 10.0 27 90.0 36 4 1255 28 87.5 32 A study of the totals, recovered from inside the traps, indicates a progressive increase of from 41 to 88 larve from the ploughings up to October 26, there- after a marked decrease in totals. This is due, in a large measure at least, to the fluctuating larve population and to the amount of refuse in different parts of the field. It need not seriously interfere with the general value of the per- centages. 16 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 The tables, as a whole, indicate clearly some interesting general correlations. The first and most important is the fact, as shown in Table I, that a large pro- portion of the larvee come to the surface when ploughing is done early in the season. Even when ploughed as late as September 28, 85.36 per cent. of the larve Jeft the buried material. The later ploughings were markedly less effective in this respect, the operation but a week later causing but 61.36 per cent. to come up. Oddly enough the experiment of October 12, two weeks later, was somewhat more effective than that of October 6, 67.53 per cent. of the larve being recovered at the surface. With the four later ploughings the proportion attaining the surface decreased still further, so that for the study started on October 19, 29.87 per cent., from that of October 26, 12.5 per cent., from that of November 2, but 10 per cent., and from November 9, 12.5 per cent. were recovered. The last two studies dealt with relatively small numbers of larve, and the value of the figures should be discounted somewhat. The second important point, as shown in Table I, is that the first week following ploughing is the most important in respect to the numbers of larve coming to the surface. This is particularly true in the early season when the soil is warm. As the season advances a progressingly decreasing proportion moves in the first week and the proportion coming up on the second and third week increases. These late moving larve in an early fall would be very apt to be retained underground by the rapid cooling of the soil. The reaction of the larve below ground in the spring was studied somewhat sketchily in the same way in 1922. The larve were recovered at the surface in traps in fairly large numbers both from material ploughed down in the spring of 1922 and also from a field ploughed late in the fall of 1921. The general reaction of the larva was very similar to that in the fall, though the activity following immediately after turning down was not at all character- istic of the spring conditions. Warm rains on the other hand in early May were followed by very prompt appearance at the surface of relatively large numbers of larve. The larve which were below ground all winter came through surprisingly successfully. A characteristic count demonstrated a mortality of 11.1 per cent. in stalks and 26.8 per cent. in stubble below ground, while the material on the surface of the same field suffered comparatively lightly, the death rate in stalks being 5.76 per cent. and that in stubble lying on the surface but 4.65 per cent. The spring studies were not prosecuted with the thoroughness of the fall operations, and it will not be till the summer of 1923 that a detailed knowl- edge of the reaction at this season will be available. That the larve in Ontario in an essentially one-brooded area actually come to the surface in important proportions when ploughed down in the fall, and that this proportion increases with earliness of ploughing, has been clearly demonstrated. What, however, becomes of these larve after being brought to the surface is not at all clear. For the most part they simply disappear, all trace of the bulk of them so far being lost. The subsequent history of these larve is a most important matter and has been given a great deal of study both by the Federal and Provincial investigators, with as yet very little definite result. This study has shown that beetles, ants and even birds in the fall, account for relatively few, as none of these predators are particularly active. The missing larve could not be found among the clods of soil on the surface of the ploughed area, they did not again dig into the soil having once come to the surface, nor could they even be demonstrated in the grass about the margins of heavily infested fields after ploughing, either in 1921 or 1922. ae ae 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 17 A general survey of some other experimental results bearing upon the prob- able behaviour of the larvee when moving from a given experimental concentra- tion, indicates that they wander for short distances and establish themselves rather promptly in available suitable material in the immediate vicinity. Thus in the dead and hollow weeds, both standing and on the ground, about a series of burials in 1921, 155 larve were recovered, which had emerged from buried material and were found almost entirely within six feet of the source of supply. In another experiment in which 1,000 larve were buried in stalks in the centre of a weed patch in 1922, all the larve recovered were within ten feet of the edge of the burial. Where the material in the surroundings made it possible, the larve established a sharp density of population gradient. This was well illustrated by a study on a two-foot strip from the margin of this burial at a point where there happened to be a continuous supply of refuse suitable for accommodating borers. Here a count in areas two feet wide and one foot deep, extending westward in a straight line from the edge of the burial for ten feet, gave a count per area of 11, 4, 2, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, caterpillars. There is no decided preference evidenced for movement in any given direc- tion, at least as shown by the recoveries in the traps. There was a somewhat greater number taken on the south side when the larve within the cage only were considered. However, the total number moving north or south, as indicated by the total count both inside and out, is remarkably evenly divided. The following table indicates the distribution of the larve recovered on the several sides of the traps throughout the season: TABLE II].—Summary of the Direction of Travel of the Larve Recovered Above a Series of Ploughings in 1922. Inside of Outside of Total Going in Trap Trap Given Direction Side of Trap No. % No. % No. % INorthsstts.. crt ts3h fis). a 33 Dian} 49 38.2 112 51.6 20) ea ee 56 SPS: 79 61.7 105 48.3 22 eee 27 18.0 Vis 64* eS Lie A ee 34 2216 37* 517 *East and West numbers from outside of the trap cannot b= used on account of the nar- rowness of the strips ploughed. With these general behavior studies in mind it is most surprising that it has not been possible to find any indication of migration from ploughed surfaces to adjacent refuse and stubble-littered, unploughed parts of the same field. The expected evidence of this migration would be increased larval count in the refuse surrounding the ploughed area, a gradient in density of larval population radiating from the centre of migration and an increment in the number of larve found spun up in the leaves associated with refuse about this area. These likewise, in the later season, would be expected to be present in somewhat of a gradient. To date none of these relations of the missing larve present in numbers up to the rate of 30,000 per acre have been established in the areas adjacent to ploughings from which the larve have disappeared. A small proportion of the larve do find their way into the material left upon the surface of the ploughed ground. These in a given experiment raised the count of this material from an expectation of 0.8 larve per foot to 5.92 18 THE REPORT OR THE No. 36 per foot by the end of the season. But as there was little of this refuse on the surface but a small proportion of the larve were thus accounted for. Further, in connection with this experiment in which the ploughing had been done October 12, and the count made November 20, the refuse in the eastern dead furrow was found to have had its average population per foot of stalk and associated leaves raised to but 1.33 larve and that of the western dead furrow to 1.107 larve, both inexplicably small. This count is more to be wondered at in that practically all larve leaving the ploughed land must have passed through the refuse lying in these dead furrows. It is estimated that on this ploughed strip 3,748 larve came to the surface. Did they migrate equally east and west there were suff- cient to raise the larval content of the refuse in the first 3.5 foot strip of unploughed area by 3.3 larve per foot. By actual count of a 12.29 foot section of this strip the population was found to be but one larve per foot on the eastern edge and 1.769 per foot on the western edge. A further study in the unploughed areas between the experiments shows no clear indication of any general migration. Further studies will, of course, be made, using uninfested stalks in the inter- vals between the ploughings. This was not done in these experiments owing to the large number of larve involved and their apparent tendency to enter the first suitable hiding place encountered. The whole matter of the final resting place of the larve is still in the realm of conjecture and the work will have to be repeated, using uninfested cornstalks to finally settle how serious is the danger of wholesale migration of the larve to wintering or pupating quarters from land ploughed in spring or fall. FURTHER NOTES ON_.THE LIFE HISTORY OF THE EUROPE CORN BORER IN ONTARIO G. J. SPENCER, O.A.C., GUELPH The winter of 1921 had very little effect upon the larve of the European Corn Borer and only between 4 per cent. and 5 per cent. were killed by all causes. However, this was more than in the winter of 1920, when a fraction less than 3 per cent. was killed. In addition to winter killing, the numbers of larve in some fields of corn stubble were reduced by woodpeckers which in one field were found to have taken 60 per cent. of the larve (H. G. Crawford’s notes). The Downey woodpecker is the chief bird concerned in this reduction during the winter, although the Hairy woodpecker may be seen attacking cornstalks in the fall. Birds are too uncertain an element to be depended upon to have any > material effect on the numbers of borers in the country. In spring, as soon as the weather warmed up, it was found that small greyish red ants were taking many borers out of experimental cages. These ants were kindly indentified by Dr. Wheeler of Harvard, as Lastus niger, Linn, var. amert- canus, the common garden ant, and we found that they stung any borers they came across and dragged them down their holes. As high as 62 per cent. of borers in their shelters of corrugated paper placed in covered tin cans, were found to have been killed by these ants in a single night, and were being bitten to pieces and hauled out of the can. In the field also, it was found that the ants entered the tunnels in corn stalks and killed and removed the borers. However, when the borers were completely covered up in their silken cases, the ants generally left them alone, although it was found that even these were removed when all the freely exposed larve had been taken. In 1921 these same ants had been 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 19 observed to be eating the borers in cages, and from one series alone had taken 1,200 borers, but no observations were made at the time on their methods of attack. It is possible that these ants may have some slight effect in springtime, in reducing the numbers of borers in any field where they might occur. The Tachinid fly, Exorista nigripalpis Towns, which was found in 1921 to be a para- site on from four to eight per cent. of larve in one field, was practically absent in 1922, and a very small and practically negligible number of larve were des- troyed by it. It will be seen that we have found very few natural enemies of the borer in Canada so far, and that the attacks of these parasites have very little effect in reducing the number of larve. Consequently it was found this spring that there were enough borers in the areas under observation to practically ensure a heavy infestation of the 1922 crop. PUPATION Pupation began this year about two days later than last year, but the pupal periods showed certain differences, as tabulated below: 1921 1922 1. Length of pupal period, in days: MIM AV ELAGGn ss Tati Nee hit ne ee oe 12 15 E 2 eral estOnlye AV elas eo. 6 hens 2 cio o ecivrn cute ma seeps 10.19 14.63 SORMESCKES AVELAGE) Aa that Fl Aas tat. ad SO Nike 7 15.29 22 Shortestspupal: period: either SOx .c84. 5 aoe sc des presi 8 11 Moucesispupaliyperntod, malesionly.. i. 8... oc. ss +) 25,20 dee ae 16 21 Sescasomrolshortest pupal periods... 8.2... se... eee ee June 24 to July 14 | July 7 to 12 Average temperature for these periods.................. 86°-87° F. d5eek. 4. Relative numbers of each sex.— BLURS OSI 25 tere es eae Seren eS Sea a tO a nal 56.38% 51.08% PEiEtestOniyeret et. ae) Sees. RMN Ios ec Geos oe ee 43.62% 48.92% RATES OF PUPATION UNDER VARIOUS CONDITIONS Experiments conducted over both years, showed that the rates of pupation of the corn borer larve varied under different conditions. 1. Extreme Dryness. In the autumn of 1921, thirty-nine larve were placed in a corrugated roll of paper in which they had spun up, inadry can witha ventilated lid, and were kept indoors in a dry place all winter. They were examined from time to time all during the summer of 1922. By August 17 twenty-nine had dried up; by September 30, one only showed very slight movement and was very shrivelled. The rest were dead. 2. Exposed to Outside Conditions. As opposed to the experiment above, nearly one hundred larve were placed in a can with a perforated lid in precisely the same way as above, but the can was left outside on a window sill all winter, ‘exposed to all conditions of weather, By the end of the emergence season in 1922, less than a dozen larve had failed to come through as moths and had died. 3. In Piled Stalks. In the case of stalks which had been in stooks in the field all winter, as opposed to stalks which had been lying loose on the ground during the same period, it was found that the moths emerged sooner from the loose-lying and damper stalks, than from the former drier material. 4. Debris Gathered from the Field. From debris and stubble picked in early spring from a cornfield and heaped in a pile under the shade of an apple tree, 20 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 the moths emerged at almost the exact rate at which they emerged from identical material left lying in the field; which was later sown to oats. General pupation in the field started about June 7th and reached its maxi- mum about June 25th, although the first pupa found occurred on May 31st. — Last year the first pupa was found on June 2nd. The daily count in 1922 showed that a high point of pupation was reached on June 16, which was the date on which the first moths were found in the field in 1921. Although pupation was fairly uniform all over the oat field kept under observation, it was found that the emergence of moths from the lowest and dampest areas was considerably delayed. In fact in this low, damp north corner of the field, many borers died after pupating and the moths did not emerge. This was the only instance found where larve that had pupated failed to come through to moths unless the pupe were eaten by ants. EMERGENCE OF ADULTS. The emergence of adults started this year about June 26 in the oat field and by July 12, 80 per cent. of the moths had emerged from the corn debris and stubble in this field. 1921 1922 Period of Max. Emergence............ June 26-July 1 July 2-18 Henitly oft merpences: .. soos tae eee June 28 July 8-12 This later date July 12, 1922, for emergence in the field, coincided with the result obtained from material kept in cages in the open, exposed to the elements. OVIPOSITION RECORDS. There was a slight difference this year, compared to last, in the number of eggs laid per moth and in the fertility of the eggs. This is summed up by the following figures: 1921 1922 Pre-oviposition: period]... donc. a2a55 56 - 3-9ds. Av. 4 ds. 1%-8 ds. Av. 3.5 ds. Egg-laying capacity per moth.......... 95-988. Av. 442. 37 to 1,210. Av. 642.07. Pongevity of temales:.- 7.2 see ee coe 10-31 ds. Av. 15.4 ds. 7-28 ds. Av. 17.07. Fertility of eggs...... fide LRA ORE 100%. 99%. Mortality. oftembryos- ¢ .< seeamiteences nil. About 1% just before time to hatch. Hasits OF Motus. This year’s observations confirmed those of last year, when it was found that most moths emerged from the pupe between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m. In some cases they emerged before 5 a.m., but generally they did not begin to appear above the top of the stalks in the cages until that time. The process of emergence was watched in several cases between 7 and 9 a.m.; it occupied only a few minutes and in less than half-an-hour they were able to fly. Occasionally moths come out later in the day, and but rarely in the after- noons or evenings. One would expect that nocturnal insects such as these are, would emerge at dusk, but such seems not to be the case in this instance. If the moths are confined in wire cages exposed to wind, they must have water to drink soon after emerging or else they die. We have reared them better on water alone than on sugar solutions. Moths have been kept alive for from two to four days without food in tightly closed cans, but in open cages they must have food or else they die. As soon as they take flight after emergence, they seek cover on the under side of leaves and will remain there all day unless dis- turbed, or unless the sun should happen to strike them, when they will move into shade. s : 3 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 21 It was found that in the field they do not begin to move freely until about 9 p.m., although a few will commence to move just after dusk. In cages they would commence to flutter between 8.30 and 9 p.m. every night. The few records kept in 1922 regarding the flight habits confirmed those of 1921 and nothing new was found out. The moths fly into a slight wind and with a high wind, although they will always try to battle against it at first. When there is no wind, they are liable to soar up above the tops of the tallest trees near-by and may then go in any direction. When engaged in egg laying at night, the moths hover about three feet above ground, and take no notice of bright light. In 1921, a 300 candle power lantern was used to try and attract them but only a few males were taken, and those arrived at great speed. Having tried in 1921 to attract moths at night with brilliant lights of several colours, the Strickland liquid poison bait of quassia, arsenic and molasses was tried this season, with exactly the same negative results that attended the light experiments. An effort was made on several occasions to attract male moths to females confined in a trap of the lobster pot type, into which males could enter but from which the females.could not escape, but without any success. During the day both sexes rest in the thickest clumps of corn, and in instances where they occur in oat fields sown on the previous year’s corn stubble, they may be found most easily in the tallest, darkest oats. At the maximum period of their emergence, they may be found generally distributed over any field of evenly growing corn except in the first few yards around the edges, where they are seldom found. EGG-LAYING. It was found from observations on moths kept in square paper cages in the laboratory, that eggs are laid rather late at night chiefly on the sides of the cases; in a few instances only, were eggs laid before 11 o’clock. Moths oviposit freely on corn or other leaves inserted into the cages, but they seem to lay just as freely on the paper. The number of eggs laid per night was about the same in 1922 as in 1921, in masses of from 1, 3, 8 or 12, to about 60 eggs per mass. In the field the average egg mass contains between 20'to 30 eggs. As far as our field counts show, moths seem to lay equally freely on flint corn and ondent. The difference that exists between the respective larval in- festations per stalk of these varieties, must be attributed to some other factor than preference during oviposition. In the earlier part of the season the finding of eggs coincides with the finding of moths, and the latter occur most commonly on the tallest corn or thickest clumps. In a rolling field, the tops of the knolls are laid on first, even though the corn in the hollows may be nearly twice as tall as that on the knolls. Later in the season, however, eggs may be found equally all over a field. Curious exceptions to this have been found. In one case the eggs were laid in one end of a field first, then in the opposite end and finally in the centre. The larval infestation in September in this field, was greatest in. the centre. In another instance eggs occurred first in a field in the side farthest from the source of infestation, and then equally all over. In 1921, in one field, the infestation remained throughout the season on the south side of the field only, close to a wood; the rest of the field was only very slightly infested. Moths lay at all heights from the ground, from 14% inches up to 4 feet. However, if tall and short stems occur side by side, they lay on the tall stems first, although they may lay very low down on them. The under side of the crown of leaves is the favorite laying place, though this year (1922) eggs were frequently found on the upper surface of the leaves. These eggs failed to hatch, although in some of them the embryos nearly reached maturity before being killed by the sun. 22 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 ‘ Hasits OF YOUNG Larva. As stated previously, practically 100 per cent. of all eggs kept under observation during both seasons, hatched. The only instances of complete sterility occurred where males were not introduced into the cages containing females, for periods of six days after the emergence of the females, and though the latter laid freely, none of the eggs hatched. The emergence of all the young larve from any given hatch of eggs, occurs at practically the same time, and usually within 20 minutes all eggs have hatched. The typical action of young larve on hatching, is to travel in all directions and to rapidly make for the shelter of rolled up leaves, or to remain quiescent for varying lengths of time on the under side of the leaves on which they were hatched. Observations at intervals of a few minutes, extended over three hours in one case and over two hours in each of three other cases, showed that larve for some unknown reason sometimes leave the under side of the leaf where they have taken shelter and will come into the sunlight on top of the leaf. Soon after being hatched, and during their wanderings over the leaves, many begin to die, some of them just curling up and in a few seconds, dropping off the leaf; others are blown off by the wind and die on the ground; some reach a leaf below and enter the stem at its axil, and others find shelter along- side the mid-rib of the leaf and stay there passively for hours. In three hours after hatching, only nine larve out of 39 that were seen to hatch from a mass of eggs, could be found on a corn plant under observation; in six hours after hatching, only four larvee could be found. This result was obtained propor- .tionately in four cases and only about one-tenth of all larva that hatched sur- vived the day and passed into the night. The plants on which these records were made had no tassels. When larve hatch in the immediate neighbourhood of young tassels into which they can readily work their way and find shelter soon after hatching, it is probable that a larger majority of them will survive the first 24 hours. This seemed to be the case in two instances where seven and nine larvee, respectively, all of the same instar, were dissected out of two tassels. First instar larve readily eat their way into the individual flowers of a tassel; it is usually not until the third instar that they tunnel into the stem of the tassel and cause it to fall over. Although the young larve find their way into some sort of shelter soon after they hatch and do no feeding on the upper surface of the leaf at this time, they have been seen, even half an hour after emergence, to have eaten very shallow areas out of the under surface of the leaf. The work could not be detected by the naked eye, but required a hand lens to show it up. However, by next morning, they had apparently emerged from the shelters of the day before, to eat small easily seen areas out of the top and under sides of the nearest leaves. In some cases these external feeding areas perforated the leaf like small shot-holes, being done the first night and to a lesser extent the following night, but not afterwards. Many observations showed that this injury is done the first part of the season only, when the corn leaves are young and tender and the corn plant not over three or four feet high; thus later in the season one may find larvee of early instars established in the tassels and upper stem of tall corn plants, and the only visible injury to the leaves is that which was done in the early part of the season to the lowest leaves. Poisoned spray or dust applied at this time may help to control many of the early borers, especially on sweet corn plots. Occasionally larve of instars later than the second, may be found appar- ently basking in the sun on the surface of leaves or on grass outside’ burrows. This unusual habit of otherwise nocturnal insects, seems to be the only loop- hole in their behaviour which leaves them open to attack by our common diurnal 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 23 hymenopterous or dipterous parasites. It also leaves them exposed to preda- ceous insects such as Chrysopid larve and adults of the pink, 12-spotted lady- bird beetle (Megzlla maculata). The squeezing of a stem or breaking of it at the point where a borer is working, will cause the latter to hurriedly craw! out and to lower itself down by a silken thread. The action of wind may some- times do this. Except on the occasions mentioned, borers remain feeding in the stems they originally entered, until they reach the fifth and sometimes the sixth instar, and then they develop a sort of wanderlust which causes them to leave the stems where they have been feeding, and to migrate to near-by hills of corn or to weeds growing among or alongside the corn. Inspection by night of badly infested corn at the fifth or early sixth instar periods of the larve, reveals many of them wandering around. By this migration, and subsequent eating of new holes in cornstalks, the damage in a field is materially increased towards harvest time. The new entrance holes are generally low down and frequently occur among the adventitious or prop roots; from this position, the borers often work down in late autumn right into the tap roots, especially in the case of flint corn. By the end of July, or at any rate by the middle of August, by which time the borers are full grown, this migration ceases, as was proved several times in experiments by placing absolutely untouched hills of corn alongside heavily infested hills, and then cutting up both series at various times to determine the lateness of migration. Each test was guarded by recovery traps and tangle- foot barriers. Just how far these migrating larve will wander was not deter- mined, but it is probably not beyond the range of the nearest corn plants. This migration, which ceases by the middle of August, of mature or nearly mature larva, cannot account for the fact that the larval population of a field diminishes more and more the later the season advances. For instance: In 1922, in a small patch of sweet corn of some 1,000 stalks, sown May 13th, there was by the end of July a carefully estimated and re-checked average infestation of 4.6 larve per stalk throughout the plot. By the middle of August, two weeks later, this infestation had dropped to a fraction over three larve per stalk through the plot, and had not increased in corn growing near-by nor in the few weeds among the corn. By the middle of September the infestation was reduced to just two larve per stalk. This same peculiarity was noted in 1921 in flint corn, which at time of cutting and stooking contained approximately four larve per stalk, but only just over one larve per stalk in one month’s time. Also in stalks that were stooked outside the laboratory in the first week of October, 1921, the larval population was greatly reduced when counts were made in spring, 1922, and no trace of the larve could be found in grass or weed stems or pieces of stalk around the pile. A secondary movement of larve is noticeable under certain conditions of stooking and storing cornstalks. Thus borers will leave the inner stalks of a stook within a week of the stooking and will migrate to the outer stalks. The rapidity of this movement depends upon the dryness of the stalks and upon the closeness of piling; the drier the stalks the less the migration, and the closer the stalks are piled the more rapid the migration. Also in thoroughly dry stalks piled in a mow in a barn the larve will remain in their burrows without migration. This was the case in one instance even where the stalks were covered later by a layer of hay. Such larve in very dry material have been found to pupate very slowly throughout the season, and to emerge as moths as late as the first week in September. 24 THESREPORTIOR THE No. 36 In closely piled corn that is left outside all winter, whether it is stooked tightly or shredded and then piled closely, the larve leave the dense damp centre of the mass and will be found entirely in the outer six to eight inches of the pile. VARIETAL INFESTATION OF Corn. As far as we have determined at present, there does not seem to be any variety more subject than another to the deposition of eggs by Corn Borer moths. During the egg-laying season, comparative counts were kept on various plots of flint, dent and sweet corn and the larval popula- tion of these plots was determined at time of harvest. It was found that the results were somewhat contradictory, but on the average in the first part of oviposition period the sweet corn was free from eggs while the taller flint and dent varieties were freely laid on. By harvest time, the sweet corn was generally more heavily infested than the other varieties. In some cases, however, the flint corn did have more eggs on it than the dent and the larval population was higher. But on an average through the season eggs were laid equally on all varieties. ARTIFICIAL INFESTATION OF PLANTS OTHER THAN Corn. The following plants other than corn, were used in garden plots to see if moths would ovi- posit on them under natural conditions and if larve could mature in them. These plants were grown right amongst the corn plots, under identical conditions. Plants used: Zinnia, snap dragon, salvia, mignonette, gladiolus, potato, tomato, cosmos, bachelor’s button, barnyard grass, green fox-tail, yellow fox- tail, pigweed, ragweed, lambs quarters. Also two other plants with thick soft stems, commonly grown in gardens, whose names were not recorded. On none of these plants did moths lay eggs and to none of them did larve migrate from infested corn alongside. Therefore they were all covered with wire cages in which moths were liberated in numbers from three pairs (male and female) to 16 pairs at a time. With the exception of cosmos, tomato and tobacco, the caged moths laid eggs freely on all plants, especially on the snap- dragon, pigweed, lambs quarters, dahlia and the grasses, and the larve flourished and reached maturity, although most of them died in the first instance, as on corn. This failure on the part of larve to arrive at maturity, was especially notice- able on weeds such as pigweed (an apparently ideal host as far as softness and thickness of stem is concerned) and lambs quarters, where out of a total of 224 eggs on one large plant of pigweed five larve reached maturity and out of 744 eggs laid on one plant of lambs quarters no larve reached maturity. The cosmos became infested by larve which hatched from eggs laid on the sides of the cage, but the potato, tobacco and tomato plants were untouched to the end. FIELD INFESTATIONS OF PLANTS OTHER THAN Corn. Of plants growing among corn or immediately contiguous to cornfields, the following were found at different times in 1921 and 1922, to be infested by corn borer larvae: White sweet clover (only one very slight infestation) golden rod, mullein, Canada thistle, wild sunflower, blueweed, wild raspberry, burdock, yarrow, ground cherry, lady’s thumb, pigweed (favorite host) ragweed and tumbling pigweed. The borer was also found in apples on the ground and tomato fruit. It is practi- cally certain that all the above infestations were from migrating larve only, never by larve from direct oviposition. It was never found in tomato, tobacco or potato stems, in red clover, beans, pumpkins and garden sunflowers, although these were grown right amongst infested corn. In 1922, a heavy infestation was found in oats growing in a field which had contained very heavily infested corn in 1921. This oat infestation was suspected in 1921 as being probable but it was not confirmed until this year, when it was 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 25 RIE eee found that larve of all instars up to the fifth, were abundant in the oats, feeding right inside the stems or between the stems and the leaf sheaths, so as to rob the oat heads of proper nourishment and to kill and bleach them. The estimated loss of grain from these bleached and unfilled heads (in this one field only) amounted to half bushel per acre. At the time of oat harvest, no larve were over the fifth instar, and when the oats were cut all larve died within two days after cutting. In some cases it was found that the more mature larve had left the cut oat stems and had attempted to enter weed stems in the field, but even these all perished within three days. Thus what threatened at first to be a serious situation ultimately amounted to nothing. Within 300 yards of this oat field which was so heavily infested, was a large early-planted field of dent corn which was lightly infested, at harvest, even for dent. Thus the in- festation of oats promises to be a fortunate occurrence as far as corn is concerned, because if moths will oviposit freely on oats, they will be content to remain there and neighboring cornfields will escape what would otherwise be an added infestation. Also in 1922, a slight infestation was found on sugar mangels growing alongside a fairly heavily infested cornfield. With the exception of three cater- pillars found in one mangel, which all circumstances pointed to having been hatched from eggs laid on that mangel—all the larve found in this field had migrated from the corn alongside. The total damage to the mangels was neglig- ible. Experiments conducted all through September, of trying to establish mature borers on large mangels, amounted to nothing, although as many as 40 larvee were caged over a single tuber. The borers did not seem sufficiently attracted to induce them to make more than temporary tunnels in the leaves, which they vacated shortly afterwards. In reply to a vote of thanks moved by Mr. Grsson and Prof. CAESAR, and carried, the following was said: Mr. CrawForp: The expression of appreciation of the work and results obtained in the Corn Borer investigations were most encouraging to all those directly engaged in the work. That for myself, I am glad of this opportunity - to publicly thank the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Dr. Grisdale, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, for their support of the work, Mr. Gibson, Dominion Entomologist, Mr. Treherne, Chief, Division Field Crop and Garden Insects, for their never ceasing encouragement, support and directive suggestions, and Mr. L. S. McLaine, Chief Division Foreign Pests Suppression, for support, suggestion, and loan of assistants. In particular, I wish to mention that in a large measure the quality and quantity of work has been due to the tireless application and effort of my two assistants, Mr. Painter and Mr. Oliver. Further, the professional value of the remarkably close inter-relation between the Federal and Provincial Investigations cannot be too greatly stressed. Nor can the contribution to the study arising out of the constant discussion, comparison of notes and inspiration due to our intimate association, personal and professional, with Prof. Caesar and Mr. Spencer, be too highly evaluated. Mr. SPENCER: I greatly appreciate what Mr. Gibson and Mr. Caesar have said. The work on the borer has been largely inspired by them. Mr. Caesar especially has helped us in every way and at all times; I cannot thank him suffi- ciently. Mr. Crawford has helped me tremendously—he knows that I appreciate ‘+t. Continuous co-operation with him has alone made possible what results we have obtained. I would like to thank my assistants, Mr. Twinn in 1921, and Messrs. Brink and Wishart, this year, for their never-failing loyalty, hard work and keenness, sometimes to all hours of the night. The farmers in the neighbourhood, too, helped us in every way; we all owe them thanks. 26 THE-REPORT/Or THE No. 36 | THE ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF INSECTS AS FOOD FOR THE COMMON WHITEFISH NILBERT A. CLEMENS, DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO During the summer of 1921 a field party from the Ontario Fisheries Research Laboratory of the University of Toronto commenced an intensive study of fishery problems in Lake Nipigon. One phase of the investigations has had to do with the food supply for fish in the lake and the percentages of the various food organisms in the diets of the fish as revealed by the examination of stomach contents. Special attention has been given to the common whitefish, Core- gonus clupeaformis, as it is the most important of the commercial fishes taken in Lake Nipigon. The writer desires to express his appreciation of the assistance given by Messrs Dymond, Bigelow, Adamstone, and Harkness, who as 7 of the party assisted in various ways in the work. During the first season the stomachs of 209 whitefish were exaniinet The results show that this fish is almost entirely a bottom feeder and its diet consists chiefly of Chironomid larve and pupe, snails and small clams, Hoy’s fresh water shrimp, Pontoporeia hoyi, mayfly nymphs, caddis larve, corixids, water mites, Ostracods, terrestrial insects and occasionally small fish such as ciscoes, sticklebacks and miller’s thumbs. The following examples will illustrate*: Whitefish Shrimps Caddis Chironomde Snails Miscellaneous size (Pontoporeia) larve larve pupe 14.0 cm. a a2 80% 10 6 4 14.5 20 of 30 5 25 20 22.0 - oe 2 85 val 13 28.0 30 oe 70 5 > a 35.0 : 2 Reheat 15 75 (fish) 5 (misc.) 35.0 70 (terrestrial insects) , 30 (misc.) 37.0 50 40 f. 10 a 38.0 25 25 3 40 7 — Nymphs, etc. 40.0 3 2 95 (terrestrial insects) 45.0 99 1 (terrestrial insects) It is evident that the insects form very important items in the food of the whitefish. Calculations for the 209 fish examined show that they constitute 53 per cent. of the food—roughly 50 per cent. Chironomids, particularly the larve, are by far the most important of the insects and constitute 35 percent. of the food of the whitefish, while mayfly nymphs form approximately 6 per cent., terrestrial insects 6 per cent. and miscellaneous insects such as caddis larve, corixids etc. 3 per cent. These percentages are particularly significant when the catch of whitefish is considered. In 1919 (the latest available statistics) 1,620,970 lbs. of white- fish were taken from Lake Nipigon. At the wholesale price to the fisherman of 10c per lb., the value of this catch was $162,097. It appears to be a reasonable *The stomach contents of 65 whitefish are described in detail in a paper now in press, Uni- versity of Toronto Studies, Publications Ont. Fish. Research Laboratory, by Messrs. eT Dymond, Bigelow, Adamstone and Harkness. 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 27 deduction, therefore, that the insects of Lake Nipigon as food for whitefish were worth half this amount, namely $81,000. The Chironomids would contribute $56,000. If the whitefish in all lakes feed upon insects in like proportions, then we have these figures for the Province of Ontario in 1919: MntarcatehewOiensne ee oe le bec oe cee eed ek 6,625,304 Ibs. Bereta Ace penilbom rots tee er titt iate Tile a os nelle hel rae hk $662,530.00 Mainesatctne LASCELSIAS TOOG niet at cskicre® wie chees aos. onshorciv over davefe $330,000 .00 Rea eel tebnes( MTOHOMIAS ox © ccheye Goods olecseer~ a¥ovavsisrs. edsseus. sue wb eae $230,000.00 These calculations appear to be reasonable and are not essentially different from those used by stockmen. Cattle are fed certain feeds in definite ratios and later are sold at a certain amount per pound. The feeds have been worth to the stockman the amount which he obtains from his sale of steers. There is this difference between the two cases, however, in that the food crop for the fish has cost the fisherman absolutely nothing, whereas the food-stuffs, for the cattle have cost the stockman a considerable sum. Some day when aquiculture has advanced along lines similar to those of agriculture the fisherman may pay more attention to his crops of food-stuffs. Do the results of our investigation of the occurrence of the food animals on the bottom of Lake Nipigon correspond with the results of the examination of the stomach contents of the whitefish? During the summer of 1921, Messrs Adamstone and Harkness operated a small Ekman dredge and obtained bottom samples in various parts of the lake in depths from two to 275 feet.* The area of bottom brought up was 81 square inches, and the animals in this area were sifted out, classified and counted. They found the following average number of animals per square yard, irrespective of depth: Chironomide Shrimps Pontoporeia Snails, etc. Mayflies 256 144 128 16 At this rate there would be for the whole lake in the neighbourhood of 1200 billion Chironomid larve, which on the basis of calculations used by Richardsonf for the Illinois river, would amount to about 100 million pounds or about 100 pounds per acre of bottom. Further, using the ratio of five pounds of food to one pound of fish as developed by certain European investigators, whose publications the writer has not seen but which are referred to by Richard- son (loc. cit.), it is evident that the Chironomids alone occur in numbers suffi- cient to support a very large fish population. The bottom inhabiting insects form one of the most important sources of food supply for bottom-feeding fish such as the whitefish. Here is a crop which grows without cost of money, time or labour on the part of man and of which very few people, very few fisherman especially, have any appreciation. In our investigation we are trying to get at all the facts concerning this crop, especially the factors which have to do with its development, and some day we may be able to develop methods for exerting some measure of control. It is apparent from the data already at hand, that the crop should be very carefully protected from destructive industrial wastes and from any smothering materials. *For complete account see forthcoming report by Messrs. Adamstone and Harkness, in University of Toronto Studies, Publications Ont. Fish Research Laboratory. TRichardson, Robert E. The Small Bottom and Shore Fauna of the Middle and Lower Illinois River and its connecting Lakes, Chillicothe to Grafton, its Valuation, its Sources of Food Supply and its Relation to the Fishery. Bull. Nat. Hist. Survey Illinois, vol. XIII, article XV. 28 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 TR ee ee PROVANCHER, THE CANADIAN LINN/US-HIS LIFE AND WORKS GEORGE MAHEUX, PROVINCIAL ENTOMOLOGIST, QUEBEC During the last five years, Canadian naturalists and scientists have heard more about Provancher than during the previous quarter of century; scientific societies, reviews of all kinds and even the daily papers, have in succession paid warm tribute of admiration to the high value of the late Abbé Provancher as a priest, citizen and naturalist. One day, in August 1918, a large group of friends, admirers and disciples gathered in the Provincial Museum at Quebec. The object of the meeting was the celebration of the 25th anniversay of the death of Provancher, and the unveiling of a tablet presented by the Quebec Society for the Protection of Plants and bearing the following inscription: A LA MEMOIRE DE PROVANCHER NATURALISTE ET ENTOMOLOGISTE 1820-1892. A few months before, in the church of Cap Rouge, where the remains of Provancher have been piously kept, Canon Huard erected another memorial with the financial aid of the Ontario Entomological Society and numerous other institutions. Nevertheless, all the publicity accorded to the name of Provancher fails to give anything like a complete idea of his career; the entomologist re- gards him as an entomologist, the botanist as a botanist, while the man was really the Linnzeus of Canada; that is to say a true naturalist in the broadest sense of the word, having been interested in and written competently on the various kingdoms of Nature. The complete list of his works reveals a great similitude with Linne’s Systema Nature, at least, as to the subjects treated and the divi- sion into classes, orders, genera and species. The resemblance is much more striking when we come to compare the means of study followed by both natural- ists, though separated by more than a century of marked progress in the field of natural sciences.” Like Linneus, Provancher might have said at the end of his life: ‘‘Ea que fecimus sunt pars minima eorum que ignoramus,” but we know that his life was well filled, and that his work added substantially to the sum of human knowledge. Born at Bécancourt, province of Quebec, on March 10th, 1820, Provancher received his education in the newly erected college at Nicolet. There, under the shade of lofty pines, he picked up some flowers which determined his passion for the things of Nature. There, on the dusted shelves of the library he dis- covered, by chance, an old text-book of botany that helped him greatly in his new studies. These studies were quite private, for until about 1835 the teaching of natural sciences was still in the womb of the future. At the end of his classical course, in 1840, Provancher decided to become a priest, and he refrained for a while from his scientific ambitions. He occupied various positions in many parishes between 1844-1847. In 1847 he devoted himself to the service of some hundreds of Irish immigrants, stricken down with an epidemic of typhus. His heroism upon this occasion gives an idea of his unselfish character. Though nervous and rather irascible, he concealed under a coarse appearance the heart of a true friend, always frank and generous. The active scientific life of Provancher began in 1848 with some essays 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 29 on grafting that met at first with failure, but that brought back his attention to botany through the channels of horticulture. When transferred, in 1855, to St. Joachim at the foot of Cape Tourmente, Provancher was chiefly interested in botany, and we see from his writings in various papers that he strongly advocated the teaching of natural sciences in all schools. To give a proof of his convictions along these lines, and to help to realize this plan, three years later he published a ‘‘Traité élémentaire de Botanique,’’ which was soon adopted by numerous educational institutions. With this first production Provancher took rank among educators. In 1859 his ‘‘Tabieau chronologique et synoptique de l’histoire du Canada”’ was published with the same object in view. While at St. Joachim, Provancher with his devouring activity, commenced experiments on the varietal resistance of fruit trees that can be grown successfully around Quebec. In the newspapers of those days he wrote many articles to convince the farmers of the necessity and advantage of growing fruit trees. His untiring efforts resulted in the planting of a very large area with apple and plum trees, most of which lasted over half a century, the last survivors being killed a few years ago by a severe winter. Transferred to Portneuf in 1860, Provancher continued his horticultural experiments with great success, even establishing a fruit tree nursery for the advantage of the farmers of this county. Two years later, he was ready to make known the results of his experience as a fruit grower. His new work published in 1882 and entitled: ‘‘Le Verger Canadien’’ has been until lately the classic guide of fruit culture in the province of Quebec. This little book reached its fifth edition in 1885. For the economic entomologist it contains a very interest- ing section, namely the chapter dealing with the insect pests of the orchards, and describing the means of controlling them. This was, in all probability one of the first expressions of applied entomology ever presented in book form in Canada. But it is not the first in date. Provancher is known almost exclus- ively as a systematist. Nevertheless, the first paper he published in his life was a discussion on ‘‘Insectes et maladies nuisibles au blé,’”’ an essay prepared for a competition on this subject organized by the Department of Agriculture for which Provancher received a third prize (under the nom de plume of Emilien Dupont). The first important work of our great naturalist was published in the year 1862. It was the voluminous ‘‘Flore Canadienne,”’ the first and only complete work dealing with Canadian plants. Heretofore, no other worker has dared undertake the gigantic task of revising and completing this now old treatise. Every Canadian and American entomologist knows Provancher as a pioneer entomologist, and it is as such that he merits fame. His systematic classification of insects modestly entitled ‘‘Petite Faune Entolomogique du Canada’’ fills four compact volumes making a total of 2506 pages as follows: Vol. 1—Coléoptéres and additions. Vol. I1.—Orthoptéres, Nevroptéres, Hymenopteéres. Vol. IJ1.—Hémiptéres. Vol. IV.—Additions and corrections to Hymenoptéres. There may be found the description of all the Canadian species contained in his collections, many hundreds of which were unknown to science. In the order of Hymenoptera alone, Provancher described 923 new species. Rohwer and Gahan, of the Washington Bureau of Entomology have pronounced the accuracy of his descriptions, and pointed out some mistakes in referring species to the wrong genera. 30 THESREEORD OF fHk No. 36 From 1868 until his death in 1892, Provancher devoted much of his time | and resources to the maintainence of his review “‘Le Naturaliste Canadien.” The editor filled with his own pen most of the 20 volumes of this publication (nearly 8,000 pages). Apart from insect studies that were later published in book form, this collection contains an elaborate classification of vertebrates, a study on the birds of Quebec, vermes, etc. A volume on Mollusks was published about 1888, and two years later two volumes of travels, one to Jerusalem, the other to the West Indies. Besides all these occupations Provancher found time to contribute regularly to such weekly papers as “La Minerve’’ and ‘‘La Gazette des Campagnes.”’ These articles discuss a great variety of subjects, especially agricultural and educational. Sometimes he severely criticized public authorities, for instance when the government cut off the annual grant given by previous administrations for sustaining the ‘‘Naturaliste Canadien.’”’ The life of the publication was seriously menaced three times by such decisions; in 1880, 1883 and again in 1890. Provancher’s activity never knew any limit and left its distinctive mark in many fields. He was known as a very successful organizer, as well in building churches, as in organizing two Canadian pilgrimages to Jerusalem, and promoting a steamship company, etc. In 1888, he started a new publication, “Ta Semaine Religieuse’’ a weekly review that is still in existence. During his life he had the pleasure of seeing a large group of learned men interested in natural sciences, many of them being his own disciples, whose studies he directed personally. Such were: Canon Huard, his successor as editor of ‘Le Natural- iste Canadien,’’ and now curator of the Public Museum, Quebec; Abbé Laflamme, late professor of natural history at Laval University and a geologist of wide reputation; F. X. Bélanger, entomologist, late curator of the Zoological Museum of Laval-University; Dr. Crevier, microbiologist; Dr. St. Cyr, geologist, and many others. When Provancher died at Cap Rouge, March 23rd, 1892, at the age of 72, he could see the realization of the dream of a life time, the natural sciences being then taught in all the colleges and many young men interested in various branches of nature study. He has been honoured by Laval University with the degree D. Sc.; he was a charter member of the Royal Society, and member of many European and American scientific societies. His three collections of insects may be found at the College de Lévis and at the Quebec Public Museum. All other specimens collected by Provancher have been kept with care by Rev. Canon Huard, who for the last thirty years has kept alive the memory of the Canadian Linneus. RELATION OF THE BIOLOGICAL AND TAXONOMIC STUDIES IN SYRPHIDA:* C. HowarD CURRAN, OTTAWA With regard to the relationships between the biological and taxonomic aspects of entomology, it is hoped that the question as here dealt with will not be considered in general as laying down any definite policy which must be followed. It is my hope that the subject is treated in such a manner that the suggestions *Contribution from the Entomological Branch, Department of Agriculture, Ottawa. 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 31 offered may be of assistance to some one who has both the time and inclination to investigate and reach more definite conclusions in the problems which are as yet but slightly known. An attempt has been made to limit technical phraseology to the minimum. Certain obvious facts stand out above all others; we have yet to furnish the details and connections. In discussing the relationships which exist between the immature stages of insects, and the value which their study may be to the taxonomist, it is necessary to first consider in general the prevailing views which are held by prom- inent entomologists at the present time. It is almost impossible to draw any separating line between the two schools of thought if we consider them as “schools,’’ for the reason that there is complete intergradation. The one extreme holds that the immature stages are an adaptation for the purpose of distri- buting the various members of the insect world over all the available food plants, and thus guaranteeing against the extermination of plants which might be most desirable as food. Therefore, it is argued, the immature stages, being secondary, cannot indicate relationships of the adults to any great extent. The other view is that the immature stages are a direct indication of relationship. Various modifications of both views exist, and it is very doubtful if any entomo- logist today holds either extreme as practicable. Rather there is a tendency toward an equal balance between the two, and this would seem to be the obvious basis for all studies pertaining to a stable classification. So many factors enter into a study of this nature, many of them wholly conjectural, that one must advance with the greatest caution. What may be considered as a definite group of causative factors bearing upon the develop- ment of one tribe of insects possessing similar biological habits may not apply or must be greatly modified in another tribe having very similar immature stages yet possessing definite though small differences in the imagines. It has been argued by many, among them some of the foremost students of zoology, that a character, once lost, can never be regained. If such were the case the problems confronting us in the systematic arrangement of insects would be very simple in their solution. We may consider that a character lost through the various environmental conditions will never recur as long as those conditions exist, but the whole scheme of nature is so complex that the very causes which brought about the change are themselves altered because of changes involved. Life in one form reacts upon life in another form, animal life upon vegetable life, vegetable life upon animal life, animal upon animal and vegetable upon vegetable. To exemplify this well-known but always remarkable phase of exist- ence, it is merely necessary to point cut that a superabundance of a given species of plant life induces an abundance Ji enem‘es, both plant and animai, else the plant species would develop to such an extent that other plants would find life impossible. In the case of life the prime object is the perpetuation of the species. The result is that environmental influences bear upon insects in such a way that they always react to the slightest changes either in food or temperature. Such changes may or may not be sufficiently marked to cause the fauna or any one member to become specialized to such a degree as to be quite distinct from its ancestors of many generations previous. If certain environmental conditions are more or less local, and do not cover the whole range of a species what is considered a new or distinct species may be developed. It seems reasonable to suppose that similar environment will, in many cases, develop stimuli along certain lines in more than one species of insect, indeed in insects belonging to moderately or widely separated groups. Where the 32 THE REPORT ‘OF. THE No. 36 outstanding nature of the surroundings is very marked in contrast to the general habitus it is reasonable to believe that the whole fauna inhabiting such a region will develop to a marked degree along similar or parallel lines, although the method of combating strange conditions may not manifest itself in the same way. Still, a similarity must be expected. I have said that environment is changed by the modifications it produces. All the laws of nature move in cycles and environment is no exception although exactly similar conditions may not recur. Nevertheless they may approach each other closely, and thus cause development along lines similar to those which previously existed, and we may thus find insects receiving very similar stimuli at widely divergent periods and developing much the same characters, although their ancestors may have been distinct, but closely related, species, and those forms resulting from the somewhat similar environment may resemble each other closely. At any rate we should have two distinct series of insects developed along parallel or similar lines, many of which would resemble each other much more closely than did their ancestors, or more closely than they themselves and their ancestors. . It will be seen that it is therefore impossible to devise a lineal classification of insects from either the imagines or immature forms, but at the same time it must be realized that much reliance can be placed upon lineal descent, probably in the majority of cases. This applies especially in what we are pleased to term the families of insects, but becomes more obscure and less reliable as the groups are enlarged, until, when we reach the orders and consider the near relatives of insects we must trust entirely to deduction. I say this notwithstanding our ever increasing knowledge of fossil forms, a complete understanding of which is necessary in order to arrive at definite conclusions. These forms, their relation- ship to each other and the changes manifest in the various strata in which they are found will eventually lead to a more or less definite understanding of the environmental conditions, and the changes in these conditions which influenced and produced the stimuli causing insect modifications. It is, I think, an indication of progress when we are able to attain a classi- fication of the adult forms of any family which corresponds as well to the larval classification. It seems that we have reached this condition in the Syrphide, and while much still remains to be done, and several discordant factors are apparent, it is a matter of great satisfaction. No group is better adapted for such study nor does any family present such a diverse and yet remarkably consistent group of characters from both the biologic and taxonomic aspect. Speaking generally, we have now grouped the genera in such a way that all the Aphidophagous (species predaceous upon aphids), all the wood-boring larvee, (the short-tailed maggots) and all the liquid or semi-liquid feeding larvee (long-tailed maggots) fall naturally together. There are of course, as must be in the case, exceptions. The remaining groups are varied in their habits. Some species live in the nests of ants and termites, others in the nests of bees. Those in which the larve are dwellers in ants’ nests form a compact group. In the case of the second group, the adults form a moderately homogenous group, but the larve are very diversified in habits: some live in bees’ nests, while, so far as is known the majority bore in juicy plants, although it is by no means certain that healthy plants are attacked. I have observed many adults of one of these species (Volucella fasciata Macq.) about cactus plants in Kansas and all the plants visited by the females had been previously injured by other insects. Among the Syrphide which contain almost all the aphid eating larve I have found it practically impossible to distinguish several of the adults with certainty, but the larve are wholly different. In one case (S. americanus 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 33 pomus) the larvee feed upon aphids which are exposed to the sun, (A phis pomt) and are unique in this respect as Syrphid larve rarely are able to survive under such conditions, but must seek the shade of a leaf or stem. The adult is small and dark in colour as compared to the typical form (S. americanus). The other form (S. americanus vinelandit) has a green larva while that of americanus is greyish yellowish. While there are evidently three distinct species, it was considered advisable to consider them merely as varieties. I cite here only the one instance, where such a condition occurs in our Syrphide, as an illustration of the problems confronting the student and the need of further study. I might point out that Barnes and McDunnough (Mem. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., II], Pt. 1, p. 4) have found that they have been unable to definitely satisfy them- selves as to the limits of certain species of Catacola without referring to the biological peculiarities and distinctions. I have dealt in more detail, in a paper which will be published within the next few months, with the influence of larval food upon the appearance, habitus and deportment of the adult insect and therefore feel that the subject may be lightly dealt with here. I may say that is very often possible to ascertain by the appearance of an imago, whether the larva is predaceous, parasitic or a scavenger, omitting entirely our knowledge of the habits of the species or genus as conveyed by familiarity with it. Such a thing is possible because the larval habits have influenced the adult to develop along definite lines. With the aphid feeding forms the adult has a compressed, light abdomen, or a long slender one, due to the relative paucity of food, the thorax is large and well supplied with muscles and the head large, the eyes being unusually well developed, apparently in order that the insect may readily discern aphids and deposit their eggs. On the other extreme the forms living in liquid media are robust, the head is relatively smaller, and while they are also excellent hoverers, they have a much stronger wing venation in order to carry their weight. Those living in decaying wood are, generally speaking, intermediate; while predators and parasites all havea quite different shape of abdomen, with the exception of Tachinids, which really are allied to those living in liquid media because of the succulence of the larval host. INSECTS OF ‘THE SEASON IN ONTARIO L. CAESAR AND W. A. Ross ORCHARD INSECTS Copiinc Mora (Carpocapsa pomonella). In orchards east of Toronto and also around Burlington there was more than the usual amount of loss from side- worm injuries, Kings in some orchards having as high as 50 per cent. of injury and Snows 30 per cent. In Niagara, Norfolk and several other districts the amount of injury of this kind was not nearly so great and was scarcely up to the average. FRUIT-TREE-LEAF-ROLLER (Tortrix [Cacoecia] argysrospila). There was a considerable diminution in the numbers of this troublesome insect this year compared with the years 1920 and 1921. AppLeE Maccot (Rhagoletis pomonella). From Burford very badly infested apples were sent in with the statement that some varieties had been almost ruined by this insect. Taking the province however, as a whole our observations tended to show that the apple maggot had not done so much damage as it often does. 2 ES. 34 THE ‘REPORT,-OF DHE No. 36 CHERRY FRUIT-FLIEs (Rhagoletis cingulata and R. fausta). These insects were not abundant this year. Bup Mots (Tmetocera ocellana). CIGAR CASE-BEARER (Coleophora flet- cherella) and Pisrot CASE-BEARER (Coleophora malivorella). In the oschards around Newcastle where these insects were so abundant last year very few could be found this year. This was apparently due to parasitism or else unfavourable weather conditions in the summer of 1921 and not to the effect last of winter, because in the fall of 1921 an examination of the trees showed that there were very few insects of the new generation. CANKER Worms (Paleacrita vernata and Alsophila pometaria). In several of the districts where canker worm outbreaks occurred last year there was considerable trouble again this year, but on the whole they did much less damage than in 1921. From the number of females of the fall canker worms to be seen this November in some districts it would not be surprising if considerable injury were done next year by this species. LEAF HOPPERS OF THE APPLE (Empoa rose and Empoasca mali). In the orchards around Brighton these hoppers, especially the rose hopper, were exceptionally abundant and almost every leaf on the apple trees was severely blotched and whitened by their work. In the Niagara district the hoppers were also abundant, but in Norfolk where they had been very abundant a few years before there was not nearly so much evidence of their work. In the Niagara district observations indicated that the hoppers had played an important part in the spread of pear blight. . LeaF Bucs or PLANT Bucs (Miride). Almost every year one or more species of leaf bug causes serious loss to fruit, especially to apples in one or more of the fruit districts of the province. Last year a well cared for apple orchard of nine acres at Lucknow had 25 per cent. of the fruit so injured by a species of Red Bug (Lygidea mendax) that it had to be graded as domestic or culls. This year, though many of the nymphs could be seen when the blossoms were just bursting, the owner, following instructions on control, harvested a good crop which graded nearly all under number 1 and 2. THE GREEN APPLE BuG (Lygus communis) at Newcastle this year was kept under good control both on pears and apples by careful spraying with nicotine sulphate. In the Niagara district the peach orchards which in 1920 and 1921 had been attacked by Lygus quercalbe, Lygus carye and Lygus omnivagus were not much injured this year. The terms Oak Plant Bug and Hickory Plant Bug are suggested as appropriate names for Lygus quercalbe and Lygus carye respectively. APPLE ApuHiIDs. Aphids this year in some districts did considerable damage to apples, for instance, in one orchard visited, the fruit in the centre and lower parts of Greening trees was all deformed by the rosy aphis. In most districts, however, there was comparatively little damage done to bearing trees by this or the green apple aphis. On young apple trees in the Niagara district the latter species was fairly abundant. BLACK CHERRY APHIS (Myzus cerasi). The stem mothers of this species were more numerous than usual in Niagara; Owing however, to spraying and > no doubt to weather conditions also the aphis did not become sufficiently abundant at any time to cause serious loss. GREEN PeaAcH Apuis (Myzus persice). As quite frequently happens in the Niagara district the air on bright warm days the last week in September was full of returned migrants of this species. . ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 35 ; fr Prum Mite (Paratetranychus pilosus). This mite was not so abundant as last year. Heavy washing rains apparently did much to hold it in check. PEAR PsyLiA (Psylla pyricola). There were fewer of these insects this year than last and consequently control was easier. ROSE CHAFER (Macrodactylus subspinosus). These beetles were very com- mon and destructive in many localities. SAN JOSE SCALE (Aspidiotus perniciosus). An examination of infested fruit and twigs indicates that parasites of this insect are becoming more numerous. This may help to explain the slow increase of this scale since the severe winter of 1917-18. THE PEAR AND CHERRY SLUG (Eriocampoides limacina). A young pear _ orchard at Vineland was partially defoliated by this pest, but generally speaking, the slug was exceedingly scarce. On account of the rarity of the male fly, it is worth mentioning that one was captured at Vineland by Mr. Garlick. THE WHITE-MARKED TussocK-MOTH (Hemerocampa leucostigma). This pest was present in several Niagara orchards in sufficient numbers to be noticed, but in no case, which came under our observation, did it cause any serious injury. THE PLuM CurRcuLio (Conotrachelus nenuphar). This Curculio was not particularly troublesome. PEAR BLISTER MITE (Eriophyes pyri). In the 1919 report we expressed the opinion that this species was coming back into prominence as an orchard pest, but what we looked for at that time has failed to happen. The mite is still of very minor importance. Oe INSECTS AFFECTING GRAPES AND SMALL FRUITS GRAPE LEAF-Hoppers; Discussed elsewhere in this report. RosE CHAFER (Macrodactylus subspinosus). Discussed elsewhere. BLACKBERRY LEAF MINER (WMetallus bethunet). This insect was decidedly less abundant and injurious than last year. Parasites were more prevalent than in 1921, but they were hardly sufficiently numerous to account for the very marked decrease in the number of miners. Blotched mines containing larve very similar to the blackberry leaf- miner were noticed in many raspberry patches at Vineland. In no case was the injury serious, but it was conspicuous enough to attract attention. Some larve were collected by Mr. Garlick of the Dominion Entomological Laboratory, and adults which could not be distinguished from M. bethunei were reared. These flies readily laid eggs on blackberry leaves. The blackberry leaf miner apparently occurs wherever blackberries are grown in the province. It has been found as far north as Collingwood, and this year it was fairly troublesome at Brighton. GOOSEBERRY SAW-FLy (Diphadnus appendiculatus). This rather uncommon insect was found defoliating red currants and gooseberries in the Vineland dis- trict. According to Mr. Garlick this insect when present does more damage than the common currant worm. RASPBERRY SAW-FLY (Monophadnus rubt). .This saw-fly was present in many raspberry patches, but, generally speaking, did not cause much injury. However, in one large patch at Vineland, the canes were almost completely defoliated by it before the owner noticed the injury. The saw-fly is very easily controlled by spraying with arsenate of lead 1% lbs. powder, 5 lbs. hydrated lime, 40 gallons of water. RASPBERRY Byturus (Byturus unicolor). This small pale-brown beetle 36 THE REPORT-OF THE No. 36 was quite plentiful in the spring, and several reports were received, particularly from Jordan, to the effect that it was seriously injuring raspberry blossom buds. Mr. Garlick found the eggs of this species tucked in between the glandular hairs on the pedicel of the flower and close to the bud or just on it. On hatching — the larve bore into the receptacle, and as the berries ripen, they are found tunneling in the white hull or feeding on the berry. Infested hulls turn black and soft, the berry becomes soft and is easily shaken off. RASPBERRY LEAF-ROLLER (Exartema permundanum). Leaves webbed together by this species were quite commonly found in raspberries and black- berry patches in the Niagara peninsula, particularly at Fenwick. However, in no instance was the injury serious. GOOSEBERRY FRuIt WorM (Zophodia grossulariae). It is seldom that one finds any trace of this insect in Ontario, hence it seems worth recording that it was found doing considerable damage to red currants in one locality in Carleton County and was sent in from Russell County with the report that it was injuring gooseberries. STRAWBERRY WEEVIL (Anthonomus signatus), and the STRAWBERRY LEAF BEETLE (Paria canella) were again abundant in some strawberry patches in the Niagara district. The latter was very abundant also at Campbellville. INSECTS AFFECTING VEGETABLES OR TRUCK CROPS CapBAGE Maccor (Phorbia brassicae). There was less injury than usual this year from the Cabbage Maggot. Onion Maccor (Hylemyia antiqua). This insect was relatively more abundant and destructive than its close relative, the Cabbage Maggot. On1on Turip (Thrips tabaci). On the whole there appeared to be less injury from this thrip than last year, as one would expect from a comparison of the amount of moisture in the two seasons. STRIPED CUCUMBER BEETLE (Diabrotica vittata). The beetles varied greatly in numbers in different parts of the province, and even in different fields in the same part. In Norfolk and Niagara there were several fields of cucumbers severely injured while other fields were scarcely at all attacked, the worst attacked fields being those in which cucumbers had been grown the previous year or those situated close to where they had been grown. A study of the life history and control of the insect has been begun by the senior writers, and will be continued next year. It may be mentioned in passing that so far neither of the writers has found the nicotine dust satisfactory. It stupefies the insects, but almost all recover later. MeELon Apuis (Aphis gossypi). This aphis was decidedly injurious to melons and cucumbers at Vineland. IMPORTED CABBAGE WorM (Pieris rape). This year, as in 1921, these worms were abundant towards the end of the summer, and along with Cabbage Looper did great damage to the leaves of cabbage, cauliflower and in some cases turnips. CABBAGE LOOPER (Autographa brassice). As just mentioned this looper was very abundant this fall; in fact, it has been more abundant in 1921 and 1922 than at any time for the last ten or twelve years. RHUBABB CURCULIO (Lixus concavus). Usually this insect is difficult to find, and does insignificant damage, but this year from several localities it was reported as being so abundant as almost to ruin the crop. One plot near Cayuga was visited and the complaint found to be justified, many of the leaf stalks having from six to twelve feeding or egg-laying punctures. The tissues around - 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 37 these injuries had in some cases died out and in others become diseased, so that the stalks readily broke with very little strain. Eggs were found in some of the punctures, but as usual no larve were present. Corn Ear Worm (Heliothis obsoleta). The almost total disappearance of this insect in 1922, after the remarkable outbreak in 1921, was very interesting. Only about half-a-dozen larve in all were seen by the writers this summer. Experiments with larva in the fall of 1921 and the great scarcity of the insect this year tend to confirm the theory that the insect does not winter in Ontario, or if so, only to a very slight extent. EUROPEAN CORN BoRER (Pyrausta nubilalis). Discussed elsewhere in this report. SPOTTED CuTWoRM (Agrotis c. nigrum). This cutworm was much more numerous than usual, and during the latter half of July in several localities, especially in Norfolk, Lambton, Peel and Lennox and Addington counties, there were outbreaks of considerable importance. The newspapers erroneously referred to these as “‘Army Worm Outbreaks.’”’ The outbreaks were not unex- pected, because in Norfolk on April 26th the senior writer saw fields in which the early brood of this same cutworm was abundant. At this date some of the larve were almost full-grown and others only half-grown, the average being about one inch long. Potato Insects. The Potato Leaf Hopper (Empoasca malt) was perhaps the most important potato pest in Southern Ontario. Flea Beetles (Epiztrix cucumeris) were very numerous, in some localities almost destroying potato leaves and injuring considerably leaves of tomatoes. The Colorado Potato Beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) was not of its usual importance. MISCELLANEOUS INSECTS TARNISHED PLANT BuG (Lygus pratensis). This pest, although less trouble- some than usual on asters, was again injurious to chrysanthemums in some greenhouses. The most effective method of preventing plant bug injury in greenhouses is to screen the ventilators and doors with wire cloth. This past summer the Dale Estate people at Brampton screened one of their chrysanthemum houses and in reference to the results secured from this the Assistant General Manager wrote under date of October 12th as follows: “There seems to be little question that the screening of the ventilators has been very beneficial. In the house where this was carried out the tarnished plant bug has been practically eliminated, while in the other houses the bugs have been as bad this year as ever. Further, we have noticed no detrimental effect in the matter of ventilation.’ CoILED RosE Worm (Emphyctus cinciipes). There was an outbreak of this species in two large greenhouses near Grimsby. In both houses the larve were most abundant on the variety Premier. The slugs were easily destroyed by an application of arsenate of lead. GRASSHOPPERS. In Manitoulin Island there was the most extensive and severe outbreak of. grasshoppers which the senior writer has seen in Ontario. The chief species involved was the Roadside Grasshopper (Camnula pellucida). Almost every farm throughout the whole length of the island, over 100 miles, was more or less infested. So numerous were the nymphs in the middle of June, when the writer visited the district, that there seemed no doubt that, if not com- bated, they would totally destroy the grain crop and also much of the hay and pasture. 38 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 eee Manitoulin is unfortunate in having a great deal of very shallow soil, in many fields the rock being only from two to five inches below the surface. As such fields are not cultivated they afforded ideal breeding places for the grass- hoppers. Meetings were held in the worst infested areas, at which the situation was discussed and control measures outlined. These were followed by field demon- strations on the making and applying of the poison bait. The work was then left in charge of local committees and of the agricultural representative. The formula for the bait recommended was:— IBrAD iG ie LG eaE EE aL, SEAN AUN sa ars cee gi aa tag ee 12 lbs. SAWdSt i. PAR aie ASA Ss tele ea ene ae an equal quantity to 12 lbs. bran. White*Arsenien2 01:2. 710 4... SSS ea On San 0” aac a on 1 Ib. Salblisdatee ce. DEE. iis. ad: Ge ee epee ened 1 to 1% lbs. Waters S44 totter. vg} un ete soe ee land pipiens wane about 214 gals. The total amount of arsenic purchased was 29,218 Ibs., which gives some idea of the extent or severity of the outbreak. The result of treatment was that in spite of some of the arsenic being de- layed in shipment, a fairly good crop was harvested, and the farmers, from being sceptical of the possibility of combating the grasshoppers, became convinced of the efficiency of the bait and to quote the words of R. E. Cumming, the agricultural representative, ‘Are all ready to use poison at the first sign of a grasshopper outbreak.” Cicapa (Okanagana canadensis; det. by Wm. T. Davis). While driving through the woods in Manitoulin Island on June 16th, in connection with the grasshopper outbreak, a loud hissing noise was heard. On investigation this was found to come from numerous. Cicadas of the above species. Many of these were on low bushes; others were higher up in the branches of trees, still others were on the trunks, some of them just emerging from their nymphal skins, while others had not yet begun to emerge. The cast skins were much in evidence, some of them six feet or more up on the trunk, but most right at the crown, a few being on the ground a foot or more away from the trunk. Seventy-five of these skins were counted on or close to a single poplar tree, (Populus tremulotdes). The singing was heard from various woods that day from 11.00 a.m. to 4.30 p.m., though it may have begun earlier and lasted later. In each case the greatest volume of sound appeared to come from the part of the woods where poplars were most abundant. This may be of interest to entomologists, because the species is supposed to have a strong preference for pitch pine. I regret that I had only one comparatively small cyanide bottle with me, into which I could crowd only a dozen specimens. Had I time and anything to put the Cicadas in, I think it would not have required long to capture one hundred or more; for while many were very shy others could be captured with fair ease by placing the hand quickly over them where they sat. CuincH Buc (Blissus leucopterus). In the third week in July the corn growers in Essex county became alarmed by the migration of what proved to be the Chinch Bug from wheat to corn. On July 21st all stages, or almost all stages, of the insect could be seen on the corn, though the third and fourth instars seemed the most common. Later the infestation became more general, and farmers said there were millions of the bugs to be seen in a single field. That the outbreak was fairly serious there is no doubt, for Mr. Justus Miller in his final report to the writer estimated that the total injury would be about 10 per cent of the corn crop of the county. This is apparently much the worst outbreak of Chinch Bug in Ontario on 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 39 record, and must be attributed to the very favourable climatic conditions, especially during the winter of 1921-22. So far the dry weather of this fall has given almost ideal conditions for the hibernating insects, and should the winter prove mild and fairly dry it will not be surprising if next year will witness much greater injury even than this; though in the past outbreaks have usually lasted only one season in this province. Instructions for guarding against an attack next year have been sent to the agricultural representative and by him published in the local press. Ants. There have been more requests for information on how to control ants in houses and lawns this year than at any time in the writer’s experience. The most troublesome house species to deal with has been Pharaoh’s Ant, (Monomorium pharaonis), which is evidently spreading rapidly. BUFFALO CARPET BEETLE (Anthrenus scrophularie). Many requests for information on how to rid buildings from this pest have been received. MILL AND STORED GRAIN Pests. The mild weather of the last three winters would appear to have something to do with the greatly increased num- bers of insects affecting stored grain. The chief species involved are the Indian Meal Worm (Plodia interpunctella), the Rice Weevil (Calandra oryze), and the Saw-toothed Grain Beetle (Silvanus surmamensis). CLOVER MITE (Bryobia pratensis). A correspondent from Melbourne, Ontario, writes of this mite: ‘This vermin comes out around the foundation of our dwelling house every year about May Ist, and continues to infest the outside and get inside the house by thousands on warm days for a period of three weeks or a month, and then all disappear until the next year. They crawl all up on the pine siding and all over the windows, both upstairs and down- stairs.”’ Hitherto these mites have been sent in in the fall instead of the spring. MosguiToEs. Tourists in Muskoka and many other parts of the province were unanimous in declaring that mosquitoes were never so numerous or bit so viciously as this year. The claim was made that this year the mosquitoes were much smaller than usual and worked their way into houses through screened windows. The species was not determined, but the writer observed that many specimens were indeed very small. HEEL FLy (Hypoderma bovis). There were not so many complaints as usual of cattle being tormented by this fly. NOTES ON FRANKLINIELLA TRITICI (Fitcn) R. C. TREHERNE, ENTOMOLOGICAL BRANCH, DOMINION DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE The Order Thysanoptera is rapidly assuming an important place in econ- omic entomology, and many members to-day are recognized as among the most important injurious insects of cultivated crops. In Canada the pear thrips, Tentothrips tnconsequens Uzel, the onion thrips, Thrips tabaci Lindeman, the greenhouse thrips, Heliothrips hemorrhoidalis Bouche and femoralis Reuter, the grass thrips, Anaphothrips obscurus Muller, are known and have been recorded in our literature as major pests of the crops they attack. To these we must unquestionably add Frankliniella tritici Fitch and its two closely allied species (which may ultimately be classed as ‘forms’ or ‘“‘subspecies’’) occidentalis Pergande and californica Moulton. All three commonly occur in Canada; the last named, thus far, is only recorded from Central and Western Canada, but 40 THE .REPORT-OF DHE No. 36. doubtless will be found in Ontario and the Maritime Provinces in a suitable environment. Practically all of the injurious species of thrips are contained within the family Thripide, and they all appear to have similar feeding habits though the parts of plants they affect may differ. The average length of North American species is about 1 mm., and their mouth parts are suctorial. There is a forward and a backward movement of the head which enables the minute styliform mandibles to pierce the epidermal cells of the plant, after which the mouth parts are inserted into the opening formed, pressed down to the labrum and sucking commences. A minute or so is apparently sufficient to remove all the available sap within reach, after which a new location is taken up and the same process of insertion proceeds again. It will not be necessary for me to’ describe in detail the mouth parts of these minute insects. This has been done on former occasions by several writers. It is only necessary to receive an im- pression on the general motions undertaken and to appreciate the nature of the injuries. In addition to the often pronounced injuries caused by direct feeding, which may cause “‘blasting’’ of the buds and flowers, leaves and seed pods, the oviposition habits must also be noted. Members of the Thripidz are provided with a saw-like ovipositor which is used to cut a cavity in the delicate portions of plant growth, such as the pistils, stamens, developing ovules, fruit and leaf petioles, before an egg is inserted. Microtome sections of such plant portions may frequently disclose as many as 8-10 egg cavities. This habit naturally greatly weakens the plant tissue and it is not surprising to find developing fruits, seed pods, etc., failing to mature or dropping off completely as the season ad- vances, due to oviposition injuries alone. More injury is caused by the feeding habits than by oviposition but, in examination, the latter form of injury must not be ignored. There is a third consideration worthy of mention at this point that relates to the plant breeders. JI have seen supposedly careful experiments conducted in the cross-breeding of vegetables under cheesecloth and cheap calico screens which, if they were not entirely negatived, were at least severely endangered by the presence of innumerable thrips within the cages to which the screening presented practically no obstacle. Thrips, particularly on bright sunny days, may be observed passing in and out through the screen meshes and although no immediate examination has been made at the time under the binoculars, it is certain that they carried pollen grains attached to their measurably hairy bodies and fringe-like wings, for pollen grains may be quite commonly seen on live thrips gathered from blossoms under somewhat similar conditions. It is strange that up until the present time in Canada we can only record one crop which is severely affected by Frankliniella tritici and its allied species, despite the fact that these insects occur so commonly. This crop is alfalfa, and Mr. H. L. Seamans, of the Dominion Entomological Branch, is now making an exhaustive study of the economic relationship of F. occidentalis to alfalfa in the alfalfa seed-producing areas of Alberta. He has already found that in cer- tain seasons fully 80 per cent. of the young florets and seed pods are destroyed or fail to mature by reason of the activities of this species. It seems possible that the future may show these insects to be of more than passing interest in Canada. There are, however, some observations made in the United States. In California, Arizona and Montana, both F. tritict and occidentalis are known to cause much damage to alfalfa, much in the manner already mentioned, wherein the floral parts are attacked, causing the premature falling of the flower, or the ovaries or tender stigmas are injured, preventing the development of the seed pod. In New York State, F. tritici is not usually injurious though a com- mon species in orchards. Parrott, however, in 1909, noted very extreme injury 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 41 to pear orchards in Western New York State wherein ‘‘the injured blossom clusters turned brown as if blighted, while the leaves became discoloured about the wounded areas and curled.’ Similar injury to deciduous fruits has been noted by Morril in the Salt River Valley of Arizona and in California young developing apricots have been, on occasions, severely injured. The floral parts of blackberries and raspberries have been injured also in the mid-central United States, and Quaintance even presented the name of the Strawberry Thrips to - F. tritici in Florida from its pronounced injuries to this crop. It is probable, however, in this connection that the species involved was F. bispinosus or its variety projectus and not F. tritici as imagined in Florida, a belief that is sup- ported by a later study given the matter by Watson, of Florida, who draws attention to the fact that F. bispinosus usually finds its habitat in flowers of an open structure, while F. tritict prefers blossoms and parts of plants that are closed. To wheat, oats, peas and like crops notable injury has been caused not only in the United States, but also in Europe at various times. Lastly, attention must be drawn to the possible relation of insects of this class to the distribution of plant diseases, and to the fact that many species, including F. tritici, may be predaceous on insect eggs. In our own experience in Canada F. tritici has been incriminated as a carrier of blossom infection of Fire Blight, but in the Rogue River Valley of Oregon this species is said to rank high in this connection. Sufficient has been said to indicate the possible relationship of these exceedingly common insects to cultivated crops. It is only necessary to close this phase of the subject by stating that all plants are liable to be in- fested, but that the typical habitat of F. tritici is among the florets of composite flowers, in clusters of young leaves, in any crevice where the tissue is not too tough to be pierced provided the situation is concealed. Shull, in the American Naturalist, Vol. 48, has drawn attention to this fact and records, for example, that the species is usually very abundant in the flowers of white clover (T. repens) and red clover (7. pratense), while it is rarely found in the related yellow and white sweet clovers (M. officinalis and alba). The larve, likewise, frequents a similar habitat. THE SYSTEMATIC POSITION It would be well to briefly mention the characters of this insect which has such potentialities as a pest. The term Euthrips may have a familiar sound to many present, as it was under this genus that the pear thrips Euthrips pyrt was dealt with in American literature. Tvitici, occidentalis, floridensis, gossypit, heliantht, runnert, insularis, cephalicus, fuscus, nicotiane, minuta, nervosa, etc., have all been dealt with under the genus Euthrips. The genus Euthrips now no longer exists, or, if it is employed, is usually applied synonymously with Anaphothrips, Uzel. Its use was shown by Hood to bea contravention to Article 9 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. The genera T@nzo- thrips Serville, Frankliniella Karny, Parafrankliniella Priesner, Kakothrips Williams, Odontothrips Serville and others are now erected by their respective authors to take care of former members of the genus Euthrips. Dr. Karny, ina recent issue of Treubia, has given us some suggestions in key form which assist us materially in separating the related genera of the Thripine. For our pur- poses this key is adapted and modified as follows:— Antenne 7 or 8, or apparently 9, segmented. a. Fore tibia unarmed; b. Anterior angles of prothorax on each side with a long, strong bristle; c. Prothorax with a rather long bristle in the middle of each. Scolothrips Hinds. 42 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 cc. Sides of prothorax without bristles; d. Interocellar bristles located on the sides of the ocellar triangle; e. The inner of the two prominent bristles on the anterior margin of the prothorax nearly twice as long as the outer. ' Parafrankliniella Priesner. ee. The outer of the two bristles the longer. Frankliniella Karny. dd. Interocellar bristles between the posterior pair of ocelli. Kakothrips Williams.* bb. Anterior angles of prothorax without a strong bristle; c. Posterior angles of prothorax with only one strong bristle on each side; d. Head little broader than long; fore wings not regularly set with bristles. Scirtothrips Shull. dd. Head one and one-half times as long as broad. Fore wings with a continuous row of bristles on both wings. Pseudothrips Hinds e. Antenne apparently 9 segmented. Pseudothrips. ee. Antenne clearly 8 segmented. Glaucothrips Karny. cc. Antenne clearly 8 segmented. Posterior angles of prothorax with two strong bristles on each side; f. The front and the eyes greatly enlarged. The 8th abdominal segment without comblike teeth on the posterior margin. Cricothrips Trybom. ff. Shape of the head normal. A comblike structure usually present on the posterior margin of the 8th abdominal segment. Teniothrips Serville.t g. Sixth antennal segment normal. Teniothrips. gg. Sixth antennal segment sharply pointed. Rhopalandrothrips Priesner. aa. Fore tibiz armed at the end with one or two teeth; g. Antenne 8 segmented. Odontothrips Serville. gg. Antenne 7 segmented. Sminyothrips Uzel. Of the genus Frankliniella erected by Karny in 1910, over forty species are now recognized. Thrips intonsa Trybom was erected by Hood as the geno- type, but there is a question whether it is correctly designated. Frankliniella tritict Fitch, the species we are concerned with at this time, is briefly described as follows: FEMALE: Length 1.1-1.2 mm.; width .2-.26 mm. Heap: three-fourths as long as broad; back of head transversely striated; ocelli subapproxi- mate pale yellow, margined inwardly with reddish-orange crescents; interocellar spines long, postocular spines shorter, both conspicuous; antennae, about two and a half times as long as *Dr. Karny separates these three genera on the presence or absence of abdominal processes on the 8th segment. Inasmuch as certain reduced but recognizable processes may be found in certain female species of Frankliniella this character would not appear to be so useful in differ- entiation as the location of the interocellar bristles. +Dr. Karny separates Physothrips Karny from Teniothrips Serville by the presence or absence of transverse bands on the fore wings. This character is not well stabilized; hence Physothrips falls within the genus Teniothrips. Amblythrips Bagnall and Pezothrips Karny were both erected for wingless species. Information has been received that winged forms have been taken, hence, the characters being the same, the two genera also fall within the genus Teniothrips. 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 43 the head; segment 1 pale yellow; segment 2 light brown, dusky, sometimes yellowish as base, symmetrical in outline, without bristle bearing hump and no bristles markedly enlarged; seg- ment 3, light brown or dusky at apex, light yellow in basal half (the longest joint of the antennz); segments 4 and 5, dusky, brown, light yellow in basal half, 4 about 114 times longer than the 5th joint; segment 6, brown, about equal in length to 4; segments 7 and 8 (style) brown, the last segment nearly twice the length of the 7th; spines in segments 2-5 usually stout and con- spicuous. PROTHORAX: three-fourths as long as broad, slightly longer than the head, normal; wings, slightly shaded, costa bearing 26-28 evenly placed spines, fore vein 20-22, hind vein 15-18, scale 5, interior 1; legs concolourous with body, usually pale yellow or slightly shaded light brown, a pair of stout spines at extremity of each tibia, spines on inside of hind tibie rather weak. ABDOMEN: Normal in shape, in the darker forms there is usually a brown stripe on anterior edges of segments 2-7, dorsal plates also more or less brown, tip of abdomen slightly darker than other segments, without any pale areas on abdominal sternites, spines prominent and shaded brown on lighter coloured portions of the abdominal segments. ° It is well to point out, however, that the species is very variable in colour, as is to be expected in one with such a wide distribution with so many different types of habitat. There are some very complex relationships to F. occidentalis Pergande and F. californica Moulton, which will only be properly settled by an exact morphological study or by breeding. SOME NOTES ON THE BIOLOGY OF TWO BUPRESTIDS INFESTING BLACKBERRY AND HAZEL Agrilus ruficollis and A. politus, C. B. HutcHines, ENTOMOLOGICAL BRANCH, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, OTTAWA During the past summer we had an opportunity of observing the activities of Agrilus ruficollis upon Blackberry (Rubus villosus), and Agrilus politus on Hazel (Corylus rostrata Ait). In a plot adjoining our field laboratory at Queen’s Park, Aylmer, were scattered thick clumps of brambles and hazel shrubbery upon which the beetles were discovered in considerable numbers. A study of these was begun and the notes takén have been embodied in this paper. I am indebted to my field assistant, Mr. Reginald Balch, for his help in this connection. Agrilus ruficolis Fab. The adults were first seen about the third week in June feeding freely upon the upper leaf surfaces of blackberries and raspberries, and also, sparingly, upon the purple flowering raspberry, Rubus odoratus; a decided preference being shown for blackberries. When approached cautiously the beetles could be taken easily by hand, but if one failed to catch them then they would promptly feign death, or dodge beneath the underside of the foliage, or quickly seek other feeding grounds by short rapid flights. While an occa- sional beetle might be seen on the bushes almost at any time of a bright day, the noon hours and early afternoon when the sun was brightest and hottest, favoured their appearance in large numbers. The method of feeding was for the most part upon the central areas of the leaf surfaces, where holes irregular in size and outline were made, but the edges of the leaves were also well eaten into. The presence of the small, dark, dry excrement pellets upon the leaves were always good indications of the presence of ruficollis. Mating began soon after emergence and pairs were constantly found in copula. The adult is somewhat cylindric in outline, and rather active, buprestid, measuring from 7 to 8 mm. long and about 1.75 mm. broad across the wing covers. A striking characteristic of this species is the dull coppery bronze s clfeched. © inner Grocts Eous attached, yy tevloner breck a4 Stems of Blackberry (enlarged) showing location of eggs of Agrilus ruficollis. 44 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 45 colour of the prothorax from which it derives its name. The head is decidedly dark and the wing covers dull black. The eggs are irregularly oval in outline with two sides flattened, and measure, on an average, from 1 to 1.5 mm. across. They are dirty-white in colour with brownish edges, of soft shell, and are deposited either singly or in groups of from two to six, at the axils of the branches, being inserted chiefly between the outer and inner bracts close to the main stem. Hatching begins in three weeks. The young larva on emerging approximates 1.5 mm. in length, is dull white in colour and flat headed. It always enters the branch from beneath the egg, usually at a point near the centre, although 25 per cent. of the larve leave at the edge. The empty case is made the receptacle for the first borings, which are of very fine brown dust. After working spirally around the branch, the larva continues on to the main stem of the plant, which it tunnels two or three times in the outer bark tissues before entering the pith. This girdling work causes the stem at this point to crack longitudinally in many places, producing an elliptical swelling, commonly known as gouty-gall and results in killing the branch the following year. Once the pith is entered, the tunnel becomes straight- ened out and is packed with castings and the larva proceeds to bore upwards. It attains a length of 16 to 18 mm. and is a flat, slender, white, legless grub. Winter is passed in the stem and pupation occurs in May in a specially enlarged cell. The adult then gnaws its way to the surface and escapes through an exit semi-lunar in shape. The tunnels vary considerably in length, from three to six inches or more. Cutting out the galls in spring and destroying them is a simple and ready method to control this pest. Do this soon after the leaves appear. Agrilus politus Say. This species is of less importance economically than ruficollis. It is a serious enemy of the hazel (Corylus), and does much injury by forming ugly, knot-like galls on the branches, killing back all attacked parts. The adult is more robust, less trim in outline, and somewhat shorter than ruficollis, averaging about 6.5 mm. in length and 2 mm. in breadth, and is of a dull, uniform bronze colour, the tips of the wing covers being forked. The eggs are oval in outline, of soft shell, shiny, transparent white in colour, and each about 1.5 mm. long and half as wide. They are laid singly and in small groups of two or three, and covered afterwards with a protective secretion which hardens into a capsule, brown in colour of a shade a little lighter than the bark, being quite conspicuous scale-like objects on the branches. The female, in laying, appears to have no special choice of location, and will deposit a group of eggs near the axil of a small shoot, another group beside a raised . portion of bark or lenticle, and others quite often upon the clean, exposed bark surfaces. This habit differs from ruficollis in that the last mentioned tucks its eggs safely behind the bracts at the axils of the branches. The period of incuba- tion requires approximately three weeks, hatching beginning about July 20th. The larva eats its way out at the smaller end of the egg, without disturbing the capsule and enters the bark beneath, expelled frass being packed away into the empty shell case. Several groups were under observation, and it was found that the larve left at the same end of each egg and bored, side by side in the same direction, for 7 to 10 mm. lengthwise of the twig; then branching out began to tunnel around the twig, near the surface, each circuit being close to the previous one. The branch is consequently completely girdled. This action sets up an abnormal stimulation of growth, cracking the outer bark sur- faces and producing ugly, knot-like swellings or galls, eventually killing the branches affected in this way. 46 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 The pupal cell is constructed well down in the woody tissues of the stem, and the adult comes to the outside by way of a D-shaped hole, quite character- istic of the genus. Pupation occurred this year during the last week in May and continued to about the middle of June, the largest number of adults being taken between the 16th and 20th of the month. The control is the same as in ruficollis; viz., cut out the gall-infested branches in spring and destroy. INSECTS OF THE SEASON IN QUEBEC IN 1922 GEORGES MAHEUX, PROVINCIAL ENTOMOLOGIST, QUEBEC The summer of 1922 has been a heavy season for injurious insects. Except perhaps for the field crops, all other groups of plants have had to suffer from the intrusion of numerous enemies. Fruit TREES. Fruit tree insects were at work early, and kept on attacking the various parts of the trees during the whole season. Tent caterpillars were easily three times as numerous as last year. Both species, Malacosoma americana and M. disstria have been recorded from different districts. These pests could hardly be seen in the same orchard; their distribution was local and rarely coal- esced. In Quebec district the chief offender was outstandingly the Forest Tent Caterpillar, while around Montreal it was the Apple Tent Caterpillar. Large numbers of apple trees were defoliated everywhere where spraying had been omitted or too much delayed. Tmetocera ocellana, Cacoecia rosaceana, Aphis mali, Carpocapsa pomonella, Conotrachelus nenuphar were also prominent. From the ordinary list of fruit tree insects the only exception came from the late summer caterpillars; though fairly abundant in some localities, Datana ministra, Schizura concinna, Hemero- campa leucostigma determined by no means serious conditions. VEGETABLES. It was a good season for Leptinotarsa decemlineata, which started its work early and seemed hard to control in many instances, due to too long intervals between two consecutive sprayings. Large losses from cut- worms were experienced by tobacco planters. Maggots in general, cabbage and onion especially, made a good season. Pieris rape kept last year’s good average. Diabrotica vittata, Epitrix cucumeris and sometimes Macrobasis umt- color had to be watched carefully to avoid serious damages. FIELD Crops. An outbreak of grasshoppers, about the same size as last year’s, was a serious menace to many oat fields) Damage was cut down to a trifle after a large educational campaign substantiated with field demonstra- tions carried on in every locality interested. Samples of sweet corn sent to the office proved to be severely attacked by Heliothis obsoleta, but this was not general, although this pest seems to be on the increase and may prove troublesome next year in the Montreal district. SMALL Fruits. Strawberries were affected by white grubs and Ancyls comptana, a leaf roller; no damage to blossoms and fruits were reported. Currants and gooseberries again suffered from Pteronus ribesti, that is in gardens where the use of arsenical is not a matter of regular practice. SHADE TREES. Our records show nothing worth mentioning as insect pests; on the contrary, diseases were very important and their injuries very conspicuous on maples especially. We look on 1923 as a very favourable season for Tent caterpillars and grasshoppers particularly. 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 47 rr EN EULOGIC RL SOCIETY. THE FEATHER MITE—A NEW PEST OF POULTRY L. CAESAR, ONTARIO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, GUELPH The presence of a new mite (Liponyssus bursa) in this province was brought to my attention by Mr. F. C. Bishopp, of the U.S. Bureau of Entomology, last December at the annual meeting in Toronto, when he informed me that he has seen birds badly infested with the mite which had been shipped into the United States by a certain Ontario poultryman. At once I wrote to this man, informed him of what I had been told, and urged upon him the prompt applica- tion of effective control measures as outlined in Circular 79 of the United States Department of Agriculture, of which Mr. Bishopp had given me a copy. Then as soon as my college work permitted I visited his plant and inspected a large number of his birds, but found only one mite, and that one on a feather in a nest. The owner, however, informed me that the birds in one section of his plant had been infested, but that by thorough applications of zenoleum he had, he believed, exterminated the mites. He certainly had at least come very near doing so. By this poultryman I was given the address of another man, about fifty miles away, who was having trouble with the same mite. This poultryman was then visited, and the mites were found in one of his houses, but as treatment had been carried on here too the birds were not badly infested, though the owner and his wife both said that a few weeks earlier the mites had been abundant in this particular house. I endeavoured to find the origin of the infestation. The first poultryman said he had got the mites from birds shipped in from the Southern States, but Mr. Bishopp was of the opinion that this must be a mistake. The other poultry- man thought he got his from exhibiting at a poultry show in one of our cities. I have not since had any complaints of trouble in other flocks, but would not be surprised if it should turn out that the mite was somewhat widely spread both in Canada and the United States. All the adult mites seen were blackish in colour with some white areas, chiefly around the head. Some of the young were blackish like the adults, others were nearly white. The adults look to the naked eye like mere black specks, and, as one of the poultrymen said, when on a bright winter day they cluster upon the tail feathers of a white bird to bask in the sunshine, they make the feathers appear as if dusted with black pepper. Unlike the common red mite (Dermanyssus gallinae De Geer), which attacks poultry only at night, hiding in crevices in roosts and in other places by day, this species usually remains both night and day upon its host. They can be found most easily in the feathers around the vent, but may occur almost any- where among the feathers. Some of them, however, may also be found in the nest on feathers and other substances. The eggs are oval, and glossy white, and, so far as observed, were situated in the feathers near the base where they could easily be dislodged by tapping _ the feathers. The mites are able to endure a great deal of cold, as I discovered by placing several feathers with mites on them in a bottle and exposing this overnight to a temperature which reached 7° F. Next day, after carrying the bottle in my pocket for a couple of hours, I examined it and found almost all the mites alive and quite active. These same mites were kept in this bottle for 18 days before they all died. These facts show that the pest might easily be transported 48 THE REPORT OF ‘THE | No. 36 long distances even in cool weather in the packages around eggs, even apart from the ease with which they could be transported on the birds themselves. It is possible sparrows may also be a means of spreading them. How destructive the mites are was not observed, but Mr. Bishopp considers them a serious pest, and one of the poultrymen said that when they became abundant on a bird they quickly caused it to droop and become valueless. Fortunately. control measures do not appear to be specially difficult. Mr. Bishopp found that by thoroughly cleaning out the houses, nests and brooders, burning the nesting material and placing the manure where birds could not reach it, then thoroughly spraying the houses, nests and brooders with car- bolineum and dusting the birds heavily with sulphur, the mites could be exter- minated. In this country carbolineum in most places is not easy to procure, hence it seems to me that creosote oil could be substituted. I am also of the opinion that owing to the presence of lice on most poultry it would pay to combine sodium fluoride with the sulphur in the proportions of about four parts sulphur to one part sodium fluoride. A test was made on twenty-one birds, including several breeds, with two parts sulphur to one part sodium fluoride, and, though the dusting was purposely done very heavily, no injury followed, and every louse present was killed. (There were no mites in this case to begin with.) THE GRAPE LEAF-HOPPER W. A. Ross, AND W. Ropinson, DoMINION ENTOMOLOGICAL LABORATORY, VINELAND STATION The Grape Leaf-hopper, Erythroneura comes Say, a native American species, apparently occurs in North America wherever grapes are grown. It has been recorded from the eastern states, from California in the west, from Texas and New Mexico in the south, and from Ontario and Quebec in the north. Named and described for the first time by Say in 1825, it has long been known as a pest of grape vines, and has at times caused very serious losses, notably in California and in the Chautauqua and Erie grape belts. In Canada the hopper is only of importance, in the Niagara peninsula— the only section where grapes are grown on an extensive scale. In the past there have been many severe local outbreaks of the insect in the Niagara dis- trict, particularly in graperies adjoining bushland, wasteland and other places favourable for hibernation, but prior to 1921, as far as we can learn, there was no general outbreak throughout the district. THe 1921-22 OUTBREAK. Early in July, 1921, we noticed that the Grape Leaf-hopper was present in injurious numbers in several graperies near Vineland, but we did not realize that there was a general outbreak of the insect until the end of the month, at which time the hopper made its presence known in different parts of the penin- sula by the mottled and unthrifty condition of the grape foliage. Conditions were favourable for the increase of the pest, and by the time grapes were being cut the adults were so abundant in many vineyards that they annoyed the cutters by getting into their eyes and mouths. The adults went into hiberna- tion in immense numbers, and this spring they emerged in full force, the mild winter having had little if any effect in diminishing their numbers. By the 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL, SOCIETY. 49 time the grapes were in leaf, most of the graperies were literally alive with leaf- hoppers. During the period the overwintering adults were on the vines, there were several heavy washing rains. For example, on May 25th there was a rainfall of 1.23 inches, on June 11th 3.08 inches, and on June 17th 1.38 inches. These rain storms reduced the number of adults to some extent (we found hoppers washed into the soil) but not to a sufficient extent to prevent a serious outbreak. During late June and early July hopper nymphs were present in immense num- bers, as many as 100 to 800 being found on a leaf, and spraying had to be resorted to in order to prevent serious injury. The badly infested area extended from the Niagara river to Grimsby—west of Grimsby the insect was abundant in some vineyards, but generally speaking it was of little importance. It would not be out of place here to say a word about the campaign which was conducted in the Niagara district against the leaf hopper. By means of meetings, short timely articles and circular letters, practically every grape grower in the district was made acquainted with the leaf hopper situation and also with the methods of combating the pest. The success we had in dissemin- ating this information was due largely to the co-operation of the Niagara Dis- trict Grape Growers’ Association, a selling organization with a membership of over 900 growers, covering over 90 per cent. of the total acreage of grapes. The association held meetings at different points for the purpose of discussing the leaf-hopper outbreak, and they sent out copies of the short circular letters, which we prepared, to all their members. Asa result of this publicity campaign, most of the grape growers between the Niagara river and Grimsby sprayed their vineyards. In some of the worst affected sections from 95 per cent. to 100 per cent. of the growers treated their vines. Lire HIstTory. The Overwintering Adult. DESCRIPTION: See page 55. HIBERNATION. The Grape Leaf-hopper passes the winter in the adult stage under fallen leaves, logs and rubbish; among clumps of grass and weeds; and in decayed tree stumps, etc. Woods and waste places, neglected road sides, headlands and ditches; old fence rows and hedges all afford the insect favourable quarters for wintering. ACTIVITIES IN EARLY SprING. This spring during March and early April, the adult hoppers were quite active in their hibernating quarters on mild days, when the temperature was in the neighbourhood of 42 degrees F. to 50 degrees F. They jumped readily when disturbed; however, they did not commence to emerge from hibernation until the last week in April, about the time grape buds were commencing to swell. As shown by cage experiments and field obser- vations, they continued to emerge over a period of three weeks. SPRING Foop PLants. As there are no grape leaves at the time of emerg- ence, the hoppers after their long winter siege are forced to feed on other plants. This spring they were observed first on the leaves of grasses, chickweed, dande- lion, strawberry and raspberry, but later on they were found feeding on a large number of other plants, viz.: Sweet cherry, sour cherry, apple, peach, plum, white sweet clover, alsike clover, lucerne, yarrow, catnip, sheep sorrel, Canada thistle, shepherd’s purse, hound’s tongue, common plantain, wild geranium, bellwort, trillium, violet sp., daisy fleabane, dandelion and curled dock. Straw- berry, raspberry and sweet cherry, however, appeared to be the favourite food 3 ES. 50 THE -KEPOR TORAH No. 36 plants. In a large cherry orchard near Beamsville the hoppers were present in myriads, and in walking among the trees one would hear a continual “rustle, rustle, rustle,’ made by the jumping insects. The leaves in this orchard be- came quite badly mottled as a result of theinsects feeding activities. MIGRATION TO GRAPES. About May 21st, or in other words, at the time the third leaf on the grape was showing, the hoppers commenced to migrate to_ the vineyards. The migratory period extended until about the second week in June; the majority of the hoppers, however, were on the grapes ten days after the migration began. FEEDING Hapits. The leaf-hoppers feed on the under side of the grape leaves—a decided preference being shown for the lower leaves—and by means of their sucking mouthparts withdraw the juices from the plant tissues. As a result of this feeding, the leaves become mottled, and when badly affected, large, brown, dead areas develop on them. This spring the injury caused by the overwintering adults was sufficiently conspicuous to seriously alarm many of the growers. . MatTING. Pairing takes place both on the spring food plants and on the grape. The hoppers copulate frequently and the mating season is extended over a considerable period. Grape leaf hoppers x 10. (a) E. comes. (b) E. comes ziczac. (c) E. tricincta. (d) E. vulnerata. Mating is accomplished by the male and female bringing the caudal ends of their abdomens together, so that their bodies form a straight line. Ecc-LayInc. By means of her sharp lance-like ovipositor, the female deposits her eggs just beneath the epidermis, almost altogether on the underside of the leaf. Owing to the fact that the lower epidermis of the grape leaf on most of our commercial varieties is densely covered with pubescence, the eggs can be located only with the greatest difficulty. For this reason we found that the simplest method of ascertaining the duration of the egg-laying period was to subtract the period of incubation from the dates when the first and last hatched nymphs appeared. In this way we learned that in the graperies egg-laying commenced about May 24th,* (three to four days after the first adults arrived on the vines), reached its height about June 7th and ceased during the last week of June (June 28th.). In the insectary, the egg-laying period of eleven females ranged from 18 to *On Ampelopsis eggs laid by E. comes ziczac were first observed on May 9th. 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 51 33 days, the average being 26 days; and the daily rate of deposition per female varied from one to nine eggs. FECUNDITY. Quale, in California, found that the female leaf-hopper will lay from 40 to 121 eggs. In our experiments with eleven couples, only the eggs which actually hatched were counted (it was found to be impossible to do otherwise without mutilating the insectary plants) and the results were as follows: Maximum 89, minimum 38, average 70 eggs. LENGTH OF LIFE IN SPRING. In the insectary, females lived from 77 to 87 days after emerging from their winter quarters, and males from 63 to 78 days. They commenced to die off about June 26th, and all had perished by July 20th. In the field the adults began to disappear during the latter part of June, and most of them were gone by the second week in July. On account of the overlapping of the first brood adults with the hibernating forms, we were unable to ascertain just when the latter completely disappeared. Grape leaf hopper eggs laid in an Ampelopsis leaf x 10. THE Ecc. DescripTIon. The egg is an elongate, slightly bean-shaped, soft body. It is translucent creamy white in colour, and measures .63 mm. to .70 mm. long, by .16 mm. to .20 mm. wide. LocaTIon. As previously mentioned, the eggs are inserted just beneath the epidermis chiefly on the underside of the leaf, and on any part of the leaf surface. As many as one-hundred to over five hundred eggs may be deposited in a single leaf. They are generally laid singly; the variety ziczac, however, commonly lays its eggs in parallel rows with three to ten eggs in each group. On smooth-leaved varieties of grapes and on the leaves of Ampelopsis, the eggs cause little blisters to form, and these egg blisters make it a very simple matter to locate the eggs with the unaided eye. However, on most common varieties of grapes, the eggs are completely hidden from view by dense pubescence. PERIOD OF INCUBATION. In seven experiments with approximately 200 eggs of the first brood, and in nine experiments with about 200 eggs of the second brood, the period of incubation varied only slightly, viz., from 25 to 27 days. DURATION OF EGG-HATCHING PERIOD. The period during which the eggs of the first brood hatched extended from June 19th, at which time the grape was coming into full bloom, to about July 24th. The majority of the eggs hatched before the second week of July. In table No. 1, the hatching of the 4 ES. 52 THE -REPORT/OF aE No. 36 eggs on nine marked leaves is shown. Nos. 1 to 3 were old leaves in which the earliest egg would be deposited; Nos. 4 to 9 were younger leaves: TaBLeE No. 1, SHOWING DURATION OF HATCHING PERIOD OF 1st. BRoopD EGGs. Date Leaf Leaf Leaf Leaf Leaf Leaf Leaf Leaf Leaf No. 1 No. 2 No. 3 No. 4 No. 5 No. 6 No. 7 No. 8 No. 9 June 20 3 3 1 me: ai 8 9 6 F 22 11 13 17 s 23 7 9 8 ne 24 19 5 16 fe 25 22 17 18 6 8 8 26 7 9 4 12 16 10 Dil 23 10 9 8 12 12 28 20 itil 22 11 18 16 29 19 17 10 ly 12 21 30 51 | 16 28 22 17 6 9 2 July <2 | 48 39 31 57 29 31 5 8 7 3 46 45 28 44 38 45 18 11 9 AL) 14 11 8 45 20 61 26 18 17 5 10 4 3 20 19 16 12 18 27 64 6 8 5 41 13 26 6 8 10 7 a 26 13 9 5 2 4 8 ae 8 10 26 7 8 14 10 ake Avy 21 14 10 8 13 11 st 6 4 7 3 7 6 12 if 5 3 6 6 if ifs} | 7 10 8 7 5 6 1455 5 4 4 6 3 7 15,7] 3 3 6 4 3 4 i fae 9 9 12 10 0 12 18 | 0 2 2 3 0 2 19 0 0 3 3 0 3 20 0 0 3 2 0 il 21 0 5 8 1 0 4 22, 9 4 5 2 0 0 24 6 0 3 0 0 0 Totals—| 314 231 202 503 : 287 376 142 114 =e[45 Eggs of the second brood commenced to hatch about August 15th, and all had hatched by September 10th. THE NYMPH. Like other species of Cicadellide the grape leaf-hopper passes through five nymphal stages, or in other words it moults five times. Descriptions of the five nymphal instars are presented herewith: First Instar. Size .79 to .84 mm. long by .25 mm. to .27 mm. wide. Body very frail and soft, translucent white with crimson eyes; head and thorax slightly broader than the abdomen which tapers to the caudal end; antenne, thread-like; legs, translucent white; wing pads absent. Second Instar. Size 1.36 mm. to 1.45 mm. long by .32 mm. to .36 mm. wide. Same as first instar except: Body creamy white, eyes becoming pearly; abdomen nearly as broad as thorax; light-yellow irregular spot toward the lateral margins of each thoracic segment, continued on to the head behind each eye; wing pads beginning to appear. Third Instar. Size 1.72 mm. to 1.80 mm. long by .50 mm. to .55 mm. 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 53 wide. Same as second instar except the thoracic colour markings more pro- nounced, and the wing pads extend beyond the first abdominal segment. Fourth Instar. Size 1.98 mm. to 2.16 mm. long, by .54 mm. to .72 mm. wide. Same as second instar except wing pads extend to posterior margin of second abdominal segment. Fifth Instar. Size 2.61 mm. to 2.70 mm. long, by .72 mm. to .81 mm. wide. Same as second instar except wing pads extend to the fourth abdominal segment. EMERGENCE FROM Eaas. When hatching occurs the shell of the egg and the leaf epidermis are ruptured, and the soft, round, glossy nymphal head begins to appear slowly—oozing out as it were, like a globule of sap. The nymph gradually wriggles its way out; the appendages which are folded beneath the body slowly become free, and the nymph walks off with a wobbling gait. Recently hatched leaf hopper nymphs on grape leaf (natural size). Hasits. The nymph inserts its mouth parts into the leaf tissues and commences to imbibe the plant juices an hour or two after it emerges from the leaf; and it continues to feed throughout its entire life except when moulting or when disturbed. It feeds altogether on the underside of the leaf, preferably alongside a vein or in the junction of two veins; but under crowded conditions it will insert its proboscis anywhere on the lower leaf surface. Ordinarily the nymph will remain until reaching maturity on the leaf on which it was hatched out. It was commonly observed in the insectary that, even on the plants with fresh uninfested leaves, a small colony of nymphs would remain on one leaf until they reached the adult stage. On badly infested vines, however, the nymphs undoubtedly migrate to some extent. In making observa- tions on the hatching of the eggs, it was frequently observed that leaves from which all nymphs had been removed became infested overnight with a few third, fourth and fifth instar nymphs. 54 THE REPORT (OFS REE No. 36 Mouttine. When about to moult the nymph attaches its claws to the surface and also inserts its mouthparts into the leaf tissue. The old skin splits along the middle of the front, vertex and prothorax, and the nymph with a slight wriggling motion gradually works its way out head foremost. The whole process takes between five and fifteen minutes, and the nymph shortly after moulting resumes feeding. Last moult of grape leaf hopper nymph. In the final moult the wings expand to full size as the body emerges from the old skin. The hopper then moves away a short distance and rests until the thin, transparent wings dry. The entire process takes about thirty minutes. The colour markings may not develop for several hours. The exuvie of the first four instars are lightly attached to the leaf and are soon blown away. The last moulted skin remains upon the leaf indefinitely. LENGTH OF NyMpPHAL Lire. The duration of each instar and the total length of nymphal life of first and second brood nymphs reared in the insectary are shown in the following table: First Brood Minimum Maximum Average Rirstwlinstar ti. : .: eae eee 4 days 7 days 5.7 days Second, Imstaresey: s-.-ceege eo ierer eee: 4 days 6 days 5.3 days dthird'instars: <. /o e. e ae eee 4 days 5 days 4.2 days Hourth) Instance eer 3 days 5 days 4 days Pitthelinstarsaes.. ood ae ae ee 3 days 7 days 5 days aiGtaleNympialbleiteys. ese eee 22 days 26 days 24 days Second Brood Minimum Maximum Average | 14 Individuals Hirstulnstar. ss. < 4sscae a eee wee 4 days 5 days 4.2 days Secondtnstary* an sci ee ee: 4 days 6 days 4.5 days Dhind Tastaren. 210... | 4 days 6 days 4.5 days Eounthylnstarages ee ener | 4 days 5 days 4.5 days ifth instar! 25s). ae eke | 4 days 5 days 4.5 days Total Nymphallliite ye. 5. eee | 21 days 25 days 24 days 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 55 TIME OF OCCURRENCE OF First BrRoop Nympus. Newly hatched nymphs were first observed on June 19th, at the time grapes were coming into bloom. From three to ten nymphs to a leaf, the number rapidly increased until by the end of June 200-300 nymphs could be found on a leaf. During the first and second weeks of July, the inner and lower leaves on the vines were literally alive with nymphs—on leaves picked at random from 500 to 800 nymphs to a leaf were counted. As shown in table No. 1, the nymphs continued to hatch out until about July 24th, and it was not until the latter part of August that all the nymphs of the first brood matured. TIME OF OCCURRENCE OF SECOND Broop Nympus. Second brood nymphs first appeared on August 15th; they continued to hatch out until about September 10th, and all had transformed to adults by October 9th. THE SUMMER ADULT DESCRIPTION. Say’s description is as follows: “Body pale yellowish; head, a transverse sanguineous line, profoundly arcuated in the middle» and a smaller transverse spot before; eyes fuscous; thorax with three sanguineous spots, the lateral ones smaller, and the intermediate one arcuated: scutel, a sanguineous spot at tip; hemelytra yellowish white spotted with sanguineous; spots arranged two at base, of which the outer one is small and the inner one elongated and abruptly dilated on the inner side at tip; two upon the middle, of which the outer one is elongated in a very oblique line; two behind the middle, of which the inner one is obliquely elongated, and the outer one smaller and interrupted; and a transverse linear one near the tip, ramose upon the nervures; feet whitish. “Length to the tip of the hemelytra one-ninth of an inch. “The line and spot on the head and the spots of the thorax are sometimes obsolete, but always visible, and the latter are sometimes connected by curving toward the anterior edge of the thorax. The spots of the hemelytra are also sometimes slightly interrupted, or connected into four oblique bands.” CoLouR CHANGES. During the summer the colour markings of the adults are yellowish. With the approach of autumn the coloured areas become salmon or light reddish, and when the insects go into hibernation the markings deepen into a conspicuous blood red, which colour is maintained throughout the winter. However, when the adults emerge in spring and begin to feed on the grape this colour fades to the light yellow, characteristic of the summer adults and remains light throughout life. Eaa Layina. In insectary experiments with six first brood couples, ovi- position commenced six to nine days after the adults reached maturity, the average pre-oviposition period being seven days. Each female deposited from 22 to 46 viable eggs, the average being 29 eggs.* The period of oviposition of the individual varied from eleven to twenty-two days. As determined by subtracting the incubation period from the dates when the earliest and last newly hatched nymphs appeared, the egg-laying period of first brood adults in the vineyards extended from about July 20th to August 17th. LENGTH OF LirE. The adults which give rise to a second brood succumb before winter; the others go into hibernation, and, as previously stated, many of them survive until the following July. In the insectary all second brood progenitors perished before the end of September. The females lived from twenty six to forty-seven days with an average length of life of thirty-eight days, and the males from six to seventeen days, the average being fifteen days. PROPORTION OF SEXES. The males and females of this species are practi- cally equal in numbers. Ina collection of 2827 leaf hoppers captured in different vineyards throughout the district, the sex ratio was 48 males, 52 females. *It should be mentioned that here again only the eggs which actually hatched were counted. 56 THE REPORT OF ThE No. 36 NUMBER OF BrRoops There are two broods of the grape leaf hopper, but under our conditions the second brood is only a partial one. This season apparently only the first brood adults which matured during July gave rise to a second brood. In the insectary 7 colonies of leaf hoppers which reached the adult stage during the period July 15th to July 27th reproduced; on the other hand, 11 colonies which matured from July 26th to August 17th failed to lay any eggs and went into hibernation. NATURE OF INJURY The leaf hopper both as a nymph and an adult feeds almost exclusively on the underside of the leaves, preferably close to the veins. The feeding results in the appearance of minute white points on the upper surface of the leaf, no doubt due to the destruction of the chlorophyl. These points coalesce and form white spots, which, as feeding progresses, become more numerous and form Grape foliage injured by leaf hoppers. pallid areas, until the whole leaf is mottled and pallid. On badly affected leaves brown dead areas form as a result of the death of the tissues, and in due course these areas may spread until the whole leaf is brown and dry. Severely injured foliage falls prematurely. EarLy Injury. This year mottling caused by the feeding activities of the overwintering adults was quite noticeable on the inner and lower leaves by the end of May, and later on in many instances dead brown areas appeared on these leaves. This injury, although confined to the older leaves, made many vines look very unthrifty and was sufficiently conspicuous to alarm many growers. SuMMER InjuRY. During July the feeding of myriads of nymphs and adults in unsprayed graperies gradually deprived the leaves of their green colour, and the vines became conspicuously pallid. The following month the foliage com- menced to turn brown and to become dry and curled. Badly damaged leaves dropped prematurely, and as a result of this many vines were largely denuded of their foliage at the time the grapes were ripening. 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 57 RELATION OF LEAF INJURY TO THE QUALITY OF FRUIT. The injury to the leaf naturally affects the growth of the wood, but what is still more serious, it affects both the size and quality of the fruit. This season we noticed that grapes on badly infested vines did not attain their full size, aad that they failed to ripen properly. Concord grapes instead of having the normal dark blue colour were reddish. As Hartzell has demonstrated by chemical analyses, grape leaf hopper injury has the effect of reducing the sugar and of increasing the acid content. In his experiments he found: (1) “That every sample of Concord from a sprayed section gave a gain in sugar over its mate in the adjoining unsprayed section. These increases varied from 8.4 per cent. to 68.1 per cent., an average of 27.0 per cent.’ (2) “That in every sample of unsprayed grapes except one, the amount of acid was greater than in the corresponding sample from a sprayed vine. The excess of acid in the unsprayed grapes as compared with those sprayed varied from 0 per cent to 20.6 per cent., an average of 11.2 per cent.” Analyses of Concord grapes this year gave the following results: Acid Calcu- Brix lated as Tar- | Sugar Ratio No. Treatment Sacchar- Dextrose taric Per Dextrose Be Aerie ometer Per Cent. Cent. Acid HIS pEayed. -.< ss... 16.4 13.41 855 i ley 19.18 De ISDEAVEG sc 55 +s 16.4 13.75 .879 15.6 18.66 3. |Unsprayed....... ia! 8.62 12 (Le7/ 9.90 4 |Unsprayed....... 1253 9.76 .892 10.9 13.79 ASSOCIATED SPECIES AND VARIETIES OF ERYTHRONEURA COMES Along with E. comes two other species of Erythroneura and three varieties of E. comes were involved in the outbreak of leaf-hoppers, viz: E. tricincta, E. vulneraia, E. comes vitis, E. comes ziczac, E. comes octonotata. The distribution and proportionate occurrence of the different species and varieties in the Niagara peninsula are shown in table No. 3. E. tricincta Fitch. Fitch’s description is as follows: “Pale yellow with three broad bands, the anterior velvet black, occupying the thorax and basal half of scutel; the middle bright ferruginous ending outwardly in black, forward of the middle of the elytra, the posterior dusky brown on the apex. Length, 0.12 inch.”’ Between St. Catharines and the Niagara river tricincta was the dominant species, in fact in some vineyards near the river it almost completely displaced comes. Field observations and preliminary insectary experiments indicate that the life history of this species is very similar to that of comes. Some data, secured from a comparative study of two colonies of each of the three species of grape leaf-hoppers, are shown in table No. 2. TasB_eE No. 2—SHOWING SIMILARITY OF LIFE HISTORIES OF THE THREE SPECIES. First Brood E. Comes E. Tricincta | E. Vulnerata Eggs Commenced Hatching........... June 20th June 21st June 23rd Earliest Nymphs Matured............ July 14th July 13th July 18th Duration of Nymphal Stage........... 23-25 days 22-3 dayS= ee e20-2iadays Second Brood Eggs Commenced Hatching........... Aug. 15th Aug. 13th Aug. 19th Earliest Nymphs Matured............ Sept. 8th Sept. 4th Sept. 16th Duration of Nymphal Stage........... 25-26 days 24-26 days | 27-29 days 58 THE REPORT OF TRE No. 36 E. vulnerata Fitch. Fitch’s description is as follows: “Fulvous brown, spotted and lined with whitish; elytra with an abbreviated yellowish- white vitta on the outer margin, interrupted near the middle by an oblique black line, and toward the apex by an oblique sanguineous one; tips dusky, with whitish nervures and spots; a whitish medial line common to the vertex, thorax and scutel; beneath black, legs pallid. Length, 0.12 inch.” This species occurred in considerable numbers at and east of Vineland (see table No. 3). Apart from the fact that the nymphs of vulnerata mature somewhat more slowly than those of comes. there are apparently no outstanding differences between the habits and life histories of the two species. E. comes vitis Harris. Description: “Mostly red above, with two transverse yellow lines on the elytra, surrounding a large central red or brown spot.’’—(Gillette.) Vitis was taken in large numbers only in one vineyard (Port Dalhousie) and here it was found breeding almost exclusively on Clinton vines. E. comes ziczac Walsh. Description: “Like comes, except that the zigzag line running from the humerus to the inner margin and thence to the cross-nervures of the elytron is broad and smoky or blood brown in colour.””— (Gillette. ) This variety occurred on grapes in comparatively insignificant numbers but it was very abundant on and injurious to Ampelopsis vines. On Ampelopsis the first brood nymphs hatched out and reached the adult stage two weeks earlier than those of comes on grape vines. In spite, however, of the early matur- ing of the first brood nymphs the second brood was surprisingly small. The eggs of variety ziczac were commonly found laid parallel to each other in groups of from three to ten eggs. TABLE No. 3—SHOWING PROPORTIONATE OCCURRENCE AND DISTRIBUTION. | Number} | E. E. Em- Locality Exam- E. Var. Var. Var. Tri- Vulner- | poasca ined comes | 8-notatal Ziczac | Vitis Cincta |) jatags|peemaalt See Ae ee 387 5% aescie aoa | 3% 909 eee amsay) Naroali 52 colar 710 15% Jochty See ell Mee 80% Seon 5% (Taylor) Niagara Towrship. 800 U5! Mo Seer al Ae | ee SRR ae (Bufton) Nok Township. 391 18% Sere | eee ea ge (5 met 3 1% (Lee) | | St. Catharines... ..- 408 15% Ree me pac 85% (Counsell) St. Catharines.... 510 Sh% ely SIN ee ere 58% Pes 3 x 5% (Davis) St Gatharmess.. 500 Sls BA yaa 1% Sater 48% (Coles) Port Daihousie. .. . 612 20% ican 3% e535 35% 2% 2% (Barnesdale).... 695 36% Lae 2% 2% 55% whens 71% Wanelan clap = ses 605 82% 4% 2% ae 10% 2% Arnott eee Be eee 402 52% pale 12% Se 3% 5% 28% (HESS) Vineland = ee.e 470 98% 1 ee Ce cher a hee 1% (Rittenhouse) Beamsville........ 483 05% | 1s 5% ae 8% 15% (Hobden mses raut a 419 76% 2% 1% a 7% 14% (Cox) , (Grimsboyars ena iiont 210 91% 3% Nha SNe eet 4% 2% “Mountain” Winonassenee et 310 80% 3% aoe EES on 16% 1% “Mountain” Winona eee 487 48% 4% 3% sas 29% 16% (Carpenter) Vinemount....... 380 56% 15% 5% tact rare 35% 2% *Clinton variety of grape. 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. wn \O CONTROL SPRAYING SPRAY MATERIAL. The grape leaf-hopper nymph is very susceptible to nicotine sprays, and is easily destroyed with as weak a dilution of nicotine sulphate as 1-1600. Spraying experiments conducted during the past two years with nicotine sulphate 1-1600 in combination with different materials, indicate that the addition of lime, soap, kayso or bordeaux does not increase the efficiency of the spray to any marked degree, at least it does not when the spraying is done very thoroughly. However, in spite of this, we would not advise growers to use nicotine sulphate alone. This year we urged them to combine the nicotine with bordeaux mixture, and most of them did so. We believe that the bordeaux more than paid for itself by checking to a greater or lesser extent fungus diseases, and by stimulating the vines. TIME OF APPLICATION. With reference to the time when the hopper spray should be applied, the usual recommendation in the past has been to spray when the maximum number of nymphs are present and before many have trans- formed to adults; or in other words, when the vast majority of the eggs have hatched. It is not a particularly simple matter (as we found out from experience) to ascertain when the majority of the eggs have hatched, in view of the fact that the eggs are hidden within the leaf tissues. This year we decided that the maximum number of nymphs were present by the end of the first week of July, at which time a few first brood adults had commenced to appear in early graperies, and we advised the growers to spray their vineyards the following week, July 10th to 15th. In all cases where the spraying was thoroughly done during the second week of July, excellent commercial control was secured, but our exper- ience indicates that spraying a week earlier, especially in the early sections, would have been still more effective. Two badly infested graperies at Vineland were thoroughly sprayed on July 3rd and 4th. At this time the most advanced nymphs were on the point of changing from the 4th to the 5th instar. The majority, however, were first and second instar nymphs. This spray destroyed practically all the hoppers, and much to our surprise it also apparently destroyed most of the eggs, because, although the eggs were hatching in large numbers on adjoining vines, only an insignificant number hatched in the two early sprayed graperies. In order to secure confirmatory data regarding the ovicidal value of nicotine sulphate, we sprayed leaves on July 8th with nicotine sulphate, (1) 1-1600, (2) 1-1200, (3) 1-800 and marked some other leaves as ‘“‘checks.”’ In each experiment lime was added to the nicotine sulphate. On the leaves sprayed with 1-1600 no eggs hatched for 11 days, and after that only 4.4 eggs per leaf hatched. On the leaves sprayed with 1-200 and 1-800, 3.2 and 1.8 eggs per leaf hatched respectively, but no nymphs appeared until 12 days after the application. On the “‘check” leaves 88.2 eggs per leaf hatched. The evidence secured from these tests and from the two early sprayed graperies that nicotine sulphate destroys the eggs and that eggs on the point of hatching are most susceptible, appears to us to be pretty conclusive, however, in order to secure more positive information regarding this matter, we have planned to conduct a series of experiments in the laboratory with definite numbers of eggs and with eggs of known age. And now to come back to the question of when the leaf-hopper application should be made, we are of the opinion that it should be put on when the most advanced nymphs are in the fifth instar. In cases where it takes a week or longer to spray the vines, spraying operations might well be started when the earliest nymphs are in the fifth instar. Spraying at the time we recommend gives just 60 THE REPOR®D. GF THE No. 36 as good, if not better, control of the first brood nymphs as later spraying; it practically eliminates the second brood; in dry seasons it should lessen the danger of staining the fruit; and most probably it would prove to be of greater value in preventing fungus diseases than later spraying. SPRAYING RESULTS IN THE INFESTED DistRIcT. As previously mentioned, a very large percentage of the growers in the leaf-hopper affected district sprayed their vines with bordeaux mixture and nicotine sulphate, or lime and nicotine sulphate. In most graperies the bordeaux-nicotine combination was used. As we expected, the results varied from almost perfect control to practically no control; however, we are pleased to say that in the majority of cases, good results were obtained. For example, in thirty-two graperies which we inspected in the Vineland-Beamsville section, good commercial control was secured in no less than twenty-six of them. In the other six, the results were unsatisfactory, due to lateness or to carelessness in making the application. The most important lessons learned from this year’s experience are as follows: (1) That thoroughness in spraying is more than half the battle. In order to do thorough work, it is essential to use angle nozzles, good pressure and liberal quantities of the spray mixture. By liberal quantities we mean sufficient material to wet practically all the under surface of the foliage—the exact amount required to do this may vary from 120 to 250 gallons per acre, depending on the density of the foliage. (2) That early spraying i.e. before any nymphs have transformed to adults, will give the most clean cut results. DUSTING This year lime-nicotine dust containing 2.2 per cent. nicotine was tested on a fairly extensive scale when the hoppers were in the nymphal stage. The dust was applied by means of a Niagara power duster with a vineyard distributor. When the application was made under ideal weather conditions, the dust brought most of the nymphs to the ground, and results comparable with those secured from thorough spraying were obtained. It was observed that a considerable percentage of the nymphs brought to the ground recovered, and that some of them returned to the vines by crawling up the posts and grape trunks. However, only an inconsiderable number of them actually got back to the leaves. (In one dusted grapery we noticed ants carrying the nymphs off). Different amounts of dusts varying from 20 to 60 lbs. per acre were used, but out experience indic- ated that 35-40 lbs per acre was the most economical and effective dosage. With improved dusts and machinery, we are of the opinion that this amount could be cut down very materially. With our present outfits effective work can only be done with contact dusts when the atmospheric conditions are very calm. Unfortunately, as we found out from experience, these conditions, in sections bordering the Lake Ontario, are seldom present when wanted. Only too frequently this past season dusting operations had to be suspended even at night and early in the morning because the air was not sufficiently calm. Dusting is largely a fumigation process—it is the nicotine fumes which kill the insects—and if some means could be devised whereby the fumes could be held longer among the foliage, the efficiency of contact dusts would be greatly increased. It is possible that this could be effected - by shooting the dust into a light canvas structure with a topand twoside pieces, suspended over the grape row from a boom. This idea is given for what it is worth. 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL ‘SOCIETY. 61 MECHANICAL DEVICES AS AIDS IN THE CONTROL OF THE STRAW- BERRY ROOT WEEVIL (O. ovatus L.) W. Downes, GORDON HEaD, B.C. Experimental work on Stawberry Root Weevil control has been carried on during the last four years at Gordon Head near Victoria, British Columbia, and one of the principal features of this work has been the trial of various weevil- proof barriers. It was realized early in the work that while the established methods of keeping the weevil in check by the use of proper crop rotation, and by ploughing up infested fields in the fall, were efficient enough so far as they went, yet these methods did not prevent the weevils from passing from one plantation to another and re-infesting newly-planted fields. Moreover, efficiency in contro! by cultural methods only, is dependent very largely in a closely settled district upon co-operation between neighbouring growers, and with the varying opinions held by ‘many as to the best cultural practices and weevil control methods, such co-operation is nearly impossible to bring about. The desirability Crude oil barrier at Gordon Head, B. C. was apparent, therefore, of providing some barrier or device which would make a grower independent of his neighbour’s plans. Also, weevil control by cultural methods entails the replanting of fields every third year, as even with the best of care it is generally found that only two crops of berries can be depended upon. To meet this deficiency in our weevil control methods two types of weevil- proof barrier have been tried at Gordon Head. Bothof these barriers have given excellent results, in that it has been found possible not only to keep plantations nearly free from attack, but by their use to destroy the hordes of adult weevils passing from one plot to another or from adjoining infested land, so that the menace from their presence is removed and the risk of infestation annually becomes less. The first kind of barrier tried was of the tangiefoot type, as first suggested in 1912 by Prof. Lovett in Oregon. It is constructed of 1’’x 12’’ lumber, set on edge about two or three inches in the soil and supported at the joints by 2""x 6’ posts eighteen inches in length to which the boards are nailed or bolted. Bolts are preferable to nails as warping is thereby largely overcome and the barrier 62 THE REPORTOP40HE No. 36 can be readily taken apart. Those portions of the lumber that enter the ground are tarred. A band of tanglefoot is smeared along the upper edge. Since the wood absorbs a certain amount of the tanglefoot it is a good plan to give the upper two inches a coat of paint and if cedar lumber is used this is essential. On the sides chiefly exposed to the sun it has been found a good plan to place an overlap of half inch by four inch wood. Staples are driven into the edge of the overlap and other staples passed through them and then driven into the top of the barrier, thus forming a hinge so that the overlap can be raised when the sticky band requires attention. One or two nails are driven through the tangle- foot to keep the overlap from touching. It was found that a band protected in this way lasted three times as long as one without, as the effect of exposure to the direct rays of the sun is to dry out the tanglefoot. About every fortnight the tanglefoot must be scraped to keep the surface in good condition or as often Trap No. 2 at Keatings, B.C., which captured 17,000 weevils. as it becomes dust coated and when it has been in use about three months it should be removed entirely and a fresh band spread. If properly constructed and kept in good condition this is an entirely efficient barrier, but it was found almost at the outset that it could be immensely improved by placing traps to catch the weevils at intervals along the outside of the barrier. Strawberry Root Weevils cannot fly and coming to the barrier they have a natural tendency to follow it along on the soil surface rather than attempt to cross it, so that if traps formed of shallow flat sided tins filled with coal oil and water are sunk in the ground against the side of the barrier, the weevils fall in and are drowned by thousands. The trap I have used with much success is formed of half a coal oil tin sunk in the soil against the side of the barrier. The edges should be turned back at right angles for about an inch and pressed down flat on the surface of the soil. At the back, against the side of the barrier a sheet of glass is fixed by two or 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 63 three small nails, and the tanglefoot strip brought down to meet the glass, so that the weevils crawling along the barrier are forced to walk onto the glass. The tin is partly filled with water and about a cupful of coal oil is poured on top. The traps are more effective if the glasses are kept well cleaned. The weevils either fall directly into the trap or walking on the glass slip off that into the water. It has been found necessary to fix a “‘leader’’ or strip of wood at each side of the glass to induce the weevils to walk on it. These strips are the same thickness as the glass where they touch it and are bevelled to a thin edge at the other side. Recently the efficiency of these traps was strikingly illustrated. A grower had placed a tanglefoot barrier around two sides of a badly infested plot of about one acre in extent to prevent the weevils from crossing onto newly planted land adjoining. A trap as above described was placed at each end of the barrier and one in the angle at the corner of the plot. The corner trap (No. 1) was put down in the first week in July and those at the ends (Nos. 2 and 3) on the 12th of August. The number of weevils destroyed was extraordinary. The traps were cleaned out on September 1st and about two quarts of weevils were taken out of No. 1 and half the quantity out of No. 2. After the weevils had been dried and foreign matter removed, the numbers were computed by dividing the weight of 6,000 weevils, carefully counted, into that of the bulk. According to this method there were approximately 44,660 weevils in trap No. 1, and 17,000 in trap No. 2. Trap No. 3 was not counted, owing to the putrid condition of the contents, but there were fully as many as in trap No. 2. Consequently the total number of weevils caught in these three traps could not be far short of 80,000. In each trap there were several dead mice, and in one the remains of a bird and a lizard. Their putrefying bodies gave an odour to the entire contents which made the job of counting a most unsavoury one, so that after completing the examination of traps 1 and 2 the writer concluded that he had done enough. The following is an analysis of the different kinds of insects caught and it shows that the number of useful species destroyed is not very appreciable: Trap No. 1 (in use for 2 months) NEMS read oe. 0% Lone se wd od 44,660 SJonalsidcrds 2's atin. ore teisicae Hee Rees WS RGIS 2 7) rr ee ae 33u ElyAMeN@ DLet aya ee) poce. tet erst ss eae 5 CURIEIGE SS aie ol een ae arene aes ie 77 ELCMIDtCLAtt a, aera SAAN ee + SSG es Pe ats Pkt 11 Termites. 2 vy. eee TSR eee ee 4 Sieajolay tins eae a oe 1 Goccinellidstse sitet a 4. ao eos os 6 570 12 PS eee 60 GrasshOpPenSa whorl yoo eee 3 PTEUMIERISS 5. aes lee ses 19 Trap No. 2 (in use for 3 weeks) Deer es. es CR! 17,000 SOW Wester Poe ee nereh cess as 2 32 Drer weevils... S205... ee 17 SPLGELS Fae pot wee Ged a aye eee shies $ 4 MaMa 8 is, oa estes Bohne 33 laleinauioy tage dee a ee Be ae a ee 26 SSUELTC EE SS RI Ae a ae a 5 Goceineldsrs er torte 8 igs sted oe 2 Sip Attlee es ares 8 IDIDECKArE See Te ah ee ee Sere 1 The second type of barrier combines the advantages of a barrier and trap in one. It is constructed of heavy lumber, usually 2’” x 10’’ with a V-shaped groove in the upper edge. The groove is 1% inches deep and 1 inch wide. It is supported at the joints by 2” x 6” posts, and the ends of the groove are blocked and rendered oil tight. The groove is filled with crude oil of the type used forspread- ing on roads. This kind of barrier needs very little attention, beyond seeing that the groove contains sufficient oil and that leaks do not occur. It has the disadvantage that it can only be used on level or nearly level land and on sloping land it must be built in steps to keep the troughs level and a little tanglefoot 64 THE: REPOR TOR THE No. 36 is placed at the joints where the weevils might cross. It is almost impossible for weevils to cross such a barrier. They have been seen to crawl through the oil but they .never survive. This type of barrier is at present the one most generally used by growers in the Victoria district. It was first used at Gordon Head by Mr. G. Vantreight who placed a barrier of this description between two of his plots and thereby saved his young plantation from destruction by the weevils crossing from the old plot. Later we used an improved form of this barrier on our experimental plots. Access to the field is by means of a panel which can be removed to allow a team to pass. The cost of these devices is an important matter, and hitherto there has been a certain amount of objection to them on the score of expense. The costs have now been greatly reduced, and one important fact must not be lost sight of, that these costs are not an annual charge, because the barriers last for a number of years. The barriers can now be erected for a sum of from $60 to $78 for one acre including labour, the cost for several acres being proportionately less. The annual upkeep in the case of a tanglefoot barrier would be $25 and for an oil barrier $10 per acre. The minimum time that the barriers would be expected to last is three years, and thus the total expense for three years would be approxi- mately from $90 to $120 or from $30 to $40 per acre per year. But as a matter of fact the barriers will last very much longer than this and there is no reason to suppose that given ordinary care and protection against decay when first erected that the lumber would not last for five or six years. We are still using at Gordon Head lumber that has been in use for four years which only received a coat of paint and it appears to be still in serviceable condition. It has been difficult, owing to the fact that growers have had two unpro- fitable years in succession, to induce them to spend anything at all on weevil control, and they do not realize that the expense is spread over a number of years. The average value of a full crop of strawberries in this district is $800 per acre, so that the annual charges suggested above are not by any means high. Growers who are using barriers are unanimously in favour of their use. As one of them, who had at first been rather sceptical, remarked to me the other day: “I can see now that this thing is going to pay for itself many times over.” To sum the matter up, it appears as if the growing of strawberries between barriers in a weevil infested territory was coming to be a recognized necessity. Local growers are becoming strongly impressed with the idea, and recognize that the immunity from weevil attack which the barriers provide will abundantly justify the outlay. One of the principal advantages claimed for the barriers is that a grower can now depend on obtaining more than two crops from one planting and owing to freedom from weevil the fields may remain in strawberries for four years or even longer. The presence of other pests than weevils, however, may upset this comfortable belief, but at present there seems to be no doubt that the adoption of these aids to weevil control will be of the greatest value in obtaining larger returns for the strawberry grower. RECENT WORK ON THE ROSE CHAFER IN ONTARIO W. A. Ross anpD J. A. HALL, DoMINION ENTOMOLOGICAL LABORATORY, VINELAND STATION In certain sandy sections of Ontario, such as at Fenwick, Oakville and Simcoe, the rose chafer has proved to be an extremely troublesome and destruc- tive pest of grapes, other fruits, flowering plants, etc. At Fenwick the rose 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 6 Cn chafer has been particularly injurious for a number of years. For example, in 1921 it destroyed practically the whole crop in several graperies in that district, besides injuring other crops. The high prices obtained for grapes in 1921 made the growers feel this loss very keenly, and at a meeting held in Pelham Centre on March 15th, they passed a resolution strongly urging the Dominion Depart- ment of Agriculture to send an Entomologist to their district to investigate the chafer problem. A petition to the same effect was forwarded to the Deputy Minister of Agriculture by the Pelham Township Council. In response to these requests, the junior writer was sent to Fenwick the latter part of May, and for the next three months or so, devoted his whole time to a study of the rose chafer and its control. The following notes are based on this study and on observations made in previous years. Rose chafers feeding on apples. Foop PLANTS AND NATURE OF INJURY The rose chafer feeds on the blossoms, fruit and leaves of a host of plants; in fact, it is almost omnivorous. It destroys the blossoms and newly-set fruit of grapes, and skeletonizes the foliage, although this leaf injury is seldom impor- tant. It eats out holes in apples, peaches and other fruits—we have found as many as twelve beetles clustering on one small apple. It may defoliate sweet cherry and peach trees. It may skeletonize strawberry plants, as it commonly did this past year; and much to the distress of amateur gardeners, it plays havoc with the blossoms of roses, peonies and some other ornamentals. Generally speaking, it shows a preference for the blossoms of its food plant, if these are present. The following list of food plants, in which the plants are presented more or less in the order of their susceptibility, will give some idea of the catholic taste of the chafer. Grapes, Roses, Peonies, Sumac, Sweet Cherries, Strawberries, Milkweed, Wild Grape, Apples, Peaches, Raspberries, Blackberries, Virginia Creeper, Corn, Beans, Rhubarb, Ox-eye, Daisy Bracken, Dock, Sorrel, Beets, Cabbages, Peppers, Chestnut, Walnut, Sour Cherries, Plums, Birch, Mountain Ash, Grasses, Poison-Ivy, Smartweed, Mullein, Red and White Clovers. The beetle is also said to attack: Quince, Magnolia, Poppy, Hollyhock, Foxglove, Willow, Alder, Tulip Tree, Sassafras, Sour Gum, Oak, Hawthorn, Dogwood and Elder. In the Fenwick infested area no chafers were found on the following culti- vated plants: Currants, Gooseberries, Potatoes, Tomatoes, Onions, Tobacco, Sweet Clover and Peas. 66 THE REPORT-OF fib No. 36 CHAFERS POISONOUS TO CHICKENS. Chittenden and Quaintance in Farmer’s Bulletin No. 721, U.S.D.A., state that cases have been reported of hundreds of chickens being killed by eating rose chafers. They refer to experiments conducted by Lamson, which indicate that the body of the rose chafer contains a neuro- toxin, probably derived from the plants on which it feeds, and that this poison affects the hearts of small animals such as chickens. Last June we received a report from Oakville to the effect that a large number of chickens had died as a result of eating chafers. On investigating this, we found that considerably over 100 range chickens from five to six weeks old had been killed. In a post- mortem examination, 68 chafers were found in one chicken, and 32 in another. Only one chicken older than six weeks died, and it was about four months old. According to the owner of the flock, hens and young turkeys refused to eat the beetles. A. Grape blossom cluster destroyed by rose chafers. B. Normal blossom cluster. LIPE BIsStoORy. THE ADULT The adult is an ungainly, somewhat slender, long-legged beetle about 3-8 inch long. The wing covers are reddish-brown, the head, thorax and ventral surface are blackish in colour; and the whole body is densely covered with small yellowish hairs, which make the beetle look as if it were fawn-coloured. EMERGENCE. In 1921 the beetles were first noticed at Fenwick on June 2nd. This year they commenced to emerge from the soil on June 4th, five days before Concord grape blossomed; they continued to emerge for almost two weeks, and by mid-June they were present in immense numbers. After emerging, and before invading the graperies and gardens, the beetles generally clung for some- time to the grass and weeds growing near the place of emergence, hence it was no uncommon sight to see the grass and weeds in a neglected field literally alive with chafers. Hasits. The beetles are very voracious—they feed and keep on feeding and do not even allow mating to interfere with their feeding. As mentioned before they show a decided preference for the blossoms when these are present. 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 67 Mating commences shortly after the adults emerge, and copulating couples may be found almost as long as any beetles are present. It would appear that up to the time egg-laying commences, mating is almost continuous. Eaa-Layinc. The females deposit their eggs in sandy soil—in grain and grass lands, in neglected fields, and to a lesser extent in cultivated land such as cornfields, raspberry patches and graperies. So far as we could ascertain they do not oviposit in heavy soils. In egg-laying the chafers burrow into sandy soil and lay the eggs at a depth of from three to six inches. The females apparently are not very prolific. Smith found that the number of eggs deposited by a female varied from 24 to 36, and in Our experiments with eight couples, the average was 27 eggs per female. According to our field observations oviposition commenced on June 15th, that is, eleven days after the earliest beetles emerged. DURATION OF CHAFER SEASON. The beetles were present in large numbers for about three weeks and then they commenced to disappear and some four weeks later they were all gone. The length of adult life apparently varies from about three to five weeks. THE Eee The egg is oval, smooth, shining-white in appearance, and is about 1.2 mm. long. We found the eggs laid in groups of from six to 25 at a depth of from three to six inches in the soil—each egg in a separate pocket. HATCHING AND PERIOD OF INCUBATION. The duration of the period of incubation is about two and one-half weeks. The earliest hatched larve were found in the field on July 3rd, that is 18 days after the first eggs were deposited. Eggs kept in pill boxes hatched in from 15 to 16 days. THe LARVA The larva is very much like a small white grub. When full grown it is about three-quarters of an inch long. Hapits. The larve feed on the roots of grasses, grains and some weeds, and our observations indicate that they also feed to some extent on the roots of clovers. During the summer they occur in uncultivated land at a depth of from one to three inches. They are almost full grown by fall, and on the approach of winter, they descend to a depth of six to 16 inches*, and there they spend the winter. In spring they come near the surface again and resume feeding. During the latter part of May they transform to the pupal stage. Pupation commences about the time the third leaf of the grape is showing. This past year on May 20th—our first day at Fenwick—a very large percentage of the larve had pupated. In heavily infested sections the larve are present in the soil in very large numbers. We frequently found over 100 larve to the square yard, and in one field at Fenwick we counted 549 larve in one square yard and 510 larve in another. *On November 11th, 1922, out of a total of 1,176 larve 970 or 82.48 per cent. were found in the top 6 inches of the soil, 202 or 17.18 per cent. between 6 and 8 inches, and only 4 or .34 per cent. between 8 and 10 inches. On December 23rd, 1922, out of a total of 723 larve only 3 or .41 per cent. were found in the top 6 inches, 286 or 39.55 per cent. at a depth of 6 to 10 inches, 344 or 47.58 per cent. at a depth of 10 to 14 inches, 73 or 10.1 per cent. at a depth of 14 to 18 inches and 17 or 2.36 per cent. at a depth of 18 to 24 inches. 689 larve or 95.29 per cent. were located between 6 and 16 inches from the surface. 68 THE-REPORT OFTHE No. 36 THE PUPA The pupa is about one-half inch long, is yellowish-brown in colour and has the shrivelled larval skin attached to the posterior end. It is found in the soil in a little earthen cell, at a depth of three to seven inches. DURATION OF PUPAL STAGE. An attempt was made to determine definitely the duration of this stage. Larvae and pupe were reared in pill boxes, but all succumbed before reaching the adult stage. Our observations in the field indicate that the insects are in the pupal stage about three weeks. BREEDING GROUNDS During the latter part of May, a survey was made of sections of the infested area at Fenwick, in order to locate the principal breeding grounds. As a rule, in doing this work, the owner of the farm which was being surveyed was requested to accompany us, and in this way we were able to show the growers where the insects were breeding. Rose chafer larva Rose chafer pupa or grub x 2. (natural size). Some of the data secured from this survey are as follows: Neglected raspberry patches: Six plots (1 square yard) were examined and from 68 to 177 larvee and pupz per square yard were found, the average being 115. Uncultivated graperies: Seven plots were examined and from 16 to 135 insects per square yard were found, the average being 84. Land in grass during 1821-22: Nine plots were examined, and from 18 to 105 insects per square yard were found, the average being 45. Land in oats or wheat during 1921: Six plots were examined and from 20 to 51 insects per square yard were found, the average being 30. Well-kept lawns proved to be practically free. Rather to our surprise only an insignificant number of insects were found in roadsides at Fenwick. However, this fall at Oakville, roadside plots yielded from 40 to 184 larve per square yard, with an average of 84. In land which had been planted to corn, potatoes or grapes, and which had been well cultivated during the season of 1921, no pupe or larve were found. No insects were located in clay, clay loam or in gravelly soils. The breeding places were largely confined to areas near graperies. Surveys of sections of the Fenwick and Oakville infested areas made this fall, furnished us with additional evidence that neglected sandy fields are the all-important breeding places, and that the rose chafer does not breed at all in heavy soils. It is of interest to note here that in a common at Fenwick, 549 iarvee were counted in one square yard. 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 69 CONTROL Cultivation It is very evident from what has been said that the importance of cultiva- tion as a means of combating the rose chafer cannot be over-emphasized. We have mentioned that the ovipositing adults are not attracted to cultivated fields to the same extent that they are to uncultivated land, and we have also referred to the fact that land in which cultivated crops such as corn and potatoes are grown, will be free or practically free from larve and pupae the following spring. We have no information so far relative to the value of fall ploughing or of early spring cultivation, but we do know that the ploughing and cultivating of infested fields during the latter part of May and early June, or in other words, during the period the insect is in the pupal stage, is very fatal to the chafer. The pupe are very readily destroyed by cultivation. Our field observations last spring indicate that all or practically all the pupz which were disturbed by the plough and cultivator died. In eight cage experiments stirring the soil destroyed 100 per cent. of the pupe. Spraying In 1921 two spray mixtures, viz: (1) arsenate of lead powder three lbs, molasses one gallon, water 40 gallons and (2) self-boiled lime sulphur (8-8-40), were tested in three graperies at Fenwick, the growers making the applications themselves. The sweetened arsenate of lead gave good commercial control on grapes, and was found to be even more effective on sweet cherries. On the other hand self-boiled lime-sulphur proved to be absolutely useless, and where it was applied practically the whole crop was destroyed by the beetles. This was rather surprising in view of the fact that self-boiled lime-sulphur is used for repelling rose chafers in New Jersey. Personally, we could not see that it had any value as a deterrent, as we found the beetles attacking blossom clusters and foliage well coated with spray. This year we made a special effort to get all the growers in the affected district to spray their grapes, and our efforts met with a very large measure of success. Several growers expressed: themselves as being skeptical about the value of spraying. They informed us that experience had shown them that the chafer “grew fat’”’ on arsenate of lead. However, they were willing to give what we suggested a trial. The spray mixture we recommended and the one which was generally used consisted of four lbs. arsenate of lead powder, one gallon molasses, 40 gallons of water. We increased the dosage of arsenate of lead to four lbs, in order to increase the liability of the beetles consuming a killing dose before they were repelled by the toxic effects of the arsenical.. For psy- chological reasons we wanted to make it possible for the grower to readily find dead beetles near his sprayed vines, and we are glad to say that the increased dosage had the desired effect. The growers, even the skeptics, had no trouble in finding fairly large numbers of dead beetles in the sprayed graperies. The number of applications given varied from one to four, depending on the severity of the infestation, and on the weather conditions. We had several heavy rains during the chafer season, and this made it necessary in most cases to put on extra applications. In the average season one or two sprays should be sufficient. The spray mixture proved very effective in saving the crop of grapes. In twenty-four sprayed graperies the average estimated loss was three per cent., while in seven unsprayed graperies the estimated loss was 84 per cent. 5 E.S. 70 THE REPORD IOF THE No. 36 In the grapery which we sprayed, three applications of sweetened arsenate of lead gave almost perfect protection. The chafer injury was so trifling that we did not attempt to express it in terms of a percentage. Sweet cherry trees, one-year-old strawberry patches, cabbages and peppers were also sprayed with sweetened arsenate of lead, and in all cases the spray gave good results. OTHER SPRAY MATERIALS. Three applications of bordeaux mixture with an excess of lime (4-25-40) proved to be useless as a deterrent. Practically all the blossoms were destroyed on the row sprayed with this material. Calcium arsenate (three lbs. powder, five lbs. hydrated lime, 40 gallons), was quite in- effective in protecting the crop. A 10 per cent. nicotine sulphate dust was also tested, but failed to kill the beetles. Recommendations for Control Our present recommendations for the control of the rose chafer are as follows: In affected districts an organized effort should be made to reduce waste sandy land to a minimum. As much of the land as possible should be worked, and, if possible, fields should not be left in grass for longer than one season. As much as possible of the land surrounding the vineyards should be kept in cultivated crops, such as corn and potatoes. Old neglected fence rows should be broken up. All breeding places should be ploughed and cultivated frequently at the tume the chafers are in the pupal stage, that is, from about May 20th to June 10th. Grape vines, sweet cherry trees and one-year-old strawberry patches should be sprayed as soon as the beetles attack them with arsenate of lead powder four lbs., cheap molasses one gallon, water 40 gallons. Especially in the case of graperies one, two or more extra applications may be necessary, the number of sprays of course depending on the severity of the infestation and also on the weather conditions, in view of the fact that heavy rains wash the material off. We have no information relative to the value of this spray as a means of pro- tecting apples. OVIPOSITION OF HYPERA PUNCTATA H. F. Hupson anp A. A. Woop, DOMINION ENTOMOLOGICAL LABORATORY, STRATHROY During our preliminary studies on the life history of the clover leaf weevil, the opportunity to study the act of oviposition has occasionally occurred. So far as the present writers are aware the published data on this rather interesting point is somewhat meagre, and these observations may add something to our general knowledge. They have all been made under insectary conditions, at different hours of the day and night, and may to a certain extent coincide with conditions as met with in the field. In choosing a suitable location for egg deposition un- usual care is exercised. The fresh succulent petioles with a more or less solid stem are never chosen unless to deposit a mass on the side of the stem. A petiole that is mature or slightly withered, having a partially hollow centre, is usually selected. Generally eggs are introduced into the petiole through a very small puncture, just above the sheath, or about 34 inch below the leaflets, although they may be placed anywhere along the stem. Large masses may be laid out- side on the petiole or in the sheath; in the latter case a small puncture is made 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. il in the side and the eggs introduced. Eggs may sometimes be laid on the glass, but this is rather unusual except with the first batch of eggs, which is usually infertile. When opportunity was given eggs were freely laid in wheat stems. Temperature perhaps is a more important factor in egg laying than darkness. A cold night will retard egg laying, in fact at a temperature between 45° and 50° egg laying ceases. Cool nights also retard feeding, but with the morning sun the beetles become active and egg laying may be accomplished at any hour of the day. Were it not for these daytime ovipositions these observations would never have been recorded, for to approach the breeding cage at night with a light will instantly cause the female to leave the plant and seek seclusion. But in the daytime when the female has started in earnest to lay, the hand lens may be safely used for she will not leave her work or position. The following are some notes made during the act of oviposition: Morning of September 15th. The female in breeding cage No. 17 was noticed to be very uneasy walking up and down the plant, and carefully surveying the situation. Having selected a petiole that seemed suitable to her liking the leaf was severed in six minutes. After accomplishing this she secreted herself beneath the leaf. Remaining there only a few minutes she proceeded up the stem again. Bracing herself to the petiole, she began rasping a small hole. She did not feed. Just a minute was required to make the opening. Thirty- six movements of the body were noted in the placing of nine eggs. The time occupied was a little over seven minutes. Contrary to the observations of some authors the eggs are forced up or down the stem by the ovipositor not by 'the rostrum. The beetle under observation did not change her position, and when the stem was opened it was found there were five eggs above the puncture, two below, and the balance inserted at the puncture. Those at the base and nearest the puncture were more compressed than those higher in the petiole. This is quite frequent, and can be commonly observed in splitting open a small stem. An egg puncture is quite different to a feeding puncture. In the latter case the puncture is larger and smooth, while in the former it is much smaller and the opening is left rough. September 19th. Visiting the insectary at 12.45 p.m. a female was observed completing an egg mass of nine eggs on a green petiole, near the base of the plant. An egg puncture had been made, but for some reason did not prove satisfactory, and the mass was laid at the side of the puncture. She was hanging on the stem, head downwards, just below the egg mass, and for nearly one minute continued to probe the eggs with the genital plates until they were adhering to each other and to the plant. They were noticed to be quite “rubbery,” indentations made by each thrust of the plates were quite deep, but the egg instantly regained its shape, no mark being left on the shell. Contrary to expectations the beetle did not inspect her completed work, but walked away without turning around. After a tour around the cage she ate nearly half a clover leaf and retired to seclusion. The elasticity of the egg was tested with a needle and found to be very great, fully equal to the strain of being pushed up a hollow petiole. In hundreds of eggs examined which were laid inside the petiole not a single egg was found to be broken. October 10th. At 8.24 a.m. a female was observed making a puncture in the under side of a horizontal petiole. She reversed her position, inserting her ovipositor immediately, and in three minutes laid a single egg in the cavity. After withdrawing the ovipositor two minutes were spent in sealing the aperture. In an egg puncture no material is eaten out. A small hole is chiselled through and the opening made by bending back the little flap of tissue like a hinge. If 2. THE REPORT OF ‘THE No. 36 no egg is left in the opening this is all smoothed down and usually sealed tight with a glue-like secretion used on the eggs.. The present instance, however, was the only one noted where no liquid was used in the operation. Whether due to the position of hanging under the petiole or not could not be seen. The plant was throughly examined but found to contain only three eggs. Feeling certain that all eggs for the day had not been laid the beetles were transferred to a more inviting plant. The female at once proceeded to make a puncture in a petiole one-half inch above the sheath. This operation took five minutes, then the position was reversed with head down. One egg was laid in three and one-half minutes. Very little movement of the body was noted in the process. After the egg had passed into the ovipositor it was forced cut by pressure from the genital plates. When the ovipositor was withdrawn two eggs were on the surface laid in one and one-half minutes. The most remarkable feature of external oviposition is the drastic treatment given the egg mass after being laid on the outside of the plant. The genital plates are partially opened, to be used as a battering ram, the eggs being pounded about with such apparent carelessness, that it seems strange they are not all broken. A copious flow of liquid, and a rubbery pliant egg shell is all that saves them from destruction. This cementing process occupies two to three minutes, a little fluid being secreted at intervals on the eggs, and the plant surface where the eggs are to be fastened. This continual battering of the eggs finally forces them all together, and in close contact with the freshly glued stem surface. where they are fairly secure after the liquid dries. This beetle, which had been under close observation with the hand lens, rested a few moments, then made a puncture in the sheath of the same petiole, reversed her position and at once began to lay a mass. Twenty- four eggs were deposited in twenty-five minutes. The mass was well coated with fluid. The eggs were all introduced through the puncture in the same way, each egg pushing the one before it farther in. THE SUNFLOWER MAGGOT (Siraussia longipennis Wied.) J. Eric BRINK The cultivated sunflower is coming to hold a very important place as a silage crop in Western Canada and in other regions where corn does not thrive. The utilization of this plant as a feed for dairy cows is economically important, not only for the reason that it is well adapted for soiling and silage purposes, but because it is suited to a wide variation of climatic and soil conditions. It is an exceptionally hardy plant, even resisting 5° or 6° of frost. Corn has always been looked upon as the king of silage crops in sections where it is grown. But the European Corn Borer is proving to be a serious pest to the corn grower. The wave of the Chinch Bug northward in the great corn belt has made farmers in certain sections actually abandon its cultivation. So far the sunflower has been immune to the ravages of the European Corn Borer and also of the Chinch Bug. From this one can readily see that the sunflower is gaining recognition as a silage crop. As the old saying is ‘‘There is a bug for everything,” so the sun- flower has its enemy in the sunflower maggot. The earliest record found in regard to this fly was in 1887, when it was discovered in the State of Maine ovipositing in sunflower stalks. Since then it has been recorded in California, Maine, New York, Alberta, and Ontario, showing that it is generally distributed 1923 | ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 73 over the North American continent. Its host plant is almost entirely the sun- flower, both cultivated and wild. It has however, been found attacking peat: salem artichokes (Helianthus tuberosus L). The sunflower fly is a true dipterous fly belonging to the family Tmnetides: The general colour of the adult is yellow; a few black hairs on both the upper and lower surface of the thorax; legs medium length resembling the body in colour. The abdomen is a little narrower than the thorax, and is slightly darker in appearance, owing to the numerous black hairs that cover it. On an average the wings are seven m.m. long and three m.m. wide; the entire margin is armed with small black bristles. The banding of the wings resembles somewhat the letters “‘U F,”’ as you may see from the specimens passed around. The time at which the first flies emerge would depend somewhat on the temperature and moisture conditions. It would also vary in different localities. At Port Stanley this summer the first fly was found on the 29th of May. The maximum emergence was from June 3rd to June 14th; adults may, however, continue to emerge up to August. Of all the flies throughout the season approxi- mately 60 per cent. were females. The average length of life of the flies is 21 days, although some lived in cages for a much longer time. It was very difficult to find out definitely the pre-oviposition period but it is believed to be about 13 days. Before laying the female moves from plant to plant in a very nervous and restless manner until she finds a suitable spot. She then rises on her feet and inserts her sharp sting-like ovipositor by repeated thrusts. The whole operation requires from 30 to 40 seconds. In 14 feet of wild sunflower stalk there were 53 punctures and only 31 eggs, showing that only 58.5 per cent. of the punctures contain eggs. The egg is very small, semi-transparent, almost elliptical, and about three times as long as wide. It is perfectly smooth. The egg requires from five to six days to hatch. The larva is cream coloured. The body consists of 13 segments and is stout, tapering gradually to the anterior end. It is from seven to eight m.m. long when full grown and 1.5 to 2 m.m. wide. The injury is caused by the larve. They scratch the pith with two small black hooks, and then suck up the juice, soon causing the pith to turn brown or black. As the larve grow they work towards the ground, and by the end of the season in many stalks the whole of the pulp is eaten out, thus weakening the stalk and causing many to fall over. On September 27th fully 1,400 stalks were counted, and 10.4 per cent. of them had broken over. In many of the stalks a mold sets in where the pulp has been destroyed. We tried to have the infested stalks analysed to find the actual loss in food value. But the chemistry depart- ment said that they could not determine that. Counts were also made of the seeds in the heads of the infested sunflowers. Approximately 50 per cent. of the seeds were empty. Counts were also made of the heads in uninfested stalks and 13 per cent. of the seeds wereempty. This shows that 37 per cent. of the seeds fail to develop, directly due to this fly. The maggots remain in the stalk from the time they hatch until the fall, when they leave the stalk, and enter the ground to pupate. This year they began to pupate the 8th of September, and all had left the stalks by the 21st of Septem- ber. The larve near the base enter the ground right through the stalk, while others further up bore their way out wherever they are and drop to the ground, No control measures have as yet been worked out. At the California Experi- mental Station attempts were made to control these flies with the hydrocarbons 74 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 and oil of citronella, but this was a complete failure. Since the adult flies have similar feeding habits to the cherry fruit flies, I believe that the same control could be used, 7.e., spraying with arsenate of lead. However, this is still to be tested. NOTES ON THE SEED POTATO MAGGOT (Hylemyia trichodactyla Rond.) G. H. HammMonp, ENTOMOLOGICAL BRANCH, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, OTTAWA. There are few records of injury by the Seed Potato Maggot from North America, and, so far as can be determined, there are no records of injuries by this insect to turnips. The following notes are now presented in reference to this crop as the result of some observations made during the past summer (1922) at Ottawa. On August 2nd, a report was received by the Dominion Entomological Branch of severe root injury to turnips in a field near Ottawa. Investigation showed that the tap root of the plants was being cut through about the ground level. The injured surfaces were found to be rather evenly cut, the root being completely separated from the plant in many instances. In all the plants examined there was no evidence of direct tunneling into the turnips. On the date above mentioned the roots were approximately two inches in diameter and the injured seedlings were, in the majority of cases, already shrivelled and dying, and some which survived the initial injury were throwing out a lateral root system. In an acre fully 65 per cent. of the plants were attacked and approx- imately 50 per cent. of the plants were injured beyond hope of recovery. In many cases all of the plants in ten feet of row were destroyed. The injury was not localized, but was distributed generally throughout the field. The owner, Mr. W. F. Bell, stated that the injury had been noted for over a week and that the type of injury was new to him. wy In an examination of the injured roots, puparia were found in the sandy soil two inches deep and within half-an-inch from the root. These puparia resembled those of the Cabbage Maggot (H. brassice), but were somewhat smaller. Some larve were also found feeding in the slight hollows on the upper portions of the main root at the ground level. These larve, on a superficial examination, resembled the Seed-corn Maggot (Hylemyia cilicrura). Adults were reared in due course and they have been identified by Mr. H. C. Huckett, of the Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva, N.Y., as Hi. trichodactyla Rond. From an article by Johanssen in the Journal of Economic Entomology, Vol. XIV., December, 1921, this insect is recorded in Canada from Truro, N.S., and Sandford, Ont. In the Canadian National Collection of insects there are eleven specimens of Hylemyia trichodactyla, three collected by Mr. W. Metcalfe, at Brockville, dated September 13th and 20th, 1903; seven by the late Dr. James Fletcher, at Ottawa, dated August 25th, 1908, and one from Chateauguay Basin, dated August, 1910, probably collected by J. F. Jack. The specimens collected by Dr. Fletcher were taken off asters, according to information on the pinned specimens; it seems unlikely that they were reared from asters, but were probably taken from these plants in general collecting. 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 75 To these records we may now add those reared from turnips at Ottawa, which became adult on August 21st and 22nd, 1922, after a puparium stage of approximately seventeen days. In Europe, reports of injury from this species apparently are common. Young cucumber vines, beans, asparagus and seed potatoes are recorded as being injured. In America the seed potato seems to be most commonly attacked, hence the name. Johanssen, in the former reference, states that the species is “widely dis- tributed,” but reports of injury to crops are rare and very little is known of the life-history in America. Females of H. cilicrura and H. trichodactyla are difficult to distinguish, but the males may be separated by the armature of the middle tarsus, which in the latter species has a few long bristly hairs on the upper (extensor) side of basal segment. The larval characters, of which an account is given by Johanssen, show the close relationship of this species to H. cilicrura, H. brassice and H. antiqua; but from the structure of the mouth hooks H. trichodactyla is probably more closely allied to H. brassice than the others. 76 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 THE ENTOMOLOGICAL RECORD, 1922 NORMAN CRIDDLE AND C. HOWARD CURRAN, ENTOMOLOGICAL BRANCH, DOMINION DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, OTTAWA We regret that the records of rare captures available for the Entomological Record of 1922, are largely from collectors in the Dominion Government service; in other words, from professional rather than from amateur collectors. A few exceptions occur, however, more noticeably in Manitoba, and we have to par- ticularly express our appreciation of Mr. J. B. Wallis, who has sent in a long list carefully arranged in order for inclusion in the Record. As is well known, the Entomological Record was originated by the late Dr. James Fletcher largely to aid and encourage amateur collectors, and its maintainance has been mainly with that object in view. We hope, therefore, that the present, number will prove useful in that respect. We would urge once again the necessity of sending in records in good time in order that we may have the manuscript in the printers’ hands by the first of February. It should be of general interest to Canadian collectors to know that the Systematic Staff of the Entomological Branch has now made sufficient headway in arranging the collections to be able to determine the species of several orders with accuracy. This is now true of Lepidoptera, Diptera, with some exceptions, Ephemeridze, Odonata, Orthoptera and certain Coleoptera. We hope this fact will be taken advantage of by those who find difficulty in determining insect material. There is still a great deal to be done by Canadian collectors before the many rich entomological fields have been adequately explored. Hundreds of new species await the collector and many others will have to be taken before an accurate idea of our insect fauna is available. We wish once again to express our indebtedness to our fellow-workers in the United States and in Europe for assistance in determining species in various groups and for that courtesy which we believe is proverbial among Entomological workers. There has been some overlapping in years due to publications not appear- ing on time. Several of the 1922 numbers have not been issued at this date. NOTES OF CAPTURES Species preceded by an asterisk (*) described since the last Record was prepared. LEPIDOPTERA Pieridze 63. Eurymus interior Scud. Algonquin Park, Ont., June 17, (J. Mc- Dunnough); Victoria Beach, Man., (G. S. Brooks). Lycenide : 430. Plebetus sepiolus Bdv. Algonquin Park, Ont., June 17, (McDunnough). 432. Plebetus yukona Holl. Edmonton, Alta., July (D. Mackie). Sphingide 749. Amphion nessus Cram. Victoria Beach, Man., May 24, (Brooks). Arctiidae 955, Duacrisia vagans kasloa Dyar. Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans). ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. hd Rhodophora gaure A. & S. Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans). Schinia jaguarina Gn. Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans). Copablepharon longipennis Grt. Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans). Euxoa brevipennisSm. Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans). New to Canada. Euxoa detersa Wik. Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans). Euxoa intrita form strigilis Grt. Edmonton, Alta., Aug., (D: Mackie). Lycophotia nanalis Grt. Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans). New to Canada. Xylotype arcadia B. & B. Digby, N.S., Sept. 1907, (J. Russell). Barnes and Benjamin, Cont. Nat. Hist. Lep. N.A., Vol. V, No. 1, 1922. Oncocnemis lepipoloides McD. Lethbridge, Alta., Aug. 24, (H. L. Seamans). Oncocnemis youngt McD. Departure Bay, B.C., Aug., (C. H. Young). Oncocnemis columbia McD. Salmon Arm, B.C., July, (W.R. Buckell). Trachea pluraloides McD. Lethbridge, Alta., July, (Seamans). Euplexia veresimtlis McD. Ottawa, Ont., (J. McDunnough). The above five species described in Can. Ent., Vol. LIV, No. 10, 1922. . Graptolitha tepida atincta Sm. Edmonton, Alta., Aug., (Mackie). Contstra signata Frch. Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans). New to Canada. Escaria homogena McD. Lethbridge, Alta., June 28, (W. Carter). Can. Ent:,; Vol. LIV, No: 10, 1922: Acopa perpallida Grt. Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans). New to Canada. Menopsimus caducus Dyar. Edmonton and Nordegg, Alta., (Bowman). Stiria rugifrons Grt. Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans). New to Canada. Bellura diffusa Grt. Edmonton, Alta., June, (R. Atcheson). . Sarrothripus revayana lintnerana Spey. Edmonton, Alta., July, (Mackie). 3055. Catocala parta Gn. Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans). 3056. Catocala luciana Stkr. Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans). New to Canada. 3094. Catocala gracilis Edw. Victoria Beach, Man., (Wallis aud Brooks); Malarche, Ont., (L. H. Roberts). 3013. Catocala ultrontia Hbn. Rosebank, Man., (Davidson and Wallis); Victoria Beach, Man., Aug., (Brooks and Wallis). * Catocala orion McD. Lethbridge, Alta., Aug. 31., (Seamans). Can, hat. Vol. LIV, No. 12> 1922. 3333. Syneda allent Grt. Victoria Beach, Man., June, (Brooks). 3562. Bomolocha bijugalis Wik. Edmonton, Alta., July, (Mackie). 3571. Bomolocha toreuta Grt. Edmonton, Alta., July, (Atcheson). Notodontide * Cerura occidentalis gigans McD. Raleaby: Alta., (Wolley Dod). Can.) Ent rVol. LIV; «Ne: 641922. Drepanide 3758. Oreta irrorata Pack. St. Vital, Man., July (J. D. Suffield). 3760. Drepana arcuata form geniculata Grt. Victoria Beach, Man., Aug., (Wallis). Geometride * Lygris lugubrata bowmani Swt. and Cass. Cadomin, Alta., Aug.. 6 E.S. 1919, (Bowman). Lepidopterist, Vol. III, No. 9, 1922. 78 THE REPORT OF THe No. 36 * Xanthorhoe aquilonaria Swt. and Cass. Atlin, B.C., June, 1914. * —Xanthorhoe incursata harveyata Swt. and Cass. Vancouver, B.C., July, (R. V. Harvey). These two species described in Lepidopterist, Vol. III, No. 8, 1922. * Xanthorhoe ramaria delectaria Swt. and Cass. Atlin, B.C., June 28, 1914, (E. H. Blackmore). Lepidopterist, Vol. III, No. 9, 1922. 4148. Eupithecia obumbrata Taylor. Edmonton, Alta., July, (Mackie). Eupithecia nordeggensis Swt. and Cass. Pocahontas, Alta., June, 1918, * (Bowman). * Eupithecia stikineata Swt. and Cass. Stikine, B.C., May, 1905, (Blackmore). * Eupithecia anataria Swt. and Cass. Goldstream, B.C., Sept., (Black- more). The above described in Lepidopterist, Vol. III, 1922. 4486. Nepytia canosaria Wik. Victoria Beach, Man., Aug., (Wallis). 4654. Ellopia fiscellaria Gn. Edmonton, Alta., Sept., (Atcheson). Pyralide 5415. Thaumatopsis pectinifer Zell. Aweme, Man., Aug., (Criddle). Pyraustra ainsliet Hein. Wawanesa, Man., (E. Criddle); in wild parsnip; Rockcliffe, Ont., (Young). 5585. Glyptocera consobrinella Zell. Aweme, Man., June, (Criddle). * Scoparia truncatalis McD. Norway Point, Lake of Bays, Ont., July, (McDunnough). * Acrobasis alnella McD. Ottawa, Ont., July, (McDunnough). The above in Can. Ent., Vol. LIV., No. 2, 1922. Gelechiidz 6355. Tvrichoiaphe flavocostella Clem. Aweme, Man., June, (Criddle). 6376. Trichotaphe fernaldella Busck. Aweme, Man., May, (Criddle). Eucosmidze * Exartema troglodanum McD. Meach Lake, Que., June, (Young). * Exartema furfuranum McD. Ottawa, Ont., June, (Young). * Exartema rusticanum McD. Onah, Man., July, (Criddle). * Exartema fraternanum McD. Ottawa, Ont., July, (Young). * Exartema terminanum McD. Ottawa, Ont., July, (James Fletcher). * Argyroploce apateticana McD. (deceptana McD.). Ottawa, Ont., July, (Young). * Argyroploce tertiana McD. Ottawa, Ont., June 15, (Young). * Argyroploce buckellana McD. Salmon Arm, B.C., May 28, (W. R. Buckell). Argyroploce sordidana McD. Nordegg, Alta., July, (McDunnough). | Argyroploce thallasana McD. Aweme, Man., July, (Criddle). Argyroploce aspasiana McD. Mer Bleue, and Ottawa, Ont., July, (Young). * Argyroploce castorana McD. Nordegg, Alta., July, (McDunnough). * Argyroploce polluxana McD. Nordegg, Alta., July, (McDunnough). * Argyroploce carolana McD. Ottawa, Ont., June, (Young). * Argyroploce vulgana McD. Nordegg, Alta., July, (McDunnough). * Argyroploce nordeggana McD. Nordegg, Alta., July, (McDunnough). The above new species described in Can. Ent., Vol. LIV, No. 2, 1922. 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 79 6974. Eucosma transmissana Wlk. Aweme, Man., June, July, (Criddle). 7102. Thiodia octopunctana Wishm. Tressbank, Man., July, (Criddle). 7203. Ancylis tineana Hbn. Aweme, Man., May 25, (Criddle). Tortricide 7282. Adoxophyes furcatana Wals. Aweme, Man., June, (Criddle). Tortricodes horariana Wals. Aweme, Man., Sept. 20, (Criddle). COLEOPTERA (Arranged according to Leng’s Catalogue of the Coleoptera of America North of Mexico—1i920.) Cicindelide 45. Cuicindela limbalis K\. Ft. Norman, N.W.T., Aug. 9, (C. H. Crickmay). Not quite typical. 45b. Cicindela limbalis spreta Lec. Ft. Wrigley, N.W.T., July 23, (Crick- may). 53. Cuicindela tranquebarica Hbst. Ft. Norman, N.W.T., Aug., 14, (Crickmay). 59. Cicindela longilabris Say. Victoria Beach, Man., July-Aug., (Roberts, Brooks, Wallis). * Cicindela fulgida wallisi Cald. Penticton, B.C., Aug. 13, 1909, (J. B. Wallis); Okanagan, B.C., Aug, 22, 1914, (Tom Wilson). * Cicindela fulgida westburnei Cald. Westburne, Man., Aug. 14, (Wallis). The above two species described in Can. Ent., Vol. LIV, No. 3, 1922. Carabide * Elaphrus chairivelli frosti Hipps. Terrace, B.C., (W. W. Hippesley). Can. Ent: Vol. LIV, No.3, 1922. * Dyschirius pervergus Fall. Miami, Man., (Wallis). * Dyschirius interior Fall. Baldur, Man., June-July (Wallis and Criddle). Can. Ents, Vol: LIV, No.8, 1922: 435. Bembidion cheyennense Csy. Baldur, Man., July, (Wallis, Davidson, — Criddle). , 590. Bembidion dilatatum Lec. Treesbank, Man., Aug. 7, (R. M. White). * Bembidion obtusidens Fall. Baldur, Man., June-July, (Criddle, Vroom, Wallis, Roberts). Cae Ent. Vol! LIV, No. 8: 603. Bembidion salinarium Csy. Baldur, Man., July, (Wallis, Criddle, Roberts, Robertson, White). 725. Bembidion muscicola Hayd. Aweme, Man., Aug. 29, (Criddle). 1575. Platynus bembidoides Kby. Aweme, Man., (Criddle). 1646. Lebia atriceps Lec. Lethbridge, Alta., May 26, (H. L. Seamans). 1712. Calleida purpurea Say. Kamloops, B.C., Apr. 20, (P. Vroom); Whitla, Alta., Sept. 10, 1922 (W. Carter). 1806. Chlenius tomentosus Say. Aweme, Man., Sept. 25, (E. Criddle). 1878. Geopinus incrassatus, Dej. Winnipeg, Man., June 23, (Wallis). Dytiscide 2539. Agabus seriatus Fab. Aweme, Man., Sept. 20, (R. M. White). * Agabus sharpi Fall. Winnipeg, Man., (Wallis); Grimsby, Ont., (Pettit). * — Agabus triton Fall. Edmonton, Alta., May 1917 (F.S. Carr); Winnipeg, Man., May 1911 (Wallis). a 2598. Gyrinidz 2700. * 2702. 2706. 2707a. % * * Hydrophilide Zod2. 2875. THE'‘ REPORT OR THE No. 36 Agabus confertus Lec. Mile 17, H.B. Ry., Man., July, 1917, (Wallis). Determined with some doubt by Prof. Fall. Agabus bicolor Kby. Mile 214, H.B. Ry., Man., July 1917, (Wallis). Agabus inscriptus Cr. Mile 332, H.B. Ry., Man.; Peachland, B.C., Aug., 1919 (Wallis). Agabus canadensis Fall. Aweme East and Winnipeg, Man., July and June, (Wallis). Agabus ontarionsis Fall. Makinak, Man., (Fanshaw); Belleville, Ont. Agabus ajax Fall. Waghorn, Alta.; Aweme East, Man., (Wallis and Roberts); West St. Modest, Labrador, (Sherman). Agabus congener Payk. Winnipeg, Man., (Wallis). Agabus ambiguus Say. Winnipeg, Man., April; Stonewall, July, -Aweme East, July, (Wallis). Agabus confinits Gyll. Mile 214, H.B. Ry., Man., (Wallis). Agabus discolor Harr. Mile 332, H.B. Ry., Man.; Onah and Winnipeg, « Man., July (Wallis). Agabus lutosus Lec. Peachland, B.C., Aug. 1919, (Wallis). Agabus pheopterus Kby. Winnipeg, Stonewall, Aweme East and Mile 332, H. R. Ry., Man., also Peachland, B.C., (Wallis). Agabus infuscatus Aube. Mile 332, H.B. Ry., Man., (Wallis). Agabus morosus Lec. Peachland, B.C., August 1919, (Wallis). Agabus anthracinus Mann. ‘Widely distributed in Man.” (Wallis). Agabus arcticus Payk. Mile 214, H.B. Ry., Man., July, (Wallis). Carrhydrus crasstpes Fali. Edmonton, Alta., June 14, 1916, (F. S. Carr). The above genus has recently been revised by H. C. Fall—A Review of the North American Species of Agabus, John D. Sherman, Jr., publications—in which the above new species are described. Mr. Wallis has also made a special study ofethe group and we include these records on the joint authority. Ilybius biguttulus Germ. Thornhill, Man., July 1, 1916, (Wallis). Gyrinus analis Say. Onah, Man., May 24, 1912, (Wallis). Gyrinus latilimbus Fall. British Columbia, (Keen); Searchmont, Ont. Gyrinus opacus Sahl. Mile 332, H.B. Ry., Man., July, (Wallis). Gyrinus impressicollis Kby. Mile 214, H.B. Ry., (Wallis). Gyrinus lagens Lec. Mile 214, 332, H.B. Ry., Man., (Wallis). Gyrinus befarius Fall. Le Pas and Mile 332, H.B. Ry., Man., July, (Wallis); St. Dennis, Que. (Ouillet). Gyrinus wallisi Fall. Le Pas, Mile 214, 256, H.B. Ry., Man., July, 1917, (Wallis); Ontario (Evans). Gyrinus lecontet Fall. Toronto, Ont. Gyrinus pleuralis Fall. Lethbridge, Alta., (Wallis). The above new species of Gyrinide are from Trans. Am. Ent. Soc., Vol. XLVII, No. 4, 1921. Cymbiodyta lacustris Lec. Stonewall, Man., May 25, 1919, (Wallis). Cercyon ocellatus Say. Miami, Man., June 17, (Wallis). Staphylinide 4553. Ontholestes capitatus Blan. Aweme, Man., (R. M. White). 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 81 Corynetide 7696. Phyllobeus dislocatus Say. Aweme, Man., (E. Criddle). Meloide * Macrobasis subglabra Fall. Edmonton, Alta., (F. S. Carr). CansEat.,) Vol, ULV; No..8,.1922. Buprestidz 9318. Chalcophora angulicollis Lec. Victoria Beach, Man., July, (B. and G. S. Brooks, L. H. Roberts). 9333. Dicerca dwaricata Say. Aweme, Man., June 22. In Prunus, (Criddle). 9353. Pecilonoia thureura Say. Aweme, Man., July 1920, (Criddle). * Pecilonota montanus Chamb. Makinah, Man., (J. M. Swaine). * Pecilonota fraseri Chamb. Fraser River, B.C., (Weldt). The above two species described in the Jour. N.Y. Ent. Soc., Vol. meen Nos, 1, 1922. 9369. Buprestis subornata Lec. Faulkland, B.C., July 26, 1922, (P. Vroom). 9372a. Buprestis nuttalli consularis Gory. Victoria Beach, Man., (Wallis). 9373a. Buprestis leviventris alternans Lec. Victoria Beach, Man., July 9, (Wallis).- 9513. Agrilus ruficollis Fab. Victoria Beach, Man., July, (Brooks, Roberts, Wallis). On raspberry. Helmide 9615. Helms vittatus Melsh. Treesbank, Man., July 6, (Criddle). 9618. Helmis quadrinotatus Say. Glen Souris, Man., July, Sept., (Criddle and White). Tenebrionide 12008. Embaphion muricatum Say. Grassy Lake, Alta., (H. L. Seamans). Bostrichidz 12898. Lichenophanes armiger Lec. Treesbank, Man., (T. Criddle). Scarabeide 13345. Trox atrox Lec. Lethbridge, Alta., June, (Seamans). 13654. Dichelonyx testacea Kby. Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans). Cerambycide 14384. Acmeops subpilosa Lec. Peachland, B.C., June 20, (W. Metcalf). 14391. Acmeops longicornis Kby. Peachland, B.C., June, (Metcalf). 14486. Leptura plagifera Lec. Peachland, B.C., July, (Wallis). 14518. Leptura prestans Csy. Peachland, B.C., July 22, (Wallis). * Leptura aspera parkeri Hipps. Terrace, B.C., (W. W. Hippisley). Can. Ent., Vol. LIV, No. 3, 1922. 14984. Leiopus cinerus Lec. Aweme, Man., (Criddle and White). 15118. Saperda imitans Felt and J. Treesbank and Glen Souris, Man., (H: A. Robertson). Chrysomelidz 15305. Exema gibba Oliv. Aweme, Man., June 20, 1922, (R. M. White). DIPTERA (Arranged according to “A Catalogue of North American Diptera’ by J. M. Aldrich. The numbers refer to the pages of the catalogue.) 82 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 RT eee TOONS Tipulide * — Chionea canadensis Garrett. Cranbrook, B.C., Nov. 22, 192 1, (Garrett). Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXIV, Feb. 1929. 100. Tipula apicalis Loew. Hemmingford, Que., (C. E. Petch). 101. Tipula caloptera Loew. Hemmingford, Que:, (C.°E. “Perch: 102. Tipula fragila Lew. Hemmingford, Que., (C[EPeten): * Alexandriaria suffusca Garrett. Cranbrook, B.C., Octaws: 1920, (Garrett). * Alexandriaria intermedia Garrett. Cranbrook, B.C., July 10, 1920, (Garrett). * Alexandriaria kootenensis Garrett. Cranbrook, B.C., July 15, (Garrett). These three species described in Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXIV, No. 2, Feb. 1922). Mycetophilide * Macrocera trivittata Johns. Farewell Creek, Sacsk., Aug. 1887, (Mrs. V. A. Armstrong). Occ. Pap. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. NV Dec? it ee Culicidz Aedes nigromaculis Lud. Aweme, Man., Aug., (Robertson and Criddle). 122. Anopheles walkeri Theo. Westbourne, Man., Aug. 24, 1922, (Robert- son, Criddle). Blepharoceride * —Bibiocephala kelloggt Garrett. Cranbrook, B.C,,* July} 133 eet, (Garrett). * Blepharocera canadensis Garrett. Wilson Creek, B.C., 54008 Aug. 26, 1921, (Garrett). These species described in Ins. Ins. Mens., Vol. X, No. An6y; 1922 Stratiomyide 179. Sargus elegans Loew. Hastings Co., Ont., April, 1896, (Evans). * — Stratiomyia discaloides Curran. Chilcotin, B.C., June 4, 1920, June 10, 1920, (E. R. Buckell); Kelowna, B.C., July 2, 1914, (M. H. Ruh- man). Stratiomyia velutina Curran. Aspen Grove, B.C., June 15; 1929: (P. N. Vroom); Lillooet, B.C., May 24, 1917, (A. W. Phair). These two species described in Can. Ent.; Vol: LIV“ puaaa 185. Odontomyia hieroglyphica Oliv. Orillia, Ont., May 30, 1920, (C. H. Curran). 186. Odontomyia pilimana Leew. Ottawa and Trenton, Ont., (Jas. Fletcher), (Evans). 186. Odontomyia hoodiana Big. Banff, Alta., May, June, (C.B.D. Garrett). Odontomyia plebeja Loew. Belleville, Ont. 187. Odontomyia varipes Loew. (alberta Curran). Banff, Alta., Aug., Sept., (Garrett and Sanson), 188. Euparyphus quadrimaculata Cresson. Banff, Alta., June 1, (C. B. D. Garrett). Tabanidz 196. Chrysops fallax O.S. Hemmingford, Que., (GCE. Peteh): * Tabanus metabolus McD. Nordegg, Alta., June 15, (McDunnough). * — Tabanus laniferus McD. Banff, Alta., July 24, (McDunnough). These two species described in Can, Ent., Vol. LIV, No. 10, 1922. 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 83 Bombyliidz , 238. Ploas obesula Lew. Nicola, B.C., May 25, (E. R. Buckell). . Systechus solitus Walker. Lethbridge, Alta., July 9-13, 1921, (E. H. Strickland). Asilidz 259. Dioctria nitida Willist. Victoria, B.C., June, 1919, (P. N. Vroom). 259. Cyrtopogon bimacula Walk. Douglas, Man., June 10, 1921, (N. Criddle). 260. Cyriopogon leucozona Loew. Aspen Grove, B.C., June 28, (P. N Vroom). * Cyrtopogon willistoni Curran. British Columbia, various localities, and Banff, Alta. * Cyrtopogon albitarsis Curran. Banff, Alta., July 17, 1916, (C. G. Hewitt); July 23, 1909, (N. B. Sanson). Canrbnut., Vol. LIV, No: 12,4922: Dolichopodide The following records of Dolichopodidae are based on material in the Canadian National Collection. Sciapus pilicornis Ald. Vernon, B.C., July 16, 1920, (N. Cutler); Penticton, B.C. July 24, 1916, (R: C..\@reherne). June 19, (W. B. Anderson). Sciapus flavipes Ald. Glen Souris, Man., July 24, (H. A. Robertson). 293. Nothosympycnus nodatus Loew. Aweme, Man., Sept. 4, (H. A. Rob- ertson). 297. Hydrophorus altivagus Ald. Treesbank, Man., Aug. 29, (H. A.. Robertson); Lethbridge, Alta., July 20, (H. L. Seamans). 298. Scellus monstrosus O. S. Aweme, Man., June 26, 1920; Washoda, Man., Aug’ 3, (H. A. Robertson). Dolichopus nigrimanus V. D., C. & A., Banff, Alta, July 1, (C. B. D. Garrett); Aweme, Man., July 6, (H. A. Robertson); Ottawa, Ont., June 6, 1900. 303. Dolichopus myosota O. S. Royal Oak “"B:Ge. July 3iF 1917, (WW. Downes). Dolichopus adequatus V. D., C. & A. Banff, Alta., June 1, (C. B. D. Garrett); Chilcotin, B.C., June 30, 1920, (E. R. Buckell). 303. Dolichopus. paluster Mel. & Br. Banff, Alta., May 29, Aug. 4, (C. B. D. Garrett). Dolichopus manicula V. D., C. & A. Banff, Alta., July 1, (C. B. D. Garrett). Dolichopus acuminatus Loew. Elkhorn, Man., Aug. 9, (N. Criddle). * Dolichopus albertensis Curran. Banff, Alta., (C. B. D. Garrett). * Dolichopus vanduzeet Curran. Banff, Alta., (C. B. D. Garrett). * Dolichopus diversipennis Curran. Banff, Alta., (C. B. D. Garrett). These three species were described in Can. Ent., LIV, No. 12, 1922. Dolichopus conspectus V. D., C. & A. Chilcotin, B.C., June 3, (E. R. Buckell). 301. Dolichopus gratus Loew. Banff, Alta., May 5, June 15, (C. B. D. Garrett). 305. Dolichopus xanthocnemus Loew. Vernon, B.C., June 18, (N.S. Cutler), Ottawa, Ont., June 10 (G. Beaulieu); ia Ont., + June 30, 1902, (J. Evans). 84 ZOO: 303. 300. 304. 304. 302. 304. 303. 303. 305. 301. 303. THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 Dolichopus retinens V. D., C. & A. Trenton, Ont., June 24, 1906, Port Hope, Ont., May 30, 1897. Dolichopus umbrosus V. D., C. & A. Port Hope, Ont., June 13, 1897, (W. E. Metcalfe). Dolichopus apheles Mel. & Br. Ogema, Sask., June 16, (N. Criddle). Dolichopus trisetosus V. D., C. & A. Norway Pt., Lake of Bays, Ont., June 28, (J. McDunnough); Kentville, N.S., June 19, 1916. Dolichopus virga Coq. Truro, N.S., July 11, 1913. Dolichopus pachycnemus Voew. Treesbank, Man., June 22, (H. A. Robertson); Hemmingford, Que., (Petch). Dolichopus brevipennis Meig. Sask., June 30, 1917, (A. E. Cameron); Banff, Alta., June, July, (C. B. D. Garrett). Dolichopus brevimanus Loew. Cottage Beaulieu, Que., July 7, 1906, (Beaulieu); Ottawa, Ont., July 2, (Beaulieu); Winnipeg, Man., July 6, 1908, (J. B. Wallis). Dolichopus tndigina V. D., C. & A. Hull, Que., July 18, 1914, (J. I. Beaulne). Dolichopus canadensis V. D., C. & A. Roberval, Que., July 28, 1915, (G. Beaulieu). Dolichopus defectus V. D., C. & A. Roberval, Que., July 28, 1915, (G. Beaulieu). Dolichopus decorus V. D., C. & A. Strathroy, Ont., June 10, (H. F. Hudson). Dolichopus setosus Loew. Truro, N.S., June 19, 1914. Dolichopus renidescens Mel. & Br. Banff, Alta., May and Aug., (C. B. D. Garrett). Dolichopus marginatus Ald. Youghall, N.B., July 7, 1908, (J. Fletcher); Algonquin Park, Ont., June 19-21, (J. McDunnough); Dauphin, Man., (Mrs. W. W. Hippisley). Dolichopus reflectus Ald. Ft. Coulonge, Que.; July 6, 1917, (J. I. Beaulne); Jordan, Ont., July 8, 1914, (W. A. Ross). Dolichopus albicoxa Ald. Cottage Beaulieu, Que., June 19, (G. Beaulieu); Banff, Alta., Aug. 24, (C. B. D. Garrett). Dolichopus pilatus V. D., C. & A. Banff, Alta., Aug. 23, (C. B. D. Garrett). Dolichopus porphyrops V. D., C. & A. Truro, N.S., July 8, 1913; Robervale, Que., July 28, (G. Beaulieu); Algonquin Park, Ont., July 28, (J. McDunnough). Dolichopus pollex O. S. Banff, Alta., July 7, (C. B. D. Garrett). Dolichopus obcordatus Ald. Nordegg, Alta., July 5, 1921, (J. Mc- Dunnough); Banff, Alta., June, July, (C. B. D. Garrett). Dolichopus pernix Mel. & Br. Banff, Alta., July 7, 30, (C. B. D- Garrett). Dolichopus blandus V. D., C. & A. Ontario, June 9, 1900. Dolichopus vigilans Ald. Youghall, N.B., July 7, 1908, (J. Fletcher). Dolichopus flagellitenens Wheeler. Aylmer, Que., June 15, (C. B. Hutchings). : Dolichopus pugil Leew. Youghall, N.B., July 6, 1908, (Jas. Fletcher); Hantsport, N.S., June 15, 1913, (H. G. Payne). Dolichopus uxorcula V. D., C. & A. Banff, Alta., July 1, (C. B. D. Garrett). 1923 301. 305. 302. 305. 303. 300. 300. 301. 301. 299. 305. 304. 305. ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 85 Dolichopus fulvipes Loew. Kentville, N.S., June 14, 1914; Aweme, Man., June 24, (H. A. Robertson); Banff, Alta., July 1, (C. B. D. Garrett). Dolichopus variabilis gracilis Ald. Banff, Alta., July 1, (C. B. D, Garrett). Dolichopus wheelert Mel. & Br. Trenton, Ont., Aug. 17, 1902, (Evans); Aweme, Man., July 6, Baldur, Man., July 29, (H. A. Robertson); Maniwaska, Que., June 13, 1917, (Arthur Gibson). Dolichopus longimanus Loew. Meach Lake, Que., June 21, 1916, (Arthur Gibson). Dolichopus subciliatus Loew. Truro, N.S., July 8, 11, 1913; Algon- quin Park, Ont., June 19-21, (J. McDunnough). Dolichopus nudus Loew. Banff, Alta., Aug. 16, 1922, (C. B. D- Garrett). Dolichopus speciosus V. D., C. & A. Banff, Alta., July and Aug., abundant, (C. B. D. Garrett). Dolichopus procerus V. D., C. & A. Cowley, Alta., June 16, 1918, (R. N. Chrystal); Banff, Alta., Aug. 27, (C. B. D. Garrett); Leth- bridge, Alta., June 25, (W. Carter); Baldur, Man., July 29, (H. A. Robertson). Dolichopus completus V. D., C. & A. Royal Oak, B.C., June 20, 1917, (W. Downes). Dolichopus @eraius V. D., C. & A. Banff, Alta., July 1, (C. B. D. Garrett). Dolichopus subflavus V. D., C. & A. Banff, Alta., Aug. 21, (C. B. D. Garrett). : Dolichopus coloradensis Ald. Roberval, Que., July 28, 1915, (G. Beaulieu); Banff, Alta., June, August, (C. B. D. Garrett). Dolichopus omnwagus V. D., C. & A. Banff, Alta., June 26, (C. B. D. Garrett). Dolichopus chrysostoma Loew. Kentville, N.S., June 24, 1914. Dolichopus slossone V. D., C. & A. Roberval, Que., July 28, 1915. (G. Beaulieu). Dolichopus bakert Cole. Banff, Alta., June, July, (C. B. D. Garrett). Dolichopus domesticus V. D., C. & A. Norway Point, Lake of Bays, Ont., July 28, 1919, (J. McDunnough). Dolichopus eudactylus Loew. ‘Truro, N.S., July 11, 1913. Dolichopus versutus V. D., C. & A. Lanoraie, Que., June 21, 1915, (G. Beaulieu). Dolichopus dakotensis Ald. Aweme, Man., June 17, 1921, (P. Vroom). Dolichopus batillifer Loew. Truro, N.S., July 11, 1913. Dolichopus tener Loew. Trenton, Ont., Sept. 6, 1903, (Evans). Dolichopus sicarius V. D., C.& A. Kentville, N.S., June 24, 1914. Dolichopus scopiarius Leew. Kentville, N.S., June 24, 1914. Dolichopus ainsliet V. D., C. & A. Hull, Que., July 19, 1914, (J. I. Beaulne). Dolichopus frauditor distinctus V. D., C. & A. Ottawa, Ont., July 12, 1919, (J. McDunnough), Dolichopus tenuipes Ald. Saanich, B.C., June 22, Aug. 13, (W. Downes). 86 * x* Empidide 310. 314. 313: 314. Ste 318. 320. 327. Pale S27. Syrphide THE REPORT OF THE ~ No. 36 Dolichopus delicatus Ald. Ungava Bay and Fort Chimo, Labrador, (Turner). Proc. U.S.N-M.. Voliaixas May, 1922. Xiphandrium femoratum Ald. Skagway, June 10, 1921, (Aldrich). Trans. Am. Ent. Soc., Vol. XLVIII, No. 1, March, 1922. Phoneustica maculipennis Walker. Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, June to Aug. Dike Melander. N.S., Ont., Man. Drapetis scissa Melander. Chilcotin, B.C., May 7, (E. R. Buckell); Ogema, Man., June 16, (N. Criddle). Drapetis septentrionalis Melander. Truro, N.S., Sept. 25, Belleville, Ont. Tachydromia winthemi Zett. Nordegg, Alta., July 25, (JJ. McDun- nough). Tachydromia brachialis Mel. Ottawa, Ont., July 20, (Beaulieu). Hemerodromia albipes Walker. Ottawa, Ont., June 9, 1904, (W. E. Metcalf.) : Clinocera simplex Loew. Banff, Alta., Sept., (C. B. D. Garrett). Syneches thoracicus Say. Brockville, Ont., Aug. 12, 1903, (W. E. Metcalf); Kingsmere, Que., July 18, 1919, (R. H. Chrystal). Brachystoma occidentalis Mel. Saanich, B.C., June 22, 1918, (W. Downes). Hormopeza brevicornis Loew. Fort Wrigley, N.W.T., July 27, (C. H. Crickmay). Hormopeza bullata Mel. Ottawa, Aug. 18, 1912, (Beaulieu). Hormopeza nigricans Loew. Banff, Alta., June-Sept., (C. B. D. Garrett); Cairncross, Y.T., July 28, 1919, (A. P. Hawes). Heryngia comutata Curran. Victoria, B.C., May, 1916, (R. C. Tre- herne); Victoria, May 3, 1919, (W. B. Anderson). Heryngia canadensis Curran. Ft. Coulonge, Que., July 6, 1917, (J. I. Beaulne). Heryngia californica David. Victoria, B.C., May 3, 1919, (W. B. Anderson). | Pipiza quadrimaculata Panz. Banff, Alta., June -16, 24.°(C 3B me Garrett). Pipiza atrata Curran. Chilcotin, B.C., June 18, 1920, (Buckell).° Cnemodon nigricornis Curran. Banff, Alta., June 15, 1922, (Garrett). These two species described in Can. Ent., Vol. LIV, No. 12,4633: Chilosia variabilis Panz. Lillooet, B.C. Chilosta ferruginea Lovett. Duncan, B.C., April 12, (W. B. Anderson). Chilosia nigrovittata Lovett. Banff, Alta., May 5-June 9, (C. B. D. Garrett). Chilosia chalybescens Willist. Agassiz, B.C., May 22, (R. Glendenning) Chilosia huntert Curran. Teulon, Man., May 17, 1920, (A. J. Hunter). Chilosia orilliaensis Curran. Orillia, Ont., May, June, (Curran). Chilosia robusta Hine. (columbie Curran), Cranbrook, B.C., May 8, 1920, (Garrett). This species described in Can. Ent., Vol. LIV, No. 1 and 3. 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 87 352. Cartosyrphus levis Big. Banff, Alta., July 5, (C. B. D. Garrett). * Cartosyrphus ontario Curran. Orillia, Ont., May 5, 1921, (Curran). * Cartosyrphus rita Curran. MacDiarmid, Ont., June 7, 1921, (Bigelow). * Cartosyrphus sensuus Curran. Orillia, Ont., May 5, 1921, (Curran). Those species described as Chilosia, in Can. Ent., Vol. LIV, No. 1 and 3. Platychirus discimanus Loew. Aweme, Man., May 1, (R. M. White). Platychirus scutatus Meig. Banff, Alta., June 2-29, (C. B. D. Garrett). Platychirus albimanus Fabr. Vernon, B.C., May 11, 1920, (M. H. Ruhmann), Victoria, B.C., April 28, 1917, (A. E. Cameron). Platychirus podagratus Fabr. Banff, Alta., May to July, (C. B. D. Garrett). All the above are European species; some have been previously recorded from North America. 365. Stenosyrphus contumax O.S. Hopedale, Labrador, July, Aug.; Banff, milfs. june 2, juby li) (GB. 1D: Garrett): 368. Stenosyrphus sodalis Willist. Banff, Alta., May 29, (C. B. D. Garrett); Chilcotin, B.C., July 29, (E. R. Buckell). * Syrphus grossularie var. melanis Curr. Orillia, Ont., Sept. 18, 1921, (Curran). Can. Ent. Vol. LIV, No. 4, 1922. Neoascia metallica Will. . Banff, Alta., May, June, (Garrett). Distinct from globosa. 376. Brackhyopa notata O. S. Kentville, N.S., June 9, 1915. * Brachyopa perplexa Curran. Orillia, Ont., June 2, 1921 (Curran). Can Bint, Wol. LIV. Noi5..1922. Sericomyia bifasciata Willist. Bathurst, N.B., June 15, (J. N. Knull); McDiarmid, Ont., (N. K. Bigelow); Lac la Peche, Que., June 30, 1919, (M. B. Dunn). * Cynorhina robusta Curr. British Columbia. * Cynorhinella canadensis Curr. Inverness, B.C., July, 1910, (Keen). * Mallota columbie Curr. Penticton, B.C., June 5, 1919, (Treherne). * Mallota diversipennis Curr. (Probably Canadian.) These species described‘in Can. Ent., Vol. LIV, No. 1, 1922. 401. Brachypalpus frontosus Loew. Bathurst, N.B., April to June, (J. N. Knull). Brachypalpus tnarmatus Hunter. (apicaudus Curran). Cranbrook, B.C., June 2, 1921, (Garrett). 400. Xylota vecors O.S. Aweme, Man., July 25, 1917, (N. Criddle). 398. Xvylota flavitibia Loew. Banff, Alta., July, Aug., (C. B. D. Garrett). 405. Temnostoma obscura Loew. Montreal, Que., June 10, 1906; Ottawa, Ont., June 21, 1913, (J. I. Beaulne); Bathurst, N.B., July 27, (J. N. Knull), (bombylans of Ald. Cat.). 405. Temnostoma trifasciata Robertson. Ont., Quebec; May, June. Helomyzidz * Amebaleria bisetata Garr. Teulon, Man., May 31, 1920, (Hunter). * Anorastoma currant Garr. Teulon, Man., Aug. 28, 1920, (Hunter). * Leria serrata var. nigricana Garr. Cranbrook, B.C., June 6, 1921. (Garrett). * Leria serrata var. vinus Garr. Cranbrook, B.C., Mar. 20 to April 8; Michel, B.C., Aug. 2, (Garrett). Insec. Inscit. Mens., Vol. X, Pt. 10-12, Dec., 1922. 88 THE REPORT OF THE No. 36 Scatophagide * Amaurosoma nuda Mall. Cape Charles, Labrador, July 30, 1906. Bull. Brook. Ent. Soc., Vol. XVII, No. 3, 1922. HYMENOPTERA. Ichneumonide * Phytodietus fumiferane Roh. Lillooet, B.C., (A. B. Baird), Can: Ent; \Votceiv. No.’ 7, 1922: Braconide * Rogas hyphantrie Gah. Fredericton, N.B., Sept., 1917, (A. G. Dustan). * Ma1ucropletus stigmaticus Gah. Vancouver, B.C. * Microgaster canadensis Gah. Canada, (C. F. Baker). * Apanteles olenides Museb. Vernon, B.C., (E. P. Venables). The above four species described in Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., Vol. EX, 1922. HEMIPTERA. (Arranged according to ‘“‘A Check List of the Hemiptera (excepting the Aphid- idz, Aleurodide and Coccidz) of America North of Mexico,” by E. P. Van Duzee). Miride * Labops hirtus Kgt. Chilcotin, B.C., (E. R. Buckell); Edmonton, Alta., (Carr); Parry Sound, Ont., (H. S. Parish); and Strathroy, Ont., (H. G. Crawford). * Labops tumidiformis Kgt. Chilcotin, B.C., June 15, 1920, (R. C. Treherne). The above two species described in Can, Ent., Vol. LIV, No. 11, 1922. NEUROPTERA. Perlide * Kathroperla perdita Banks. Kaslo, B.C., (Taylor). Sialidz * Sialis rotunda Banks. Bon Accord, B.C., May, (J. Russell). Raphididz * Raphidia bifurca Banks. Wellington, B.C., (Taylor). Limnephilide * Limnephilus adustus Banks. Banff, Alta., Aug., (N. Sanson). * Limnephilus kennicotti Banks. Great Stone Lake, N.W.T., (Robert Kennicott). * Limnephilus elongatus Banks. Fort Resolution, N.W.T., (Kennicott). * Homophylox crotcht Banks. Vancouver Island, B.C., (G. R. Crotch). The above species were described in Bull. eas Comp. Zool., Harv- ard, Vol. LXIV, No. 3, 1920. 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 89 ORTHOPTERA. Prepared by E. R. Buckell. Tryxaline Pseudopomala brachyptera Scudd. Vernon, B.C., (E. R. Buckell). Amphitornus nanus R. & H. Chilcotin, B.C., July, 1920, (E. R. Buckell). New to Canada. Orphulella salina Scudd. Fairview, B.C., Aug.7,1919, (E.R. Buckell). Previously recorded as O. pelidna, Ent. Rec. 1919. Ageneotettix occidentalis Brun. Southern Okanagan Valley, B.C., 1919, (E. R. Buckell). New to Canada. Mecostethus lineatus Scudd. Chilcotin, B.C., Aug., 1920, (E. R. Buckell). Mecostethus gracilis Scudd. Chilcotin, B.C., Aug., 1921, (E. R. Buckell). Chorthippus oregonensis Scudd. Penticton and Chilcotin, B.C., 1920, (E. R. Buckell). New to Canada. Oedipodine Pardalophora apiculata Harris. Chilcotin, B.C., June, 1920, (E. R. Buckell). Xanthippus leprosus Saussure. Chilcotin, 1920, (E. R. Buckell). New to Canada. Metator nevadensis Bruner. Osoyoos, 1919; Chilcotin, 1920-21, (E. R. Buckell). New to Canada. Mestobregma kiowa Scudd. Okanagan Landing, B.C., 1919, (E. R. Buckell). Trimerotropis ferruginea McNeill. Vernon, B.C., 1919; Chilcotin, B.C., 1920-21, (E. R. Buckell). New to Canada. Locustine Asemoplus montanus Bruner. Rockcreek, B.C., 1922, (E. R. Buckell). * Bradynotes chilcotine WHebard. Chilcotin, B.C., June 7th, 1920, (E. R. Buckell). Trans. Am. Ent. Soc., Vol. XLVIII, 1922, No. 821. Bradynotes pinguis Scudd. Rockcreek, B.C., Aug., 1922, (E. R. Buckell). New to Canada. Melanoplus flabellifer Scudd. Chilcotin, B.C., 1921, (E. R. Buckell). Melanoplus flavidus Scudd. Aweme, Man., Aug. 23, 1922, (R. M. White). New to Canada. Melanoplus confusus Scudd. Chilcotin, B.C., 1920, (E. R. Buckell). Melanoplus washingtonianus Bruner. Nicola, B.C., 1922, (E. R. Buckell). Tettigoniide Neoconocephalus triops Linn. Cote St. Paul, Montreal, Que., July 22, 1900, (G. Beaulieu). Stenopelmatus fuscus Haldeman. Fairview, B.C., 1919, (E. R. Buckell). New to Canada. Ceuthophilus agassizit Scudd. Chilcotin, B.C., 1921, (E. R. Buckell). Pristoceuthophilus celatus Scudd. Vernon, B.C., 1919, (E. R. Buckell). Stetroxys trilineata Thomas. Chilcotin, B.C., 1920, (E. R. Buckell) A pote notabilis Scudd. Fairview, B.C., 1922, (E. R. Buckell). 90 THE’ REPORT ‘OF THE No. 36 THYSANOPTERA Thripidz Sericothrips standordt Moult. Victoria, B. C., May, 1918, (R. C. Treherne). Sericothrips variabilis Beach. Lillooet, B.C., 1917, (Treherne). Parthenothrips dracene Heeger. Vancouver, B.C., (J. W. Eastham). Teniothrips albus Moult. Kelowna, B.C., 1917, (Treherne). Teniothrips pallipennis Uzel. Lillooet, B.C., June; Treesbank, Man., May, (Treherne). Phiceothripide Haplothrips verbasct Osb. Vineland, Ont., (W. A. Ross). Haplothrips fauret Hood. Beamsville, Ont., 1918, (W. A. Ross). COLLEMBOLA * Achorutes nothus MacN. Arnprior, Ont., April, (MacNamara). * ~~ Achorutes pannosus MacN. Monteith, Ont., (J. D. Allen). The above two species described in Can. Ent., Vol. LIV, No. 7 1922. 1923 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. PAGE PAGE 20) 43 Erythroneura comes Say............. RMMEPALIECOLLUS tis. 5.54 sicceckaw. a nes ee 43 LS OMRON ss 5.50.5 PUMISTESTIAEPIII 6 oto. ss Sw nie eee 3 8's Sik ¢ te UEELSH 5: ae cen Mlsaphsla pometaria. .. 6.6.0 k 34 « Se vecceac..'. 2 eee WAMENEESIGOMEPLONG «25 3). oe ose ee sone 46 SSnLLUCUIL CLD ween Anthonomus signatus.............-. 36 « UULLCLOLG No.2. Anthrenus scrophulariae............. 39 Exartema permundanum............. BN I ir 32 Exorista nigripalpis Towns.......... PAMTHESAEOSSIV PIs Teas 52sec as ae ees 36 Heathersamitey oo etcsts 2 sole esis, +d ee ahene STS RE ep ease oe 46 Plea. beetlesad seen eerie a occas es SOMME TIVTILIRE Roi F CNS Sc cae gag Winialele 33 Porest tenticaterpillarere: .- se. acer O25 [ES DIC Ca ae eee eee 34 Frankliniella californica Moulton..... MN ESL Sys cas 2 o Siscs stots 8 33 s occidentalis Pergande.... omatentcatenpillar:, : gio... ses oie 46 . initicr etches Gee, vols Aspidiotus perniciosus.............. 35 Psuit=treevleat-rollernsen a eeetan vcr. Autographa brassicaé........6 262.54. 36 Gooseberry fruit worm.............. Blackbermysleat miner... 25... 5. 000% 35 ss SAWHILVis a chevete tio secre sw ai Blackechertayyaphnisss 0.4... sae, 34 Grasshoppersiacncn daca cei ae IES VESSUSHIEUGOPLETUS 2 iy eel atic sce ta sae 38 Greentappleibugies eam. <2 aese sirens LBY uo) SOaUOLEL AY je ies ee ean leo 34 Green peachyaphish-ys etter ere Buttaloicarpet beetle. =2 2.0.25 26.0% 39 Groundsbectlethe fk. cae a one ESPODLONDTGICNSUS ES @ oo diss wet a's) act 3-5 39 Heel flys. ss Ste ees: . a areeetens ESL UE USHUMIEGOLOT ice aroiey's dice ae ie eos ews 35 eliothys/oUSglelaee eee. ae eee Sie BEIM AP CMOMEICL sy. 06. eis sc eed ee es 36 Hemerocampa leucostigma........... 35) MIAO OLR Ey evade teils ce Ses eee 36, 74 ickony, plamtalou gees 2. a eee WOCCGEGIA OSU CCONG. 6.05 oo viens ios s sie 46 ELA TEN LUM OT VOTO 3 Bow 68 6 6 OA eo (CNGi Hh CAE i ere ee 39 es BLOSSIGIE. 5.5.10) a Meee CHOSIETEDs 6 cele ge Ce 10 ss CUVCMUIGS 3. seer ee Cammla pellucida... ..8 0 os se ne 37 ss trichodactyla Rond........ SP BURWOETIS! 0. ooo so sev ees 34 Hyperarpunciata...-... .. “ee ae COL ABUSMEMOTANS 50.5 se dee 10 Ey poderma Dovrs). « -02)-))1-1r eee Carpocapsa pomonella............... 33, 46 Imported cabbage worm............ PArerpillanwumters....... 2.2. 0es ens 10 acdiaiaameal’ wOrmliciis me eeneeietetere (Giersy truit-tltes,.. 2... ce ee ae 34° Lady-bird beetle, 12-spotted . ...... (CISC) DS re 38 Lasius niger Linn. var. americanus... Ea GE 20 ea 38 eat bugs. )..\: 2./2 sitemeter eet. sie IPHmIeASE-DEATED <5. oe ee es 34 Eeat-hopper, applene mae eee a Mlovermleat beetle. 2c... c505 866 ee 70 ‘ STADE ead ork eee 35, SeMMMETTINU CM Ve Sree oS cease 0) sae dala ate 39 POtALOMMe ee a ameses Coa 2 33 Leptinotarsa decemlineata............ 37, aledOse WOIl. . 2... 65.62. ee ba 0) EA POnySSUS DUN SURE ses ns). coven Coleophora fletcherella............... 34 LACUS GON CUUUS cae oh clner ecoe SMTIIITUOLEI 3. . -.-< 2 oe ease 34 Long-tailedimagcotaa. soca Colorado potato beetle.............. Sif IL) SU SSCORNCACERAE Pe ea Sern ee ee ae Common carden ant....).........005 18 CSUN COMLIIEIET Slavens) 6.013 sictPiere oss aie-eee) 3 Conotrachelus nenuphar............. 35, 46 DET AD), FADES, lyoiBis ool Lace Ae Corn borer, European......... 10, 13, 18; 37 EN GWUSROMIMUURUS. ~ a> states oe tne teers 3 SCA WOLEM <<< /icc'sse ave sboraie soiree 37 SME T LLC TESES) a vedi vero Gir sans ne eden Saewocm, spotted... 2.622502 .5.% RY RMR ENGOLOLE hc oN meee oie trike one ase GAMO MIEMISET Ow s ss nite Se cpeiedone es 8 46 VEL OUOSt SHILILEGOLOT, mrs emeis oh lees yah a = WUT OLICOMSULLELOS >. . ... presen Silvanus SUYMAMENSIS..... 0... ceeees Straussia longipennis Wied.......... Strawberry leaf beetle.............. < petiole gall. «cece cs root weevil, ..; 2).a.esueee Wo weevil. . ......:5 Jie Striped cucumber beetle........ elated Sunflower maggot. . .: .. sgn Beet Syrphidae... .. ..4).....'in. see SYPPhUs AMertCanus. ...:. 2. eee “ as “ ts ‘Tachinid: fly... i... as joe Tarnished plant bug). 72 aeeseeee ‘Tent caterpillars). 13 eee Thrips tabact... .-... «cee Timetocera oceiland: . .1.. eee Tortrix (Cacoecia) argysrospila ...... Volucella fasciata Macq............- White-marked tussock-moth......... Zophodia grossulariae..........-...- a Ontario Department of Agriculture - . Fifty-Fourth Annual Report ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY ONTARIO | E923 PRINTED BY ORDER OF. THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO _ TORONTO Printed by CLARKSON W. JAMES, Printer to the King’s Most Excellent Majesty 1924 Ontario Department of Agriculture Fifty-Fourth Annual Report OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO 1925 PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO TORONTO Printed by CLARKSON W. JAMES, Printer to the King’s Most Excellent Majesty 19 24 CONTENTS PAGE IRENE SSeS rg Tee a fire ads ob nla Sicha.e Hea dei ag ed oe eye 4 INRINORR NBS TUTTE RUROINI ES ta a IE Se a re eS pn Soe nce acca = mate ol ne eee ae 4 Peep yuner MERTING =f STOR 00). . Sia. Ado) Re oe 8 nee oe ee 5 prea Me EE OPTIC Ie 2°) ois eects oes Sle ote ies Sb LE ae Pinte ra nee ete eee 5 omset om the aviaritiine Branch, fo ..5- 0 Sat. elec oe ess eee oboe ele Aol ahaa eRe veM 6 memento ture, Montreal Branch hs Veo ee TO eat be eeme dee 7 iongrtot the herosio Branch. +. 00). SR. s ak Shh... Ee es See 7 memset tue British Columbia Branch; 3). 2X 96s. syoyeys ess a - o] selec, ee Se EE 8 Reports on Insects of the year, Division No. 3: A. COSENS.............+++-++-+-- 9 Divisions No20s Ea BE UDSONG: a... -ererns sere 10 The Early Days of the Entomological Society of Ontario: Rev. C. J. S. BETHUNE... 11 The Rose Curculio in Manitoba—with Notes on Other Insects Affecting Roses: Ele AtaxXe ROBERTSON Yip yee coats eel otis DRS Dae ees aan ee 12 Two Problems in Natural Control: NORMAN CRIDDLE.........2........5-85----5 16 The Present Status and Distribution of the Apple and Thorn Skeletonizer (Hemero- phila partana Clerck, Lepid.): M: D.-LEONARD. 0.0: -:000! . seine ew cone mer ve eee 18 Taxonomic and Synonymic Tendencies with Especial Reference to Diptera: C. H. RUISAIN Seacrest 2 caus hone rete < Whuthal braiardat oud cy Shstaplnge an «aout tue, carers tls! Sea 20 Miscellaneous Notes on Grape Leaf Hopper Control: WiLLiAM A. Ross............ 24 The New Regulations under the Destructive Insect and Pest Act: LEONARD S. PS UNG EES Pits ont) cis Aree oY nr Pe Deis kins SG ad Salas ARE ate alae Ne 27 The Value of Natural Enemies of Injurious Insects: A. F. BURGESS..........-.... 30 Seatac Viasat iwi Albertasit i. GRAV SY. )s 4 Poke. Suiabils Cae us Vale eee meee 36 The Onion Maggot in the Ottawa District: G. H. HAMMOND.................-05- 39 Onion Maggot Studies in the District of Montreal, Quebec, 1923: T. ARMSTRONG.... 42 Notes on the Life History of the Clover Leaf Weevil (Hypera punctata): H. F. FAMBSOM ANG 1h. ee WV OOD 5 62 od esi po op HIS ces EP Hy ERR OMEEE ID aoe cela toners 45 Siguesand Gisy-Moth- Spread: E. PS PRLT. ov... 27 5 sks ate «rnin bears mele po Ok ey ole 47 Will the Gipsy-Moth Cross the International Boundary?: H. L. McINTYRE........ 51 Rhagoletis Pomonella and Two Allied Species (Trypaneidae, Diptera): C. HowaRD CURRAR SE oe Se eee ee Ea ee ee thin ol eMC at eotC Ocoee boot 56 iasectsiof the: Season | WevAGRossiandtl:. (CABSAR Sot fone ers cree ee etree 57 A Study of the Pupal Case of Prionoxystus Macmurtrei: C. B. HUTCHINGS......... 63 Notes on Lice with Special Reference to the Chicken Louse (Lipeurus heterographus): ae Ree WICK WARES o.c css «viata a phaeretge Rea Be Ate Vee aN ee hee ioarns 67 Insects of the Season in Quebec in 1923: GEORGES MAHEUX..............-+-+-- (fil The Spread and Degree of Infestation of the European Corn Borer in Ontario in 1923: Raia IEE NAN cor. isis feo ase ag eee MES OeT Ns ogs cass tons wna es nipe eee 74 The Status of the Control Practice for the European Corn Borer in Ontario (A PGOT ESA IRE PONT) <7 Wa nO RAWHORD re tcle misters ene, cco > Sota o lone Sa oe haste space oe meemere 78 Studies in the Life-History, Bionomics, and Control of the Cabbage Worm in Ontario: tebe. CERN Ree ata Steen nna MR al ms, yin vn ee «ohn age oy hain eRe 82 The Entomological Record, 1923: Messrs. CRIDDLE, CURRAN, VIERECK and BUCKELL 87 DISUSE: -gi5 Re ee ee Se Se ae a eae a ee RN PI eCt IC one ae 103 Entomological Society of Ontario OFFICERS FOR 1923-1924 President—Dr. J. M. SwAIneE, Entomological Branch, Ottawa. Vice-President—R. C. TREHERNE, Entomological Branch, Ottawa. Secretary-Treasurer—Pror. A. W. BAKER, B.S.A., O. A. College, Guelph. Curator and Librarian—J. A. FLock, O. A. College, Guelph. Directors—Division No. 1, C. B. Hutcuines, Entomological Branch, Dept. of Agriculture, Ottawa; Division No. 2, C. E. Grant, Orillia; Division No. 3, Dr. A. CosEns, Toronto; Division No. 4, F. J. A. Morris, Peterborough; Division No. 5, Dr. J. D. DETWILER, Western University, London; Division No. 6, J. F. Hupson, Strathroy; Division No. 7, W. A. Ross, Vineland Station. Directors (ex-Presidents of the Society)—ReEv. Pror, C. J. S. BETHUNE, Toronto; PROF. JouN DearneEss, London; Pror. Wm. LocHHEAD, Macdonald College, Que.; JoHN D. Evans, Trenton; Pror. E. M. WALKER, University of Torcnto: ALBERT F. WINN, ‘Westmount, Que.; Bor LAWson CAESAR, O. A. College, Guelph; ARTHUR GIBSON, Dominion Entomologist, ttawa. Editor of ‘“‘The Canadian Entomologist’'—Dr. J. McDuNNouGH, Entomological Branch, Ottawa. Delegate to the Royal Society of Canada—THE PRESIDENT. FINANCIAL STATEMENT For THE YEAR ENDING OCTOBER 31st. 1923. Receipts 7 Expenditures Cash on hand, 1922............. $384 39 Printing... to icles eee $1,750 00 SNPScpclons.;.. 554s Ae oe eee 612 22 Salaries 25 here's deca cee 200 00 Members: (Dies: ih: t1 0 tae eee 174 95 Expense? 20 07.0.3. co eee 84 43 Advertisements. a0. 52. dp Sade 308 67 AnnualsMeectingey. -pbacce See 8 40 Backs Numbers. -.5 46 6 Ca dteetess Wht ees Se ee ce EE ae ae C. H. CurRAN. Insects of the Season-in Quebet\é..4. ance sce doi: vectearaed a. Dee GEORGE MAHEUX. The Relationship of Biological and Taxonomic Studies of Syrphidae Diptera’) ect. Ae cprce cts ke Se ey SEO: LAS Sth AR ee Ee ROE rae C. H. CurRRAN. Eriseers OF Che Season Ml ONtaTiG. soa fo rte eee eee Pror. L. CAESAR, W. A. Ross. Wotes:onsfrankiintellattritice atch te eee oa eee eae eee R. C. TREHERNE. Biological Notes on two Buprestid Beetles (Agrilus ruficollis and A. holiiuds bo: ke Acakh eh basenbhs oer Bee isos C. B. HuTcHINGs. The Outbreak of Grape-Leaf Hoppers...................... W. A. Ross and W. ROBINSON. Lhe-KeathersMite—A: New, Ponltry Pest-4.. ..yfyoe sg adh ocr foe a ee Pror. L. CAESAR. Some Observations on the Oviposition of Hypera punctata ............. H. F. Hupson. Recent Developments in the Dominion Entomological Service.......... ARTHUR GIBSON. ebhe:SuniowereMagcOt-s 2 sak cc chit. cies c ceee heen ea ee J. E. Brink. Recent workton-the RosecChafer ti. 02. se ee ee ee pee nae W. A. Ross and J. A. HALL. The Occurrence of the Potato Seed Maggot, Hylemyia trichodactyla, in Gutatig.. beaks. fe bees.) ete. E : Mas. Tao G. H. HAMMOND. An interesting feature was the presentation by the Ontario Provincial Motion Picture Bureau of a motion picture film on the European corn-borer. The Canadian Entomologist, the official organ of the society, completed its fifty-fourth volume in December last. The volume contained 294 pages, illus- trated by eleven full-page plates and nineteen original figures. The contributors to these pages numbered fifty-three and included writers in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, New Brunswick, seventeen of the United States and the Hawaiian Islands. Twelve papers were published during the year on popular and practical entomology. REPORT OF THE MARITIME BRANCH The ninth annual meeting of the Acadian Entomological Society was held in Amherst, N.S., on December 12th, 1923. The regular business session was held and the following officers were elected for 1924: (Honoraryieresident sce eed. SR Be a eet Dr. A. H. MacKay, Halifax. Prestdent Peete: 338 iss sacl s «3 ay Saar - ee bee Dr. J. D. Toruitt, Fredericton, WLCC IE TESTUCT A Petes 8 oo oh) hoe id ee a a Ee Mr. J. P. SpittTaLi, Annapolis Royal, ESECTELOT NA CUSUTCTE sansa on St = fa» 305 Sees hectare eee oe Mr. W. E. WHITEHEAD, Truro. The remainder of the day was devoted to an informal discussion of entomo- logical problems. During the past year ‘‘Proceedings’”” No. 8 had been published, which con- tains 182 pages and 25 plates, the increase in size of this number being made possible by a surplus of funds which the society had on hand. Our membership is about the same as that of last year. W. E. WHITEHEAD, Secretary-Treasurer. 1924 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 7 REPORT OF THE MONTREAL BRANCH The fiftieth annual meeting was held on May 12th, 1923, in the Lyman Entomological Room, Redpath Museum, McGill University. Eight meetings were held during the season, with an average attendance of eight members. A very successful field day was held at St. Hilaire on May 24th. The following papers were read during the year: SRST ES Bynioy 000) (0-4 | a A. F. WINN. SRM I RE ORAS ca creer inc Ooo ie sein eid ae'a's Wolatale clone G, Hy Farr: ieee on the Amateur Intomologist.) 0. . 2) 60 0S. ee Geo. A. Moore. Notes on Arge pecioralis—the Birch Sawfly... ............. 0000 e cece ees J. W. BUCKLE. EES Sg Sarees en om Se ree fn ae ee Geo. A. Moore. Notes on some flies commonly seen in our dwellings.................... Bro. OUELLET. EN CCHS BS ALOCOLA . i 5,. 5 oe. 5. cos ais Go's tsa os a wjawiateua 6 Setwmiee G. CHAGNON. Gelastocoridae—Toad-Shaped Bugs... ..:........0. 00 cee cece nee eeee Geo. A. Moore. ee rantiriae trOm Chinas: .: 6. ccs 2 42 SALE: Apdaereytnl> Fey AL: G. CHAGNON. REM ac i Lee ro ny Glee SS eee tos ape te «aden Saangade e Geo. A. Moore. Notes on the Dipterous family Bombyliidae........................... Bro. OUELLET. On the larval and pupal stages of Chtronomus ...........00..0 cece eens T. W. BARNES. RE ea ity os a ES ed i Bh ee Ye Geo. A. Moore. The treasurer reported a balance on hand of $176.28. The following were elected officers: Ie ees tae Aad oye at: Heyhaisaty ac ap da -adtctnera loeb «va Ress Geo. A. Moore 5 be [EDIE ITI oes nite SRE er ae SEO ee MEDEA RET cr 4 Seb wen eee G.H.-HALL MITRE MIT CR Toe 08 Pet NAS, RT cole hake oie wi oes Secale Gye ee J. W. BUCKLE. ODO STE <0) 8 BE el ee G. CHAGNON, A. C. SHEPHERD, and J. WARREN. J. W. BUCKLE, Secretary. REPORT OF THE TORONTO BRANCH The twenty-seventh annual meeting of the Toronto Branch was held in the Biological Building, University of Toronto, on October the 24th, 1923. The President, Mr. S. Logier, occupied the chair. The report of the Council showed that during the past year eight regular meetings were held at which there was an average attendance of eleven persons. The following papers and addresses were given at the meetings. Odonata and Orthoptera collected at Rondeau Park and Point Pelee....Pror. E. M. WALKER. mea MPA ee NSIC ON) fess: ape-8 has) aii Pom ik ey geet Shbs eeek- waar: Mr. N. K. BIGELOow. The Strawberry Petiole Gall, Diastrophus fragariae...............0.45. Dr. A. COSENs. ide Le) arra lh By aha Sigg yi ac Sane ce are Mr. N. K. BIGELOW. EOP, LW) oS Paes Ae pelts choke ae ae I etal ce Pror. A. W. BAKER. Pema tadella bits-ot somatochlora: ... shi fee lsc sees Stands Sisk oe Pror. E. M. WALKER. nae AEM IN IDISOMS EH ISIES sit. tear. iatenee isto youl Oh ccsioies wees Bad Teese Pror. W. A. CLEMENS. Beemesprequenting the Household... 7.0.2. b os gee tee ee ee bs Mr. N. K. BIGELow. JASE NVGE. 2 Ag Ai cee epee, so RD Se) a Mr. W. A. Ross. ame E AAR ie, wee en ccs aU sets e 5) WE as, cee Plat toe Pror. E. M. WALKER, Dr. N. H. C. Forp Four new members were elected, namely, Sister Lilian, Sister Ruth, Mr. G. N. Bird and Mr. H. H. MacKay. One member was dropped from the roll. The treasurer’s report showed a balance of $25.72. The report of the librarian noted that forty-six publications had been added to the library during the year. These had been catalogued and filed. 8 THE REPORT OF THE Noi 33 The following officers were elected for 1923-24: LEASED a IIE oe cn STATE RMS FR oe El A ee ee ee ike Mr. SHELLEY LOGIER. Wacese resident 2. et ne ok ae Fe er ga eee Pror. E. M. WALKER. PSCCLELUPI=L TEOSULED Pe Oe 0 ins Se rs TE tags oe Pa Mr. H. H. MacKay. EVOL UTVAI. TOO ee se Oe NAO SAE SIS Dr. N. H. C. Forp. Council. = Pe Pror. W. A. CLEMENS, Dr. A. CosEns, Mr. N. K. BiGELow, Mr. A. H. Lem. A. H. Letm, Secretary-Treasurer. REPORT OF THE BRITISH COLUMBIA BRANCH The twenty-second annual meeting was held in the Court House, Vancouver, on Saturday the 17th of February, 1923. The President, Mr. L. E. Marmont, was in the chair, and from twelve to fifteen members were present throughout the meeting. At the business session in the morning, three new members were proposed and accepted, Mr. K. F. Auden, Mr. A. O. Hope, and Mr. O. Whittaker. A redraft of the by-laws was passed upon for incorporation purposes. It was decided not to provide another cup this year for school competition. Upon the motion of Mr. Venables, it was decided to hold a summer meeting at Vernon during the visit of the Dominion Entomologist. The following papers were read: Presidental \Address< ..c./ke eee eh: ok se i, SU ee ee ee L. E. MARMONT. Collecting in the Sagebrush of the Southern Okanagan Valley............ E. R. BUCKELL. Key jfothe Vespint 1. :s. ic SR RAR a tak Sekt abe eat eee C. D. GARRETT. Gontrol of Oyster-shell/Scale with.Oil Sprays*-% Dae ee ae ee ee M. H. RUHMANN. Pheseeach shwic Borerin gs. C.F. cst itn che ices ete ee eee R. C. TREHERNE. Economic Entomology in the Dry Belt............. ae POSS Mie ep ee E. P. VENABLES. Noteés:on. Econoniic Insects’in, 1922 4 C3 AT. SEPT. ft}. DSO AS W. Downes. New hecerds ol-B.CHenipteras | sss 2.4) Gein. ee eyoee ee a eee W. Downes. Effect;of Fumigation on, Certain -Ansects 44+. 22y..9 a 4orn-leucen- dae W. H. Lyne. (ese n-GurtantsAphis.1.. «nd 4al): Aes< ask octea be oy arta A oe R. GLENDENNING. PGrest entomology. 2. ts. 0 S8 oboe cee Catan ee ele aca eee R. Hoppine. Mosqiito Control at Batis. sc Os Cees BA eC She Oe Oy ek ee E. HEARLE. iselation,o: botany 1o°EntomOlogy =. 4... a. 2. eet wee ae Serpe ae pont ee W. B. ANDERSON. Slides, showing the beauties of the Mymaride were shown under the micro- scope by Mr. Whittaker. The election of officers for 1923 resulted as follows: eiommmaryorrestdent «26! Sh a a oe E. KERMODE. IMgeo G2 © hh a re ee Rea. gn hes EY L. E. MARMONT. Vage-Lressient jar Coast), 2... o.oo. ad os ce sn ssn ee ee eee R. S. SHERMAN. Vaces xessiemt MortInterior.). . <6 ao. sam a w= pa Ws os a OEE M. H. RUHMANN. FT OnOrary SeCnehary-d PEaSUrer . 2 os be aE SRG hn R. GLENDENNING, Agassiz, B.C. EV OMOT ONS ATH UTLO TE Rte ors ene cn ho RR ee eee W. S. Moore, J.P. Advisory Board—The Sincere and J. Davipson, W. Downes, E. HEARLE, W. H. Lyng, E. P. ENABLES. It was decided, according to precedent, to hold the 1924 meeting in Victoria, B.C. *Read by proxy. 1924 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 9 During 1923 one number of ‘‘Proceedings’’ (Nos. 17 and 19 combined) was published, containing the following papers: Report of the Secretary-Treasurer. Presidental Address. AEE AALS AL WCCO EY 0 Nolan cigyenera ave chdh ieeeavind as fe Darn Sole beste on AN R. C. TREHERNE. The Relation of the Predatory Mite, Hemisarcoptes malus, to the Oyster- 2 Sap EO Ne Se Pet Sete oe 6 oe ne Cd ne oe E. P. VENABLES. Insects of Economical Importance in the Lower Fraser Valley in 1921....... R. GLENDENNING. ie eciation of Botany. to Entomology... 3. 2.0.60. jon. eee eee cee ke eee W. B. ANDERSON. Effect of Fumigation on Certain Insects................ agian sit J hey he We Hes yine: Seem borer =|. 201). IOI. Bi POOL Oe IO! OTe S120 8: R. C. TREHERNE. Eo AE a er ee On ee R. Hoppine. Puneet Es Gari. 108. oc), co ud he ole fot Gok, od Ode ale od E. HEARLE. The Status of Spreaders in Poison Spray Solution....................... AG cy Coven The summer meeting in the Okanagan was not held, coast members finding it impossible to attend. R. GLENDENNING, Hon. Secretary-Treasurer. REPORTS ON INSECTS OF THE YEAR Division No. 3, Toronto District.—A. CosENs Only a few insects were noted as particularly plentiful this year. Two leaf rollers were among these. The species, Anacampsis populella Clemens, that feeds upon the foliage of the large-toothed aspen, Populus grandidentata Michx, had infested the trees in High Park to such an extent that some branches had almost every leaf rolled. The larve of this form appeared to be almost mature on June 22nd. The other leaf-roller, Cacoecia hewittana Busck, was feeding upon second-growth soft elm, Ulmus Americana L. The moths emerged the last week of June. The latter species was kindly identified for me by August Busck, Smithsonian Institution, Washington. He states that the pest is common to both Europe and America. On the same specimens of Ulmus, on which were the leaf-rollers, galls were fairly common. These were on the foliage and con- sisted of a thickening of the leaf blade along the lines of the veins. The infected leaves were also folded with the upper surfaces within. The gall-producer in this instance is a gall gnat, Phytophaga ulmi Beutm. On June 30th, the rose chafer, Macrodactylus sub-spinosus, was noted in large numbers feeding upon wild roses and other plants in High Park. About the same date, rose growers in the vicinity of the park stated that the beetles were plentiful upon their cultivated roses. These beetles are easily recognized. The body is slender and thickly clothed with fine, yellow hairs, which give it a yellow colour. The legs are long, slender and pale red. This pest is difficult to combat. A poison spray is not very effective and about the only other plan suggested is to jar the beetles off the bushes into a dish of kerosene, a method that would be applicable only on a small scale. These beetles do considerable injury to plants as not only do the adults feed upon the foliage but the larve also feed upon the roots. Along the beach at Kincardine, during the month of August, that curious Hymenopterous insect, Pelecinus polyturator, was quite numerous. This insect, which is glossy black in colour, has short wings with only a few veins. The female can be readily recognized by its long, slender abdomen, nearly five times the length of the head and thorax together. This elongated abdomen 10 THE REPORT OF THE No. 33 is doubtless of use to the insect in boring into the ground to reach the larve of the May beetles, upon which the parasite is said to deposit its eggs. The abdomen of the male is club-shaped, and not more than twice the length of the head and thorax. The males are seen only rarely, and are supposed to fly high in the air. The females, on the contrary, fly near the ground and often alight, apparently to rest. As usual the green aphis was troublesome on the rose bushes. In this connection I wish to place on record that from two independent sources I was informed that English sparrows were seen feeding upon the pests and destroying large numbers of them. This is at least one good deed that stands to the credit of these successful little colonizers. Division No. 6.—H. F. Hupson The season of 1923 on the whole has been a light insect year. So far as known to the writer, the insect loss to the staple crops has been generally light. There are, however, one or two entomological features worth noting. Field Crop Insects WIREWORMS.—In Elgin county, as well as in Perth county, considerable injury was done by various species of wireworms. Around the outskirts of Stratford, covering an area approximately five square miles, wireworm injury was very marked. Replanting was necessary in many fields. Several corn- fields in Elgin county had to be replanted owing to the ravages of these pests. CutTworms.—On the lighter soils extensive injury to oat and cornfields has been noted. In Middlesex county, approximately one hundred acres of corn land had to be replanted. The identity of the cutworm is not known. THE HEssIAN Fiy.—Reports of injury to the wheat crop was received from Huron, Waterloo, and Middlesex counties, but injury generally was light. THE EUROPEAN CORN BoRER.—There appears to be a slight general increase of this pest but on the whole the general injury was not as marked as in previous years. It seems to be gaining headway around London, in Middlesex county, especially in early sweet corn, while a similar condition prevails around Aylmer, in Elgin county. THE CoLorApdoO PoTATO BEETLE.—The spring brood of this insect was heavy, and very injurious, but the second brood was light. Truck Garden Insects The most important truck insect of the year was the cucumber beetle. Cucumbers stood the attack better than melons which were in some cases totally destroyed. Some efficient control measure is needed. Dusting with hydrated lime helps in control, but too frequent dusting appears to injure the foliage. THE CABBAGE Maccort.—Injury was less marked this year than for several years, although near Port Stanley there was a fifty per cent. loss in a commercial plantation. Shade Tree Insects THE WHITE-MARKED Tussock Motu.—This was quite abundant around London, Ontario. In the fall as many as twenty egg masses were noted on a single tree-trunk. THE WaALNut Datana.—These caterpillars were more abundant than I have noted for several years. Wherever walnut trees were present they were in many cases defoliated. . ~~ 1924 ENTOM OLOGI CAL’ SOCIETY 11 Special Features Tue SEED Corn Maccor.—Specimens of potato sets were received from Perth county, heavily infested with maggots. A trip was made to the affected field to secure additional material. Infestation appeared to be limited to a single five-acre field. The maggots were reared to the adult flies and were kindly determined by Mr. Curran of the Dominion Entomological Branch as Hylemyia cilicura. , Sop WEBwormMs.—A note was received from Mr. W. H. Sands of the Pro- vincial Experimental Farm at Ridgetown, that several fields of corn had been destroyed by one of the webworms, apparently a species of crambid. No material was received and the exact identity of the insect is not known. Onton TuriIps.—Reports from the onion marsh at Leamington, Ontario, indicate that this pest was unusually abundant and injurious this year. THE EARLY DAYS OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO Rev. C. J. S. BETHUNE, TORONTO It is gratifying to me, as one of the founders of the Entomological Society of Ontario, that it should be celebrating its ‘“‘Diamond Jubilee,” and that it should have continued to grow and flourish during so long a period of time. Sixty-one years ago, two young men—the late Dr. William Saunders and I—who were enthusiastically devoted to the collection and study of insects, and spent all their spare time in the pursuit, after a good deal of correspondence decided that it would be a good thing to organize a society and gather together the few, widely-scattered people who shared with them a deep interest in entomology. Our first proceeding was to procure the names and addresses of all those who shared with us an interest in the subject. After a good deal of correspondence we were able to make a list of thirty-six persons, four of them ladies, who col- lected insects. This was published in the seventh volume of The Canadian Naturalist and Geologist of Montreal, in June, 1862. In the autumn of that year a meeting was held at the residence of Prof. Croft, of the University of Toronto. After some discussion it was decided that as there were only ten persons present, it would be better to postpone any action until a larger number could take part in the proceedings. Later on we called another meeting, which was held in the rooms of the Canadian Institute of Toronto, on the 16th of April, 1863. There were only twelve present, but we had letters approving of the project, and so we decided to go on. A constitution was adopted, and the society was named “The Entomological Society of Canada.’ Prof. Croft was elected president; Dr. Saunders, secretary-treasurer; and Mr. J. Hubbert, curator. At this time Canada consisted of Upper and Lower Canada, now the pro- vinces of Ontario and Quebec, and we had members resident in both. In 1864, Dr. Saunders was elected president, and I became secretary-treasurer, an office that I held for seven years. In 1868, when I was living at Erindale on the river Credit, after much consultation, I began the publication of The Canadian Entomologist, an eight-page periodical, which has grown and flourished, and for a long time has been recognized as one of the leading publications on entomology - in America. 12 THE. REPORT OF THE No. 33 The next event of importance took place in 1870, when we were asked to prepare a report on injurious insects. This was undertaken by Dr. Saunders, Mr. E. Baynes-Reed (one of our original members), and myself. Three articles were prepared: Insects Affecting the Grape, the Plum, and the Apple-tree. The report was published by the Department of Agriculture early in the following year, and was widely distributed. So useful was it considered that it was reprinted twenty-five years later. This was the beginning of the issue of the Annual Reports of the Society which have regularly appeared for more than fifty years. One good result of the first report was a grant of $400 to the society from the Department. Soon afterwards, as the result of a report on the Colorado potato-beetle, by Dr. Saunders and Mr. Reed, the grant was increased to $1,000, and has been continued ever since. A further result was the incorporation of the society by the Legislature of Ontario, and the change of its name to its present designation, though it was by no means restricted in its operations to this province. For nine years the society was kindly permitted to use the rooms of the Canadian Institute in Toronto for its meetings, and the housing of its library and collections. The headquarters were then removed to London where a flourishing branch had been established. In 1906 the removal was made to the Ontario Agricultural College at Guelph. To many this brief record is an old story, but I trust that it may be of interest to our younger members to learn of our days of small things, and to realize how our operations have extended over the whole Dominion, with active branches in Montreal and Toronto, the Maritime Provinces, and British Columbia. Ten years ago a delightful celebration of the jubilee of the society was held at Guelph. It is sad to recall the losses that we have sustained by death since then. Dr. Saunders, who, however, was not able to be present at the meeting, died a few months afterwards. We have to deplore also the deaths of Dr. Fyles, Dr. Hewitt, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Lyman, and Mr. Sladen; and amongst our visitors, Prof. Webster and Mr. Meade-Waldo, of the British Museum. { regret very much that, owing to the infirmities of old age, I am unable to be present at the Diamond Jubilee of the society. May it continue to grow and flourish, and to extend, as the years go by, the knowledge and application of systematic and economic entomology. THE ROSE CURCULIO IN MANITOBA—WITH NOTES ON- OTHER INSECTS AFFECTING ROSES H. ALEX. ROBERTSON, ENTOMOLOGICAL LABORATORY, TREESBANK, MAN. The destructiveness of the Rose Curculio, Rhynchites bicolor Fab., has been brought forcibly to our attention on many occasions in Manitoba, particularly during the past few summers. The characteristic puncturing of the young rosebuds and the failure of the petals to open are now familiar to most people who take an intelligent interest in rose-growing. The injury caused has given rise to frequent inquiries, and it is as a result of these that a brief preliminary study of the insect has been undertaken. This beetle, which is widespread in North America, has sometimes been confused with the Rose Chafer (Macrodactylus subspinosus Fab.) because of the 1924. ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 13 general nature of its work. While there is little justification for this, it might perhaps be explained by the fact that the adult Curculio is not readily seen unless one is careful when approaching rosebushes. If the bushes are shaken at all, the beetle, which is easily alarmed, will let go and fall to the ground. The adult is conspicuously marked, as its name would suggest, and may be observed, if some caution be taken, resting upon the foliage or at work devouring the buds. Once seen, there is, of course, no likelihood of associating the prominently beaked Curculionid with the above-named Scarabaeid, which, moreover, is not found on the Canadian prairies. It is usually the depredations and seldom the insects themselves which first attract the attention of rose-growers, and for the most part the destruction of rose blossoms goes forward unchecked, so elusive and yet persistent are the Dipterous larva in rose hip. Fully developed larva, Rhyncites bicolor. Rose hip, showing emergence hole of larva of R. bicolor. attacks of the little invaders. Experiments, however, have shown us that a very appreciable control may be realized by combating either the early larval or adult forms. Lire Cycie. The life cycle of R. bicolor as it occurs in Manitoba may be summarized by the following dates: emir sence iss lt atom Sie Sey reo 2k. ko June 1 Bigoslanine® SAMS Oh eee ACen June 14 Eee IPS OLLI ES SEM BAO MaMa yes ig July 8 Wissereon Chin ps7. Se yMOR Et BHR Nise bs Je Sept. 4 are teas Wien CH AE, BIRO, 275) Zahte Li1dp: May 16 14 THE: REPORT OF ‘THE No. 33 The above dates are the earliest recorded for each stage, the averages being. from one to two weeks later. The period of emergence for the adult may be especially prolonged in some cases; certain apparently healthy larve, after hibernating, having failed to pupate as late as the next September. It would seem, therefore, that, as an additional means of preservation of the species, some individual members may hibernate for a second time. PLants ATTACKED. All of our native roses as well as various cultivated ones, such as Rosa rugosa, are attacked by the Curculio. While none appear to be immune there is yet a marked difference in the degree to which plants are infested, the location as well as varietal susceptibility causing variations. Thus in early September larve have been found in as many as 63.3 per cent. of the hips of R. pratincola on an open southern slope, while along a roadside in Bottineau county, N.D., R. pratincola was found infested to as high as 74 per cent. In the case of plants partially protected by trees the percentages were distinctly lower, probably because of the preference of the insect for bright sunshine. At the edge of a wood R. acicularis and R. blanda have been found infested to the extent of 29.6 per cent., while for plants entirely shaded within the wood, 6 per cent. was the highest for any species. The relative susceptibility of R. macounti has not been determined because of its rareness in Manitoba. Injury to small fruits such as blackberries and raspberries, as mentioned by some observers, has up to the present been negligible here. NaTuRAL History AND Hapits. In southern Manitoba the first adults appear promptly about June 1st and are most abundant by the middle of the month. They disappear rather suddenly in July but specimens have been seen by us as late as August 7th, this being due, as has been mentioned, to the late pupation of some of the larve. Upon emerging, the Curculio ascends a convenient rosebush and, after sunning for a while, begins to feed on the buds by making deep punctures with its well-adapted beak, often eating twenty or more holes in the same bud and sometimes a few additional ones in the hip. "When not feeding it rests upon the foliage a great deal, but on bright, warm mornings it is never idle. Copulation is common a few days later and egg-laying begins towards ghe end of June. The eggs are laid in the punctures and are inserted sufficiently to be almost concealed. Only one, or more rarely two eggs, are laid in each bud. Hatching commences the second week in July and the young larve live for a short time within the flowers, then desert the flowers for the hips where they are found the latter part of August feeding on the seeds. Here they develop rapidly. Only one fully developed larva has been found to survive in each hip. Beginning about September 4th, the larve bore their way out of the hips, fall to the ground and bury themselves to a depth of 11% to 4 inches in the soil where they hibernate. By the middle of the following May the first pupz are being formed in the soil and, after a period of two weeks, the first adult Curculio emerges. . Ecc. Pale yellow, shiny, somewhat translucent, distinctly narrower at one end than the other and varying a little in size. Length: 0.9-1.2 mm.; width: 0.6-0.9 mm. ; Larva. Colour pale yellowish, except the portion of the head above the epistoma, which is dark-brownish, the coloration extending farther along the mid-line; clypeus and labrum pale; mandibles black with three teeth; antenne one-jointed and situated at the bases of the mandibles, slightly darker than the ie <,* 1924 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 15 body colour. Body with many small hairs, legless and strongly curved, con- forming with the position assumed in the hips. One pair of spiracles on the prothorax and eight on abdomen, each with two lobes. Larval movements are extremely awkward and effected by means of the two extremities and the longit- udinal contractions of the body. Length of larva: 5-6x2.5 mm.; width of head: 1 mm. Pupa. Resembles the larva in size and colour and responds to gentle stimulation with quick but purposeless jerks. ADULT. General appearance is as described by Blatchley and Leng (Rhyn- cophora of N.E. America, p. 58) except that the head frequently is entirely black. This was the case in 26 per cent. of a large series of the beetles collected by sweeping in the same vicinity. “Robust, convex, pyriform. Elytra, thorax and head behind eyes bright - red; under surface, femora and beak black; tibiz, tarsi and antennz piceous black. Beak as long as head and thorax, rather sparsely marked with elongate punctures; antenne inserted at its middle, their grooves distinct. Thorax cylindrical, as long as wide, rather densely and finely punctate. Elytral strize indistinct, their punctures but little coarser than those of intervals, which are very dense. Beak of female shorter and stouter than in male. Length: 5 to 6.5 mm.” ConTROL. The control of the Rose Curculio is difficult, particularly so when the adults are not anticipated or discovered early enough, for a very few will cause extensive mutilation. Others, moreover, are likely to migrate from neighbouring bushes. When small numbers occur, hand-picking, net-sweeping or shaking into an umbrella, etc., will suffice, but for a severe outbreak heavy applications of spray, using lead arsenate in the strength of 3 to 5 lbs. per 50 U.S. gallons of water is the most efficient procedure. By this method a 95 per cent. kill has been obtained. Spraying has the advantage of also destroying certain other larve which feed upon the foliage at the same time of the year. If an examination of the hips in the autumn shows a fair percentage of infestation, e.g., 20 per cent., of larve present, then spraying might well be begun the first week of the following June, even before the beetles have been noticed. Still more certain is the practice of picking and burning all the hips before the first of September, thus catching the larve before they have fallen to the ground. In any event, very careful observation is a necessary factor in their control. OTHER INSECTS AFFECTING RosEs. In addition to the Curculio there are several insects which at one or more stages of their life histories produce injury to roses. These include a dipterous and a chrysomelid larva which infest the hips, a Scarabzid which feeds upon the leaves, and other chrysomelidze which feed largely upon the flowers. Noteworthy among these is the pretty green and black Scarabeid, Diche- lonyx backi Kay, which exhibits a distinct fondness for rose foliage. As many as thirteen of these beetles have been seen feeding simultaneously upon a single small plant of R. acicularis in the Kennedy district of Saskatchewan. To be noted also are certain chrysomelids, including Haltica tombacina Mann., and Calligrapha lunata Fab., as well as a fly Spilographa setosa Doans, which has been found in its larval state to inhabit the rose hips during the autumn, not infrequently along with R. bicolor. Later it passes to the ground, where it forms its puparium and emerges as an adult late the following June. In the hip the larva is confined more to the juicy outer wall than to the seeds as in the case of 16 THE ‘REPORT OF HE No. 33 the Curculio. A hymenopterous parasite has been reared from this interesting fly and it is hoped that further investigations of both, as well as the other species mentioned, may yet be carried out. In conclusion, grateful acknowledgment is made of the generous assistance rendered in this study by Mr. Norman Criddle, Entomologist in Charge for Manitoba. TWO PROBLEMS IN NATURAL CONTROL NORMAN CRIDDLE, DOMINION ENTOMOLOGICAL LABORATORY, TREESBANK, Man. The study of natural control has always been of great fascination to me. There are so many intricate byways to be traversed and so many inter-relations to be studied before the links begin to form a chain and the chain is joined to otner chains, thus eventually giving us an insight into the great web of life. When we view natural control in this way we see that it goes beyond the realms of any one science—Entomology, ornithology, mammalogy and botany are all involved in its kingdom, which stretches out over the entire world. It is not my intention, however, to involve myself in all the intricacies of natural control in this paper. I wish, rather, to touch upon one or two of the more important problems with which I have come in contact during the last few years. One of the major problems that has engaged our attention in Manitoba during the present century has been that of controlling the Wheat-stem Sawfly, Cephus cinctus Nort. The insect began its career as a pest more than twenty years ago and from that time on it has occasioned enormous losses to farmers of the Prairie Provinces. Its spread was slow at first, but later it made rapid inroads into the grain fields, and to-day it is found over practically the entire wheat-growing areas of Manitoba, over much of Saskatchewan and part of Alberta. It is also a common pest in North Dakota. Now Cephus cinctus was originally a grass-stem inhabitant and any stem might accommodate the larve, providing it was large enough. Consequently, the only limit to the insect’s increase was the number of suitable stems and the prevalence of its natural enemies. Of the two I think the latter were the most efficient in keeping it within bounds, but in spite of its enemies the sawfly managed to hold its own without much difficulty and when man began to upset the natural balance, as he is always doing, the sawfly soon took advantage of the new plants provided. Thus it came to pass that the sawfly became a pest, but what had become of its natural enemies? Had natural control, in this instance, lost its effectiveness? Temporarily, yes, but there is reason to hope, not permanently. When the sawfly invaded the wheat and rye fields it succeeded in leaving its parasitical enemies behind and in consequence it spread with far greater rapidity than would otherwise have been possible. For a long time it appeared as though the parasites, so common in grasses, could not follow their hosts into the new food plants; perhaps due to certain cultural methods, or to some other causes imperfectly understood. Gradually, however, odd stems of Cephus- infested grains were found to contain the parasites. They were found chiefly on the edges of fields, at first, just as the first sawflies had been, as if constituting an overflow from the grasses round about. Ultimately one parasite, Micro- bracon cephi Ghn., began to spread farther afield and such was its progress by 1924 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 17 1923 that Ainslie, of the U. S. Bureau of Entomology, and I found a fifty per cent. parasitism in certain fields near Bottineau, North Dakota. In Canada, K. M. _ King, of the Dominion Entomological Branch, discovered a ten per cent. infes- tation in plots near Saskatoon, Sask., and we in Manitoba found the parasite to be quite widely prevalent in grain fields, though still mostly on the edges of the crop. Hence a beginning has been made, but the parasite will have to make far greater progress before we can expect to reap much benefit from its activities. Once a start has been made, however, and a foothold obtained, we can hope for further gains. There is this consolation, too, that the Cephus damage in North Dakota during 1923 was less than half what it was some years ago. There are other parasites of the Wheat-stem Sawfly which, as yet, have been very rarely recovered from grain stems. There are also, I regret to say, some secondary parasites, one of which, Eupalmus alyni, we have reared from Mzcro- bracon cephi. There is also a much smaller Hymenopteron, probably a parasite on Eupalmus. Thus the wheels within wheels complicate our problem of natural control, though they obviously add to its interest. I have some hesitation in appearing as a student of forest insects, but we have been so long without adequate investigators of shade-tree and forest insects on the prairies that it has seemed absolutely necessary to study some of the more important forms with which our people have had to contend. Two of these insects have been forced upon me with particular emphasis during the last two years, namely, the Forest Tent Caterpillar, which has defoliated more than a hundred square miles of trees in Saskatchewan, and the Fall Webworm, which has cleaned up local areas of trees with equal thoroughness. I am not going into details of these outbreaks other than to state that the insects involved have certain parasites in common. One in particular has turned up quite frequently, namely, Itoplectis conquisitor Say. We reared it last year from the Fall Webworm in small numbers. This year it parasitized tent caterpillars to the extent of about twenty per cent., and it occurred in great numbers among the Hyphantria this fall. Another species, Ephialtis pedalis Cress., has been reared from the Malacosoma larve and has been seen amid the fall webworms, so we may suspect that there is a linkage between the two hosts and the two parasites. Other Hymenopterous parasites as well as certain Tachinide have been reared or collected from, or near, one host or the other, but I am emphasizing Itoplectis because of its commonness and because of its dependence upon at least two hosts for its perpetuation. In the shrubby or semi- wooded country its usual hosts appear to be Malacosoma fragilis and certain - Tortricide, all tent-building species. In the more wooded country it may attack the insects already mentioned but readily infests as alternatives both Malacosoma disstria and Hyphantria textor. Judging from the number of Itoplectis present it would seem as if this and other parasites will practically eliminate the webworm outbreak next year, but we cannot predict as much for the tent caterpillar, because the two pests have occurred at widely separated places and we do not know what intermediate hosts are present in the tent caterpillar region, or whether Jtoplectis is a strong enough flier to migrate long distances in search of hosts. If we could only transport the heavily parasitized Hyphantria pupe to the Malacosoma-infested area much good might result. Perhaps, however, it would be better still to have actually shipped the healthy webworm pupe to the tent caterpillar district in order to insure a supply of alternate hosts for the parasite. The shipping of a healthy pest to a comparatively free region may seem a rather risky recommendation, and doubtless it would be were we to transport Oe aa a 18 THE REPORT OF ‘FRE No. 33 such pests beyond their known range, but within the range little harm should result, while much good might be accomplished. It seems reasonable to suppose that the shipping of healthy webworm pupz would be particularly appropriate - in this case, because of the fact that the second generation of [toplectis would be more numerous than the first and on this account the imported Hyphantria would probably be the first to become exterminated by the parasite. If, on the other hand, the tent caterpillars were the first to go, the abundance of parasites issuing from them would almost surely be sufficient to finish up the remaining webworms. As pointed out above there are a third series of secondary hosts for Itoplectis in the tent-making TJortricide from which the parasite has frequently been reared by us but we have not yet been able to discover any alternate hosts for the spring generation other than the various species of Malacosoma. Itoplectis, however, is known to have a very wide range of hosts in the United States and it is possible, therefore, that it will yet be found infesting canker worms and other spring larve. In any case Itoplectis conquisitor seems to be an extremely im- portant parasite and a knowledge of its full life-history is surely desirable. I have in conclusion to acknowledge the assistance of Mr. R. M. White, who has handled most of the rearing in the Hyphaniria studies. THE PRESENT STATUS AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE APPLE AND THORN SKELETONIZER (Hemerophila pariana Clerck, Lepid.) M. D. LEonaRD, ASSOCIATE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST, ALBANY, N.Y. In the fall of 1917 it was discovered that a new apple pest had become well established in Westchester and Rockland counties in the lower Hudson River valley, and so another undesirable was added to New York’s already too long ~ list of insect immigrants. Dr. Felt has called this the apple and thorn skeletonizer. Just how this pest may have been introduced into New York or just how long it may have been present is not definitely known. It has long been known, however, as a minor pest to apple in Europe, and also occurs in Turkestan and Western Asia, The direction of spread in this country has been mostly to the north’ and east. By the end of 1918 it was definitely known to occur in Rockland county from Yonkers to Yorktown Heights, a distance of almost twenty-five miles. At the close of 1921 there had been only a moderate extension of the infested territory in New York northward. In the fall of 1920, however, it was observed at Orient Point at the far eastern end of Long Island, and was also found to have become established in Greenwich and Stamford, Connecticut, and at the close of 1921 had apparently spread all over that state except along the northern border. According to the reports available it was first noticed in Massachusetts in the fall of 1922 in small numbers in the vicinity of Huntington and Chesterfield and also at Amherst. In the opinion of Mr. B. A. Porter, of the U.S. Bureau of Entomology, it had probably been present in the first two above-mentioned localities for a year or two. At Amherst the abundance of moths was probably due to a migrating flight northward from Connecticut. In New York, 1922 saw the extension of the range of the pest northward into Albany and Rensselaer 1924 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 19 counties with severe damage throughout most of the infested territory on neglected or poorly-sprayed trees. In 1923, it is reported for the first time from Rhode Island and New Jersey. So far as I have been able to ascertain through personal examination and from reliable sources, the apple and thorn skeletonizer occupies the following territory in this country at the close of this season—1923: New York—From Orient Point, at the extreme east end of Long Island, northward up the Hudson River valley practically to Whitehall in Washington county. It extends eastward from the Hudson to the Connecticut and Massa- chusetts and Vermont line. The pest is established from Glenn Falls southward throughout the whole of Schenectady and Albany counties, is on the west slope of the Catskills in Greene county, is probably in the western part of Ulster county and is present throughout the whole of Orange and Rockland counties. We have found it this year scatteringly as far west in Scoharie county as Cobleskille, a point about fifty-five miles almost due west of Albany. Careful search earlier in the season failed to disclose the presence of the pest at Johnstown, a point about fifty miles up the Mohawk from Albany. Ap- parently, from all reports, the insect is not yet present in Essex or Clinton counties —the latter adjoining the Canadian border. Also, none was found by Mr. P. M. Eastman, of the New York Department of Farms and Markets, after a thorough search of neglected apple trees at Malone. Connecticut—It is now reported present in all parts of the state. Massachusetts—Prof. A. I. Bourne reports (September, 1923, Insect Pest Survey, p. 280) that apparently the skeletonizer had spread clear across the state and that, while not yet in large numbers, there undoubtedly would be an increased abundance throughout the state as a whole another year. Rhode Island—Prof. A. E. Stene (Insect Pest Survey, September, 1923, p. 228) reports that it has been found this season from the Connecticut line to a point three-fourths of the distance across the state. New Jersey—Known to be present so far only in a small orchard at Pompton, which is about eight miles north of Paterson and almost fifteen miles southwest of Suffern, New York, on the border of Rockland county. Vermont—The skeletonizer is probably present along parts of the western border of Vermont since it has been found within a mile of the border at several points in Washington county, N.Y. I have, however, received no definite report as yet of its occurrence in this state. Canada—This past summer, Mr. J. P. Spittall, of the Annapolis Royal Laboratory in Nova Scotia, wrote me that he thought the pest was present up there, but understand from Dr. McDunnough, in charge of the national collection at Ottawa, that specimens submitted for determination were undoubtedly not this species. The caterpillars were feeding on thorn. Such is the brief history of the introduction, spread and present distribution of the apple and thorn skeletonizer in this country. My purpose has been simply to record all that could be ascertained to date concerning its occurrence here. Foop PLAnts. The apple and thorn skeletonizer seems to prefer to feed upon apple in this country, but has been recorded as also injuring, to a lesser extent, thorn and pear, and, in one instance, peach, sweet cherry and strawberry. DamaGE. The injury of the apple and thorn skeletonizer is not equally severe in all parts of its present range, but it is reasonable to conclude that its numbers will undoubtedly increase to a considerable extent in a season or two 20 THE REPORT OF THE No. 33 in the now lightly-infested territory. The foliage of severely injured trees appears, at a short distance, to be scorched by fire, and in late summer or early © fall many of the leaves drop to the ground. The exposed feeding of the cater- pillars, their susceptibility to arsenicals and to reduction in numbers by several native parasites, together with the fact that much of the injury is done late in the season, all seem to point to the skeletonizer as an apple pest of only second- - class rank. However, the damage is so severe in neglected or poorly sprayed orchards and on roadside trees that it emphasizes the necessity for thorough, consistent spraying wherever the pest is present. During the past season there were apparently three full broods and a frac- tional fourth in the Hudson River valley in New York. Occasional moths were still found in houses in Albany as late as October 30th. CONTROL. The caterpillars feed for the most part on the upper side of the leaves in an exposed manner, and are readily susceptible to even light applica- tions of arsenate of lead. Trees which receive the regular apple spray schedule through the season are but little troubled by the skeletonizer, and it is not a pest to be feared by the commercial grower who gives his orchard reasonable care. It would seem that the calyx application made just after the petals fall is the most effective, but in the Hudson River valley in New York, experience points to the advisability of another application about three weeks later on. In many cases, however, where this later spray has been omitted or where the calyx spray has not been thoroughly applied, an application about the third week in August should be made. This was advised for the control of the third brood of caterpillars in the Hudson River valley during the past season and many growers adopted the recommendation with apparently good results. . TAXONOMIC “AND SYNONYMIC TENDENCIES. WITH ESPECIAL REFERENCE’ TO: DIPTERA C. H. Curran, ENTOMOLOGICAL BRANCH, OTTAWA To entomologists of every degree and complexion there is, perhaps, nothing so discouraging—or. perhaps I should say annoying—as the continual shuffling of species from one genus to another, or the frequent changes of names of many of our common insects. All of us look forward to the day when stability in nomenclature will be a realization. Such hope is not vain, yet we must all feel that it will be some time in the distant future, an era of which we can only visualize as one of vast scientific knowledge, ruled by men who, in all probability, will smile indulgently when they peruse for some obscure detail the works setting forth our own small contributions. Be that as it may, it in nowise alters the conditions of the present, nor has it, in fact, any connection with the subject under discussion. I hope I may not bore you by the use of technical phraseology; at the same time may I be pardoned if I use such as little as possible. It is not my intention to go into minute detail, but to discuss, as the title indicates, tendencies in systematic entomology and, perhaps to some extent, the influences responsible for them. It is not necessary to dwell upon the work of the pioneers, nor to expose their shortcomings. Such a course would imply perfection in ourselves, and no one knows better than I how imperfect our knowledge and work is at the present time. Since the appearance of Darwin’s ‘‘Descent of Man”’ and ‘‘Origin of Species,” propounding theories which came as a great shock to mankind, and stimulated those interested in the subject to greater research, the search for ‘‘missing links” 1924 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 21 between the families and orders in the biological fauna has been greatly inten- sified. While many have striven, none have succeeded in proving or disproving the theories of Darwin to the satisfaction of all and there we will let the matter rest. It has been mentioned merely because of the great influence it has had upon entomological studies. From the time of Linne entomologists have attempted to perfect a classi- fication of insects without avail. To-day we have a classification which is, if anything, worse than that of the founder of our science. We have advanced, yes, but in our progress we have become so enmeshed in the complexities of nature that we know not which path to take to find relief. There is no stability in our classification; nor is there any relief in sight so long as the present tendencies prevail. It is safe to say that all the paths which appeared traversible to the students of fifty years ago have been fairly well surveyed, and, in so far as progress is concerned, we have been, until recently, almost at a standstill. It is true that we are finding new forms—new connecting links—in fact, a great many new things to add to the complexity of our problems. During the past few years new fields have been explored. We have realized the value of the genitalia as a guide to species. Many have over-emphasized it. Just what its ultimate value will be in the tracing of relationships, it is impossible to surmise. Dealing now with the flies in particular, I must say that a great deal has been accomplished quite recently. There has been some effort devoted by American Dipterists to the discovery of new characters which would serve to definitely limit certain groups. Such researches have not been in vain and it appears likely that within the next few years these discoveries will be embodied in a reclassification of the Order which will greatly simplify the determination of species and result in more sharply defined groups, and another step taken towards stability in classification. It is remarkable, when we look back, to observe that during the past half- century or more, entomologists have been playing the game of “follow the leader.’ Dipterists have followed Meigen and have used the same means of separating families as prevailed in 1820. Once more I do not mean that we have not advanced, but entomology as a science must be considered as one of the least progressive of all. To-day the implements of agriculture do not in any way resemble the primitive methods of a century ago. In agriculture we have different types of seed to those employed even by our great-grandfathers, but in systematic entomology we are using the same seed and securing the same uncertain results. Many systems for the classification of the wing veins of insects have been devised and many names have been proposed, but to-day we are no more certain about the origin of a vein in Diptera than was Linne, and probably he did not even consider the matter. For example, the anterior crossvein in the Syrphide, or at least in some of them, is not wholly a crossvein, but is a fusion of what is termed the fifth radius and the crossvein. This may not be true in the Muscoid groups, but we have no proof that it is or that it is not, but it is certainly true in the Syrphid genus Stilbosoma Philippi from Chile. No classification of the wings of insects is possible without thoroughly considering the world fauna, and anything based upon a regional fauna must be erroneous and misleading, and can only be a centre of controversy. But, nevertheless, all such systems are a means to an end—they do their bit towards attaining the final goal. At the same time most of us prefer a simple terminology, and such must, in the long run, serve the larger number of people and result in greater interest and advancement. 22 THE REPORT OF THE © No. 33 There appear to be entomologists who take the greatest delight in sur- rounding their specialization with a barricade of complex terminology, perhaps hoping thus to eliminate all contenders for their crown. They have the habit of describing their pets in such a manner that it is next to impossible to penetrate their meaning and arrive at even a remote understanding of their subject. Perhaps I am one of them, and if so I condemn myself without reservation. No one who has had occasion to refer to the monographs by Loew and Osten Sacken can find fault with the simple, concise, clear phraseology. These men knew how much to say and how much to omit, an accomplishment which we should to-day attempt to emulate. Many of us appear to lose sight of the fact that we are not, or at any rate should not be, working for our own glory. If by doing good work we accomplish glory, that is another matter, and something to our credit, but to work solely for that glory and to fancy we have attained it, is an admission that we have failed in an unworthy cause. The main need in entomology to-day is not the building up of obscure terminology, but a com- prehension of English, or whatever language we speak, which will enable us to place our findings before the world in such a manner that they may be com- prehended by even the poorest student. Most entomologists have had frequent occasion to use keys or tables of — species, genera or families, and few, I think, have not raved at the inconsistencies of the delineator. No doubt I have caused some such scenes myself, and if ! have not, it is through no fault of my own. The making of a key is, in my opinion, the most difficult task we must face. It is easy to concoct one which will suit our own enlightened mind, but others may be left almost entirely in the dark. The trouble, I believe, is due to the lumping of various characters in the antitheses, instead of relying upon one character, and the failure to place doubtful specimens under more than one section. There are tendencies to “lump” and to “split.” What is their effect? Which is the more desirable? In my opinion the lumping of species has done much more to confuse the student than any other procedure. This is especially true in the Muscoid groups where, very often, many legitimate species have been placed in the synonymy merely because the descriptions read alike. Unfor- tunately some workers will do their utmost to make a description fit a species when they are sure it does not, and there are others who will insist upon arriving at a conclusion that the author was in error in not mentioning characters which the specimen under examination exhibits, or that the colours were wrongly given, and the specimen must be that species, and so determine it. Why it should be concluded that an author meant yellow when he said brown, or grey when he said green, I do not know, but I do know that such is often the case, judging by determinations I have seen. Of course, some writers do appear to mean reddish when they say yellow or yellow when they say white, so perhaps there is some excuse for the aforementioned conclusion. One of the require- ments for all taxonomists should be the passing of a test for colour-blindness. The “‘splitters”” are often roundly condemned, yet they do not create nearly as much trouble as the “‘lumpers.’’ The chief cause of complaint against the ‘‘splitter,’’ who is really advancing science by looking deeper than the average person, lies in the persistency of the student to make two species out of one. I have spent many hours trying to make slight variants fit the description of one or two apparently closely allied forms, only to feel like kicking myself soundly at such time as the other species came to hand. The “‘splitter’”’ is a keen student as a rule, and even if his enthusiasm does sometimes carry him beyond a reasonable limit, he may be excused, as he does not as a rule cause 1924 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 23 the confusion of the “lumper.’’ I do not think, however, that there is any excuse for carrying on the splitting of genera to such an abnormal degree as has been done in the Muscoidea. I gather from my studies in this group that some students consider that there can be only one species in a genus, unless it should happen by some inavoidable accident that it is practically impossible to tell the two species apart, in which case there might be two. At any rate it must be admitted that if we are to follow the lead shown here, we shall have to entirely discard genera and know the myriads of insects by their Christian names. What we need is not numerous genera, but more definite generic limitations. We must not lose sight of the fact that families and genera are an aid in deter- mining the species—the species is the ultimate, the genus, family, and order the means of attaining it. Thus far I have not dealt with synonymy, a phase of entomology which is extremely perplexing. It is discouraging to discover that an old and well- known genus is not that genus at all, but some other one, or that some other one is that one and that one cannot be it. If I do not make myself clear it is entirely because the subject is complex and rather inexplicable. At any rate, the rules of nomenclature demand that the oldest valid name for a genus or species be used and many changes are due to this fact. In other cases the name may be pre-occupied. This practice is, of course, to give honour where honour is due and as such is a commendable one. I am of the opinion that a great many of the changes are unwarranted. Certainly great caution should be used before proposing an older name to replace a well-known one. I believe that a great many species attributed to the older writers and considered as genotypes are unrecognizable, either from the description or due to the fact that the writer had more than one species before him in describing a species or in placing it under a generic name. Verrall has remarked upon the large number of Linne’s species which are recognizable. I do not agree, but consider that the majority of the species described by the first systematist are recognizable due to the courtesy of subsequent students. I heartily agree that the names should be attributed to Linne—we cannot do sufficient to honour him—but I repeat that every care should be taken before invalidating a popular genus in favour of a genus founded on a species proposed by an early worker. There are few people in America who can separate the species of Syrphus accurately and I venture to say that anyone founding a genus on one of the species allied to S. ribesii would find, upon close examination, if he had a large series of specimens, that there was more than one species in the series. Further, if the specimens were distributed, so that only two or three remained, all of the same species, and they were examined, it might be found that they did not agree with the generic description in some respect, yet being the alleged geno- type, the generic concept would be changed to agree with them, whereas the actual genotype would be lost. I admit that this is possibly a far-fetched example, but it is certainly not any more erroneous to believe that such a case has often happened than to accept determinations over a hundred years old, or genera based upon such determinations. And even to-day we sometimes determine species wrongly! It is a simple matter. No one takes more pleasure than I in tying down an old name. I glory in the fact that I have accomplished something much better than the addition to the lists of several species new to science. But at the same time [ do not believe in making things fit a description and am sure that in such cases a grave error is committed. I believe that there is a tendency to-day to ignore 24 THE REPORT OF THE No. 33 for the present unrecognizable species and to describe as new those insects which might be the species described, or might not. Such a course permits us to gain a complete knowledge of our fauna, but it creates work for those who take pleasure in establishing described species. I believe that such a course is desirable at the present time, provided sufficient care is used by the student. Unfortunately the European species of insects are not well understood—there are hundreds of valid species in the synonymy—and many types of American species are in Europe, so that one must always bear in mind the fact that a new American species may have been described years ago in Europe and placed in the synonymy. The securing of European specimens is not always of the supposed value, because one might easily be sent a species, which is not typical, although it may agree insofar as the European concepts of the species is con- cerned. By this I mean that there are often included under one name a great many species. I have found eight species of Ocyptera included under the name caroline and fifteen species of Echinomyia under the name algens, as understood by Coquillett. So I ask, is there not a chance of receiving any one of fifteen species when representatives of an European Tachinid are requested. We cannot overcome the need of changing names; we must have regulations which will ultimately give us stability, but we can at least use discretion before proposing a change, and we can also hope that the fund of undiscovered works and obscure genera, species, and preoccupied names of old genera may soon become exhausted. MISCELLANEOUS NOTES ON GRAPE LEAF HOPPER CONTROL WILLIAM A. Ross, DOMINION ENTOMOLOGICAL LABORATORY, VINELAND STATION In discussing the control of the grape leaf hopper at the last annual meeting of the Entomological Society of Ontario, we referred to certain field tests and observations which indicated that nicotine sulphate will destroy leaf hopper eggs. In order to secure more precise data regarding the susceptibility of the eggs, some ninety spraying and dusting tests with a total number of 9,617 eggs of known age were conducted by Mr. W. Robinson in the laboratory last winter. On account of the fact that Erythroneura comes ziczac was present in large numbers in the immediate vicinity of the laboratory, this variety was used in most of the experiments, only a few comparative tests being conducted with E. comes. The hoppers were placed on one-year-old Clinton vines, and were confined by means of celluloid cages. As the Clinton grape has little pubescence on the under sides of the leaves, no difficulty was experienced in locating and counting the eggs. The sprays were applied with a hand sprayer, care being taken to thoroughly coat the under sides of the leaves, and the nicotine dust with a hand blower. The results obtained from these tests are presented herewith in tabular form: EFFECT OF NICOTINE ON EcGs oF E. CoMEs ZICZzAC Table 1—Nicotine Sulphate 1-1600, Hydrated Lime 5 Pounds—4o Gallons. ; : Age of eggs when | % killed in | % nymphs which % total No. of tests | No. of eggs treated egg stage | died while hatching*| mortality 9 511 1-2 days 29.7 48.9 78.6 4 533 Ay ass 61.9 36.3 98.3 9 480 9-10 “ 68.5 15 100 5 558 18-19 “ $4.4 15.6 100 27 2,082 | * Nymphs succumbed in process of hatching. None of them actually emerged from the eggs. 1924 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 25 Table 2—Nicotine Sulphate 1-1600, and no Lime. 3 378 1-2 days iat 49.7 64.8 2 354 pi Dace 22.6 46.6 69.2 5 732 6 568 1-2 days lpg. 52.8 100 5 513 9210-4 Bie:3 42.7 100 2 538 18-19 “ 67.6 32.4 100 13 1,619 2 477 1-2 days 63.5 36.5 100 3 519 9-10 “ 71.8 28.2 100 2 A491 18-19 “ 78.4 21.6 100 7 1,487 Table 5—7{ Nicotine Dust—2.2 Per Cent. Nicotine. 6 eee Age of eggs when] -% killed in| % nymphs which % total No. of tests | No. of eggs treated egg stage | died while hatching*| mortality 3 482 1-2 days 8.8 20.1 28.9 3 508 B-Ory re 20.2 33.0 532 4 528 18-19 “ 26.9 46.7 73.6 10 1,518 Table 6—Checks. 8 | 602 | Pe FER oe Stk 6.3 12.0 EFFECT OF NICOTINE ON EcGs oF E. COMES Table 7—Nicotine Sulphate 1-1600, Hydrated Lime 5 Pounds—go Gallons. No. of Age of eggs when | % killed in | % nymphs which % total experiments | No. of eggs treated egg stage | died while hatching *| mortality 5 516 9-10 days 85.7 14.3 100 6 480 Newly laid - 65.0 26.0 91.0 5 477 About to hatch 67.1 32.9 100 16 1,473 Table S—Checks. 2 | 104 | eis aies | Lathe | 0 11.5 | These laboratory experiments demonstrated that newly-laid eggs are some- what less susceptible to nicotine than those over eight days old; that nicotine dust is unsatisfactory as an ovicide; that the addition of lime apparently increases the ovicidal value of the nicotine sulphate{; that nicotine sulphate * Nymphs succumbed in process of hatching. None of them actually emerged from the eggs. 7 Niagara D-11. tSee tables 1 and 2. A shortage of plants made it impossible to carry on a larger series of tests of nicotine sulphate without lime. 26 THE REPORT OF THE No. 33 1-1,200 in combination with lime will destroy the eggs in all stages of develop- ment, and that this strength of nicotine is 100 per cent. effective. Having satisfactory evidence that the eggs are as readily destroyed as the nymphs, our next step was to ascertain when the leaf hopper spray may be applied to best advantage. With this object in view, three infested blocks of grape vines at Barnesdale, St. Catharines, were sprayed at different times with nicotine sulphate (34 pint—100 gals.) and Bordeaux mixture. The first block was sprayed on July 6th, about eight days after Concord blossoms fell, and the other two blocks were treated on the 13th and 20th respectively. The spray mixture was applied by means of a triplex Bean outfit, with two short rods and angle nozzles, and pains were taken to thoroughly wet the undersides of the leaves. The results* secured from this experiment were very gratifying —in the three blocks the leaf hopper was reduced to negligible proportions. Even in late summer only odd leaf hoppers could be found on the vines, and the foliage remained green all season, whereas, in the ‘‘check’’ grapery, the foliage showed severe leaf hopper injury from early August to the end of the season. The majority of Niagara grape growers with infested vineyards sprayed their vines as recommended by us during the period July 11th to the 21st, and in all cases where the work was done properly the hopper was reduced to insig- nificant numbers. At Barnesdale, for example, where there are some seventy acres in grapes, and where conditions, in the form of bush-land adjoining the vineyards, are particularly favourable for leaf hopper, early and thorough spraying almost completely eradicated the insect. From our experience in combating this insect during the past two years we have learned several things of importance, viz.: (1) That it is inadvisable to postpone spraying until the majority of the eggs have hatched, because this permits too many of the nymphs to transform to the adult stage. (2) That as hopper eggs are susceptible to nicotine, the spray may be applied shortly after the overwintering adults cease egg-laying. Our observations indicate that egg-laying ceases about the time Concord grape blossoms drop, so that, allowing a safety margin of several days, spraying operations may be commenced about one week efter the fruit sets. (3) That there is a period of at least two weeks when very effective work can be done (1923—July 6th to 21st). The fact that there is a considerable amount of latitude as to when the application may be put on, makes it possible, in sections where the root worm is a serious pest, to kill two birds with the one stone by combining the nicotine with one of the root worm sprays, thus saving the time and labour of a special application. Likewise, in vineyards infested with the grape berry moth, the leaf hopper spray can be made to coincide with the second application for the moth. (4) That, in addition to those mentioned above, the ‘‘egg-spray’’ (applied after cessation of egg-laying) has the following advantages over the ‘“‘nymph spray”’ (applied when the vast majority of the eggs have hatched): it practically eliminates the second brood; it lessens the danger of staining the fruit with Bordeaux mixture; it is usually of more value in checking plant diseases; it simplifies spraying operations, and saves material, because it is put on before the heavy new growth is made. * We had planned, as suggested by Mr. Van Dine, Pennsylvania State College, to present the results in the form of brix readings of grape juice, but we were unable to do this because a severe hail storm on August 24th seriously injured the crop in our experimental plots. —_ 1924 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 27 THE NEW REGULATIONS’ UNDER THE DESTRUCTIVE INSECT AND! PEST “ACT LEONARD S. McLAINE, DIVISION OF FOREIGN PEsts SUPPRESSION; SECRETARY, DESTRUCTIVE INSECT AND PEst Act AbDvisoRY BOARD, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, OTTAWA The complexities that have arisen in the past twenty-five or fifty years in connection with the exchange of commodities throughout the entire world, also the increase in the diversity of established trade routes, and the danger that naturally results from the movement of products infested with pests and diseases, have made it necessary for man to take every reasonable precaution to prevent, in so far as possible, the introduction of new species of pests and diseases into uninfected areas. Whether it is due to a keener sense of observa- on the part of the general public, or whether it may be regarded as an established fact, nevertheless, there has been apparently a great increase in the amount of damage caused by insect pests and plant diseases during the past few decades. Although it is realized that all the pests responsible for damage on this continent are not of foreign origin, many of our worst enemies are not native to this hemisphere. It is also known that there are many very serious pests present in the older portions of the world which might prove to be most undesir- able guests if they were permitted to gain a foothold on our soil. Apparently one of the most feasible means of controlling the introduction of menaces such as these is by enacting laws which restrict or prohibit the importation of products and commodities likely to harbour these insect pests and plant diseases. It has been frequently stated that we on this side of the water are suffering from too much legislation, of all kinds and description, and while that may be true, I am afraid that we shall have to continue being burdened by pest legislation, or until such time as it is realized by all nations and peoples that only products free from pests and diseases shall be offered for exchange. A step in this direction was made in 1914 by the International Phytopathological Conference, which was held in Rome. Very unfortunately the Great War made it impossible to continue the discussions or bring into general operation some of the resolutions that were passed at that time. Questions in relation to legislation, however, were discussed at the recent International Conference on Entomology and Phytopathology, convened by the Dutch Government at Wageningen, Holland, in June, 1923, and the Dominion Entomologist, Mr. Arthur Gibson, who attended this conference and took part in the discussions, has informed me that the following resolution was adopted: “The representatives of all nations assembled at this International Entomological and Phytopathological Conference, June 25th-30th, 1923, at Wageningen, desire to place themselves on record as in full agreement with the essentials of international trade and commerce in living plants and plant products, namely, reasonable freedom from all insect pests and plant diseases of all kinds of materials imported into, or exported from any country.” The history of the introduction of the major foreign pests now present on this continent is too well known to need repetition, and it is also recognized that all the pests and diseases were not imported on such products as nursery stock. An excellent example is the European Corn Borer, which circumstantial evidence showed was imported on broom corn from Europe. This has been substantiated by the finding of an outbreak of this insect at one of the ports of importation for broom corn and where it was held for sterilization. As a conse- quence, pest legislation should only be passed and brought into force after a 28 THE REPORT OF THE No. 33 ST Tg es careful study of the entire situation has been made. This will entail an investi- gation of the product from its source to its ultimate destination, the trade routes it has to follow and whether it is an essential commodity or not. Until this is done, mistakes are likely to be made and disastrous results follow. Crises arise, however, which make it imperative to take immediate action and financial loss may result, but such cases are very fortunately comparatively infrequent. Care must also be taken to base the legislation on a strictly scientific foundation and not to be influenced by commercial possibilities. This is a point which needs special attention in these days of keen trade rivalry and competition. Insect legislation in Canada dates back to 1883, when an Act was passed in Prince Edward Island to prevent the spread of the Colorado potato beetle. With the appearance of the San Jose scale in British Columbia, legislation was passed in 1894, empowering the Horticultural Board to inspect and treat plants and plant products for pests and diseases. Four years later the first Federal Act was passed, known as the San Jose Scale Act. This law, together with the regulation, prohibited the importation of host plants of this insect from the United States, Australia, Japan and the Hawaiian Islands. With the discovery of effective fumigation methods, the law was modified in 1900 and permitted the importation of fruit stocks, etc., provided they were treated at one of the several Federal fumigation stations. As a result of a serious outbreak of the brown-tail moth in France, and the finding of many nests on shipments of imported nursery ‘stock, an active cam- paign was started to inspect all foreign shipments of this character. The following year, 1910, the Destructive Insect and Pest Act was passed and all. Federal legislation since that time has been issued as regulations under this law. The Act stands as a monument to the men who were responsible for its preparation, for although innumerable regulations have been passed in accord- ance with its authority, and on all manner of subjects, it has never been necessary to recommend an amendment to the Act itself. Two years ago it was realized that the question of insect and pest legislation had assumed such a complicated aspect and involved so many different problems, not only as regards plant life but also trade and manufacturing interests, that in order to better co-ordinate opinion and effort it was deemed advisable to create an Advisory Board to consider such matters. On April 21st, 1922, the Destructive Insect and Pest Act Advisory Board was constituted, and five officials of the Department of Agriculture were appointed members. The Board is not empowered to pass legislation, but may recommend to the Minister of Agriculture any changes which are considered advisable and in the public ~ interest and, in addition, may call upon other officials of the Department of Agriculture or other persons to act in an advisory capacity. Furthermore, the Board does not administer the various regulations under the ‘Act, their adminis- tration being left to the Branch particularly concerned. After careful consideration covering more than two years, including much investigation, and advice sought from the horticultural interests from one end of Canada to the other, including public hearings, the Board recommended to the Minister of Agriculture a general revision of the regulations. On September 1st, 1923, the new regulations went into effect. These consist of a series of general regulations and fifteen foreign and six domestic regulations. The general regulations consist of fourteen sections and are more or less comprehensive, but are of particular interest in that they empower the Department to inspect or examine any plants or plant products offered for | e pik ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 8 entry into Canada, which if found infested with pests or diseases may be refused entry, treated or destroyed. They also are of particular value in connection with the handling of shipments not covered by any special regulation or order, such as grains infested with weevils, broom corn, dried fruits, etc. Provision is also made for the inspection of export shipments, the powers of inspectors, interfering with an inspector in the performance of his duties, holding of infested shipments, the right to trespass, the selling of infested material, the importation of plants for scientific purposes, and the paying of compensation. The foreign and domestic regulations deal with specific problems; they may be increased in numbers, amended or modified as occasion demands. They are issued in separate form and, it is hoped, are worded so as to be readily understood by the general public. In adopting this form, the Department is of the opinion that the average individual may take a greater interest in the safeguards that have been enacted for his benefit. An inquirer will be able to see just what he may or may not do without the necessity of wading through endless pages of laws which are of no particular interest to him. Under the foreign regulations the importation of nursery stock from foreign countries is governed. All plants for ornamental purposes or propagation, except seeds, are now classified as nursery stock and permits are necessary to import such shipments. Nursery stock from countries other than the United States may enter only through certain ports, and all shipments are subject to inspection. It is hoped by this means to prevent, if possible, the further intro- duction of noxious pests and diseases. The foreign regulations also restrict the importation of plants from the Hawaiian Islands on account of the Mediterranean fruit-fly; the importation of nursery stock, forest and quarry products from the New England states on account of the gipsy and brown-tail moths; the importation of corn, cut flowers and other plants from the European corn-borer areas in the United States. A total prohibition has been placed on the importation of potatoes from countries and localities infected with the potato wart disease; all five-leaved pines and currants and gooseberries from all parts of the world on account of the white pine blister rust, chestnuts and chinquapins from Asia and the United States on account of the chestnut bark disease; European buckthorn and certain species of barberries from all countries on account of the crown rust of oats and the black-stem rust of wheat; alfalfa hay from the alfalfa-weevil-infested districts; plants with soil from Asia on account of the Japanese beetle and other soil-infesting insects; all species and varieties of douglas fir, hemlock, and larch from countries other than the United States on account of the newly discovered douglas fir disease; peach stock and hazel, cob and filbert from certain states into British Columbia on account of peach yellows and eastern filbert blight. The domestic quarantines deal with the movement of nursery stock in the apple-sucker-infested areas in Nova Scotia; the movement of corn from the European corn-borer areas in Ontario. They also coincide with the foreign regulations prohibiting the movement of pines and currants and gooseberries into Western Canada from the white pine blister rust areas in the east, and similarly with the importation of European buckthorn and certain barberries on the prairies, and peach stock and hazel, cob and filbert into the Province of _ British Columbia from Eastern Canada. 30 | THE REPORT OF THE ~ Now33 THE VALUE OF NATURAL ENEMIES OF INJURIOUS INSECTS A. F. BuRGEssS A belief has become firmly established in the public mind that insects are held in check by parasites under ordinary conditions. This has been taught in the colleges and institutions of learning and has been given prominence in the published works of many entomologists. The usual formula proposed is that when an insect is abundant its parasites increase enormously and bring about control, after which enormous mortality results to the parasites on account of scarcity of the proper host and that after a period of years the latter increases again and damage results. It is a well known fact that some insects, which are innocuous in certain parts, at least, of the regions which are their native homes, become excessively abundant and cause havoc after becoming established in a new environment. The above statements indicate the reasons for the attempts that have been made in this country and elsewhere to introduce natural enemies to control insect pests. We must all admit that this subject has been given scanty consideration when its importance and complexity is considered. It is the purpose of this paper to consider some of the factors involved in the hope that more attention may be directed to some phases of this difficult problem. Everyone understands that the food supply of any organism is one of the determining factors of its survival, but it is fair to assert that the food and feeding habits of many injurious insects have been studied only in a casual way. Intensive study of the food preferences and what might be called the inci- dental food of each pest is often of great importance, not only as a means of deciding effective methods of control but of weighing the influence of parasites or predatory enemies on the abundance of any pest. As a resuit of a careful study of the food plants of the gipsy moth in New England carried on for several seasons prior to 1900, it was determined that the larve of this insect fed upon foliage of most of the trees and shrubs in the region where it was then present. The possibility of the food being unsuitable to newly hatched caterpillars, although entirely satisfactory to those of a later stage, was not considered. Later experiments conducted by Mr. F. H. Mosher and his assistants at the Melrose Highlands Laboratory, supplemented by careful records made of the feeding habits of these caterpillars in the field, have demonstrated that a very decided preference is exhibited by different larval stages of this insect. This has given valuable suggestions as to control methods that are feasible and will be useful when an attempt is made to determine the proper role that parasites will play in gipsy-moth control. These experiments have made possible the division of the food plants into various classes based on the food preference of the larve in different stages and indicate clearly that some plants are merely incidental hosts of this insect. It is easy to accumulate a long list of food plants of an insect if all plants that may be nibbled a little here and there are recorded. Such information is fre- quently inaccurate, and may be misleading unless the details are carefully worked out. Because a few individuals feed on a given plant when the circum- stances are such that no other food is available, it does not necessarily follow that normal reproduction of a pest or continued damage will result. One of the essentials of having a basis for determining the normal increase of an insect under field conditions must rest on a thorough knowledge of its food plants and feeding habits. Accurate and detailed information on this phase of insect control is in many cases incomplete. ~y. ” 1924 ; ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 31 The entomologist is also confronted with climatic conditions which in many sections of the country are most variable. Meteorological data is often most difficult to interpret satisfactorily in so far as its effect on insect increase is concerned. Few seasons are comparable as to weather conditions, and when information is tabulated covering a decade or more showing the effect of any control measure, be it natural or artificial, which indicates that all the results point in the same direction, there is evidently something wrong, either with the compiler or the compilation. It is said that statistics can be used to prove almost any thing that is desired, and we as entomologists should exercise great care so that the conclusions that are drawn will be well balanced and will stand the test of time. In some sections of North America weather conditions remain rather con- stant for considerable periods, and this simplifies the weather factor. In most sections, however, these conditions are not so stable and more complications result. Both temperature and humidity are important, and react on the insect in all its stages. Our knowledge is very limited along these lines, although here and there attention has been given to. the behaviour of some of our insect pests from this angle. There is great variation in different species in this respect. Our experience in shipping parasites and predaceous insects has been that lack of a reasonable amount of moisture usually causes high mortality. This is particularly notice- able when the insects are not dormant. Certain Tachinid puparia do not require moist conditions. They can be shipped without special precautions of this sort, and can be handled successfully with a minimum amount of care. Excessive temperatures often cause high mortality among insects. In the case of the gipsy moth, high temperatures, particularly if accompanied with insufficient or unsatisfactory food, furnish conditions favourable to an outbreak of the wilt disease which frequently sweeps away large numbers of the caterpillars. Late frosts shortly after hatching, particularly if accompanied with heavy, beating rains, frequently result in the destruction of many small larve, due to temporary shortage of food supply or the inability of the small caterpillars to reach food after they have been washed or blown from it. The best records that we have been able to obtain indicate an enormous rate of mortality in the first and second larval stages. When weather conditions are very unfavourable in the spring it is doubtless true that only the most vigorous larve survive. In the winter, when the temperature drops below 20° F., gipsy moth eggs are killed unless they are protected by snow or ice or have been deposited in concealed situations. This has been demonstrated by the experimental work conducted by Dr. J. N. Summers. ‘ I have referred to the gipsy moth because of more intimate personal know- ledge of this insect. The same factors are present and affect other insects to a greater or less extent. There are other factors which have a bearing on the increase of insect life, but those already mentioned are among the most important. From what has already been said it would appear to most persons, except the trained entomologist, that insect life would be sufficiently held in check without help from other sources. This is not the case, however. The novice needs only to make collections of insects that are attracted to strong lights during the summer to be convinced that widespread havoc would result were 32 THE REPORT OF THE No. 33 no other checks on their increase available. Frequently thousands of specimens of a single species of leaf-defoliating insects may be taken at a single light trap, in spite of the fact that no appreciable injury to its favoured food plants is noted throughout the year. The answer is that natural enemies hold these species in adjustment so that none but the expert fully realizes their presence. Because no serious damage is done, there is little demand or opportunity to study the battle for survival that is continually being waged by these contending forces. Because of insufficient study of these problems, which must of necessity be carried on for a series of years, it is difficult to speak with assurance of the value of any particular natural enemy. Again my remarks will be directed to the gipsy moth investigation. From 1869, when the insect first became established in North America, | until 1889, when it became so destructive that its identity became known, there was a relatively slow increase, and all the native natural factors that might function in its control were operative. During the next ten years the State of Massachusetts made an attempt to exterminate the insect, which was found to occur in an area of about 200 square miles. This work resulted in an enormous decrease of the species, and when the work was discontinued by the state, not only was it impossible to find defoliated trees in the infested area but the egg clusters and caterpillars were so scarce that the public deemed the expense unnecessary. In fact a special committee of the Massachusetts Legislature reported, after numerous hearings, that the insect need not be considered a serious pest and that “‘we find no substantial proof that garden crops or wood- lands have suffered serious or lasting injury or are likely, with that precaution or oversight which prudent owners are disposed to give their own interests, to be subjected to that devastation which one would have the right to anticipate from these reports. It appears to us that the fears of the farmers throughout the State have been unnecessarily and unwarrantably aroused, evidently for the purpose of securing the effect of those fears upon the matter of annual appro- priations. .. . We do not share these exaggerated fears and the prophecies of the devastation and ruin are unwarranted and in the most charitable view are but the fallacies of honest enthusiasts.”’ : During this period a small force of experts made careful studies, both in the field and in the laboratory, to determine the value of natural enemies and the part they were playing in gipsy moth control. The results were not promis- ing. A number of birds that feed on hairy caterpillars were found to attack the gipsy moth, and toads and skunks were occasionally reported as feeding on the species. A few native parasitic and predaceous enemies were noted, but their abundance and the frequency of their attack gave little promise of relief. The wilt disease must have occurred in the field during this period, but the records of its presence are very meagre. At any rate it was not abundant enough to attract the notice of experts or give promise of decreasing the severity of bad infestations. No attempt was made to introduce the natural enemies of the gipsy moth from Europe during the years when extermination was being attempted, as it was believed that the chances of control by parasites would be negligible when exterminative work was under way. In the five years following the discontinuance of the work (1900 to 1905) the insect increased and spread enormously and experience showed that it could not only defoliate and kill trees, but that it was a veritable scourge to the people in the region that was heavily infested. 1924 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 33 Work was again resumed by the state of Massachusetts in order to control the insect. The territory infested had increased from 200 to over 2,200 square miles, and it was soon found that the insect was present in eastern New Hamp- shire and in Rhode Island. Native natural enemies during the period when no field work was done had failed to increase and data collected from 1905 to 1907 was very similar to that secured from 1890 to 1900. The wilt disease was more prevalent, however, particularly in heavy infestations where overcrowding and shortage of food occurred. The brown-tail moth, a European insect which was discovered in the suburbs of Boston in 1897, became extremely abundant and destructive by 1905 and field control and the introduction of natural enemies was attempted as a part of the gipsy moth work. Beginning in 1905 an effort was made to import the natural enemies of the gipsy moth from Europe and Japan. This was arranged as a co-operative project between the State of Massachusetts and the U.S. Bureau of Entomology and later this project was turned over to the Bureau. It was organized in Europe by Dr. L. O. Howard, Chief of the Bureau of Entomology, who secured the co-operation of many prominent European entom- ologists, and under their direction various parasites and predatory insects were shipped to Massachusetts. During the next few years considerable material was sent as a result of this arrangement, and a number of experts were sent abroad by the Bureau to obtain parasites of the gipsy moth and the brown-tail moth. Mr. W. F. Fiske spent two seasons on this work, most of his collections being made in Italy. He was assisted during one season by W. R. Thompson, Harry S. Smith and L. H. Worthley. The latter spent a good share of his time _in Germany. Professor Trevor Kincaid spent one summer each in Japan and Russia on similar work. As a result of arrangements which he made with Japanese entomologists, it was possible to introduce Schedius kuvane, a parasite «of the gipsy moth eggs. Dr. J. N. Summers continued the parasite work in Germany during the summer of 1914. The work was interrupted during the war but was resumed in 1922, Mr. S. S. Crossman carrying on work in European countries, particularly in Germany, and Dr. Summers similar work in Japan. The latter returned to Japan in 1923 and Messrs. Crossman and R. T. Webber took up work in Germany, extending operations to Spain, Austria, Hungary and Poland. As a result of all these operations many parasites of the gipsy moth have been shipped to Massachusetts. Some of the most noteworthy were large ship- ments of Chalcis flavipes and A panteles melanoscelus that were sent by Fiske from Italy, and a large number of Tachinid puparia that was secured by Crossman and Webber in Austria during the present year and A panteles fulvipes shipped by Summers from Japan. A large percentage of the material from Austria was Parasetigena segregata, a species that has not yet become established in America. Of the large shipments sent by Fiske, Chalcis flavipes has not become established, while A panteles melanoscelus. is increasing satisfactorily in the infested region. A panteles fulvipes has been colonized but whether it will survive and increase is problematical. Other parasites together with the predaceous beetle, Calosoma sycophanta, were received from European collectors and some of them have become firmly established. The accompanying chart indicates species that have been imported and those that have become established. 2 E.S. 34 THE REPORT. OF THE No. 33 FoREIGN PARASITES OF Porthetria dispar L. AND Euproctis chrysorrhea L. LIRERATED IN AMERICA First column of figures shows the number of parasites of foreign origin actually liberated. Second column of figures shows the number of parasites subsequently liberated. Third column of figures shows the total number of parasites liberated. Foreign New England Name of Parasite stock stock Totals Amuastatus bifascratus HONS) «>. ah... + de fo ke ee 138,680 53,032,500 | 53,171,180 SApanteles sul Vipes Hales: Sete ee os oo eee ee rode ta adi iad bla. 87,040 Aipanieleslactétcolor Vier) SSSI DAS. LA ee 55,000 245,000 300,000 Apamteles melanoscelus Rate cctepe cipases-seerepevs oie ee 23,000 58,508 81,984 AAPANCeleS GOMtAMUSMNACZ tae oe ie ee ose te sees DISAG || See 22,546 elephant POWSCULCILALG REO are er mre ec en te ee 5,109 71,081 76,190 Careelia enava Meigs oir Hal tea ecras ee ire 15 ,COBh elise Cie tee 15,788 Ghales favine: Pane ete ee ees en 90 15a eee | "90/154 Compsilurd COnCINNGIA Meigs ae ee ee 9,000 . 104,831 113,831 Crossocosmia sericarie Corn. and C. flavascutellata Shien ee ae he se ct ate: Oe ee ae aan (A! UNCER, (Rea ee Pe 700 DPexodes'nieripes Palla iy. eat Nae ee ere ae STZ ee oe ee aA be Ephialtes examinator Fabr. and E. compunctor L.. AOD =f) pe hes seis 402 Endoromyia masnicormisS Zett eo v.<-6 fencpec tim ree cpoghe A OOS as Flee knees 4,568 Eupteromalus nidulans Foerst.......-...--.+2-+0+ 354,000 \apareys eee 354,000 LHoyposoter dtsparis Vier kn a OE SE 12> S43 Weds |fis F) ee 12,543 Measiceracsilvatica alle os $e 4c ios tok a eisena te reese 23 : | alt paataaytenepes 23 Megcorus versicolor Wesm «22... fogs «Ss bw ages og 3,113 7,697 10,810 Pales pavida- Meigen. 2 eas Chol ee he AG eee DO QIM! Fe Ae. 582 Parasetigena segtegata Rond.)...6... 660.0 ce eee en LVSiaisdiivened: See 1,187 IPOTEXOTASHONGHELONGE RONG . one Wien 2 peak en a LAT free Bite eee Se 9,742 ES CUCULUS KHUUNE LOW ees aacraeeare ante Come ee ee 745,382 20,206,091 20,251,473 hachinawya ponica MOWNSH a. hei ea ee ee ly i We Oe oe ores 471 aachittaylatycaGuirnels evepeees ae aes yeh Rime ace ee pkee WOSO= Thy se ee 2,036 *Telenomus phalenarum Nees................... A 650% S02. MEE 4,650 Eeichosramima, sppi. cee: 2. FIRS Sra bee ck) 10.0007 WE. 2% tyeecect 76,000 @richolyga. erandis Zett.".~ a Mae s o hci. oes eA 8 166-4942) ss. Sones eee 8,766 Aeniltaeipatrixoe Anz cask. ste eee Ae nn oe 169 AL) Pee ee 161 Zysopotnra gilwa Harties. <9 Uae. a. Tis 1,502, [teats eee 7,502 ZY VOROLATLONTAL COLE) OWNS). = Mae eet dee che 3,500 pig sy gona 3,500 aLotals Pa. i ee BG? eae 917,633 73,725,708 | 74,643,341 Some of these species were new to science and, in the case of most of them, the life history and habits had not been thoroughly investigated. This has re- quired much work in order that they might be handled with the greatest effectiveness. Time will not permit a discussion of the value of the individual species con- cerned, but a few points should be mentioned to illustrate the importance of having full information concerning the biology of natural enemies. Calosoma sycophanta feeds upon caterpillars and pup of numerous insects, but particularly on the gipsy moth. The adults climb trees freely where they do most of their feeding. In New England there are several native species of Calosoma that are good climbers and their larve are also predaceous. The reason why Calosoma sycophantia is more effective than any of the native species as an enemy of the gipsy moth is because the laryve of this beetle are able to climb trees that have rough bark and feed upon gipsy moth caterpillars or pupz that may be massed on the trunks or at a point where the limbs branch therefrom. + These 45,382 Schedius were developed at the laboratory in seven generations from twelve adults which were obtained from Gipsy Moth eggs from Japan. * Species marked with asterisk were greatly increased in number by breeding at laboratory before colonizing. Species in italics are positively established. 1924 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 35 The larvz of native Calosomas do not climb well and secure practically all their food on the ground. This habit limits their ability to increase rapidly and renders them ineffective as an enemy of the gipsy moth. The females of Compsilura concinnata puncture the integument of the cater- pillars and deposit their larve in the body cavity. This Tachinid attacks up- wards of 100 different species of native larve. It should be no more effective as an enemy of the gipsy moth than some of our native species such as Tachina mella, except for the fact that the latter deposits eggs on the caterpillars, and these usually are cast off with the molted skins before the maggots: hatch and attack the host. Anastatus bifasciatus attacks the eggs of the gipsy moth and the females may frequently be found busily engaged in ovipositing as the eggs are being laid by the gipsy moth female. In fact, all of the species that have become established are fitted by special adaptation or habit to prey upon the gipsy moth as their principal host. What then has been the effect of the introduction of natural enemies on the gipsy-moth problem? - It is true that the area known to be infested has increased rather rapidly during the last few years. This is due to a considerable extent to particularly favourable seasons for dispersion of the small larve of the insect by windspread. Shortage of men and low purchasing power of funds during and since the World - War have also rendered the problem of prevention of spread of the insect un- usually difficult. In the area that has been longest infested there has been a heavy reduction of the number of favoured food plants, due to their injury or death caused by the insect, or by cutting operations carried on by owners. This has not been sufficient of itself to bring about control. There has been during the past few years a gradual increase in the numbers and effectiveness of most of the well- established introduced natural enemies and during the past season the records slow a greater percentage of benefit than at any time heretofore. This state- ment does not apply to most of the territory that has become infested in the last ten or fifteen years, although the different parasites are being colonized as apiely as possible in the lightly infested region. TheSe facts indicate that natural enemies are of great value, and show that the work that has been done thus far has been extremely beneficial. The question naturally arises as to what the future results will be. While it is pos- sible to theorize along this line, the problem is so complicated that predictions are almost pure guesswork. We know what has been done in the past. We hope for even better results in the future, but we must never lose sight of the fact that in spite of the natural enemies the gipsy moth has in its native home, it is a pest of prime importance. Heavy defoliations occur in Europe periodically. The best information that has been secured indicate that they come at five to eight-year intervals. The conditions under which the gipsy moth increases to a point where it causes extensive defoliation in Europe have not been studied as thoroughly as the im- portance of this problem demands. A start has been made along this line during the last two years and it is hoped that sufficient data may be secured in the future so that the value of the different factors favouring increase or decrease may be more accurately measured. With this knowledge available, it may be possible to come to a more accurate conclusion as to the ultimate status of the gipsy moth in America after its natural enemies have been introduced and reach their maximum of efficiency. It is possible to speculate and theorize indefinitely 36 THE REPORT OF THE No. 33 as to which enemy is the most promising and which in the end may be the most effective. What is needed in this respect is facts and these can only be secured by experimentation, the methodical collection and proper weighing of field data and good judgment in drawing conclusions. The policy has been followed of securing all natural enemies of the gipsy moth that gave any promise of becoming successfully established in America, in the hope that as great or possibly greater measure of control by natural enemies can be secured than exists in the native home of the insect. Few will doubt the wisdom of this policy, and probably fewer would adopt a different plan were they responsible for the management of the work. I have dwelt at some length on the problem of natural enemies as applied to the gipsy moth work. Time has made it impossible to mention details. The project is the largest of its kind that has ever been attempted, and the data that has been obtained and the results thus far secured should be useful to all inter- ested in the control of insects by natural means. The work thus far indicates that enormous progress has been made along this line and demonstrates it to be one of the promising and valuable fields that should be thoroughly investigated by economic entomologists. A brief summary may be helpful: 1. Natural enemies are a powerful means of controlling most insects. 2. Insects imported from foreign lands leave their natural enemies behind and under favourable conditions are capable of more rapid increase and destruc- tiveness than is usual in their native environment. 3. If the major factors favouring control of an insect are to be utilized it is necessary to make a careful study of the fluctuations of the pest, and the damage done in its native home, preferably before, rather than after, it becomes located in a new country. 4. Until such work has been thoroughly done so that the prime factors which bring about the natural control of the insect in its native home have been thoroughly determined, it is desirable to secure and colonize all neutral enemies that give promise of assisting in the problem of control. 5. While theoretical considerations may sometimes be of value, definite facts are needed as a basis for securing the greatest benefit by natural enemies. THE ONION MAGGOT IN ALBERTA H. E. Gray, ENTOMOLOGICAL BRANCH, DOMINION DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Previous to the season of 1922, the Onion Maggot, Hylemyia antiqua Meig., had been reported from only a few localities in Alberta, including Edmonton, Red Deer and Lacomb. The infestation in 1922 was general over the area south of Calgary and somewhat localized to the north. The sudden increase over such a large area caused considerable consternation among the gardeners, and the heavy infestation late in the season of 1922 indicated that more trouble could be expected in 1923. With these facts in mind, the study of the onion maggot was made the major garden-insect problem at the Lethbridge Entomological Labor- atory during the season of 1923. This season will long be remembered in Alberta not only as a wet year, but as the year which broke a five years’ drought. The rainfall for May, June and July was well over the twenty-year average for these months, and some of the es 1924 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 3% storms were very severe, as wind and hail were combined with the rain. The excessive moisture made much of the observation work disagreeable, and ovi- position very irregular. In at least one instance a hailstorm was undoubtedly responsible for the destruction of many of the flies. SEASONAL HISTORY Flies and eggs were first observed in the field on May 15th. At this time seedling onions were about three inches high, but there were several volunteer onions scattered throughout the garden and ten of these were selected for ovi- position records.. Eggs were collected every day and counted until oviposition ceased. The daily average number of eggs per plant for the first generation was 24.6 with the height of oviposition centred on May 22nd and 23rd, no eggs of this generation being found after July 7th. Some of the first and last eggs of this generation were taken to the laboratory to get the limits of the generation. The first larve hatched in the laboratory in three days, and the average larval period of 54 individuals which reached maturity was 16.35 days, with a range of from 12 to22 days. The last larve to hatch from eggs of this generation had the same incubation period, but the larval period averaged 18 days with a range of from 15 to 26 days. The first larva pupated on June 2nd and the earliest fly emerged on June 22nd, the average pupal period of the 54 flies being 20.37 days with a range of from 19 to 22 days. The last larve of this generation pupated on the first of August and emerged on the 20th of August, having the same average pupal period as the first. The first eggs of the second generation were secured in the field on July 13th. Adult flies had been collected earlier than this and many had been reared, but no €ggs were secured in the breeding cages and the weather was not suitable for extended searches in the field. From this date on, eggs were found until the 22nd of August with the height of oviposition on the 23rd of July. The daily average number of eggs per plant for this generation was 7.25 based on observa- tions made on ten seedling plants. None of the first eggs of the second generation collected in the field were fertile and in general the fertility of this generation was much lower than that of the first generation. The eggs of the first generation hatched over 80 per cent. healthy maggots, whereas barely 35 per cent. of the eggs of the second generation hatched at all. This may possibly be due to the destruction of numbers of the male flies by a severe hailstorm which occurred on July 1st, thus forcing the ‘females to deposit infertile eggs. The above figures are based on records ob- tained by hatching eggs on wet blotting paper in petri dishes. The first larvee of the second generation were secured on July 26th from eggs collected three and four days previously, the larval period averaging 18.2 days. These larve pupated and the first flies emerged twenty days later, on the 31st of August. There is considerable evidence of a third generation, but this point was not proved. The examination of onions harvested during the third week in Sep- tember revealed the presence of numbers of nearly mature maggots, and several very small ones which could easily have come from eggs laid since the emergence of the third generation of flies. The examination of sets on the 18th of October revealed large numbers of pupze and many half-grown larve. There is little doubt that the pupz developed from the last larve of the second generation, but the larve can hardly be considered as belonging to that generation. 38 THE ‘REPORT-OF THE No. 33 Several experiments were conducted to determine the method used by the maggots to get into the onion bulb. Seedling plants were used and newly- hatched maggots were placed within half an inch of the plant. Within two and a half hours all the maggots had burrowed into the soil but none were found within the bulb in less than twenty-two hours. The first maggots entered the bulb at a point about 6 mms. above the root attachment. The puncture was roughly oval in shape, about 1.5 mms. by .7 mms. After the opening had been used by the maggots and the tissues had shrunk, it materially increased in size. Only one case was observed where the maggots entered by the leaves. The eggs had been laid well up on the plant at the junction of two leaves. When the larvee hatched they penetrated the leaf and worked down the inside to the bulb. Twenty-four hours after penetrating the leaf the maggots were about 5 cms. below the point of entry and forty-eight hours after hatching they had reached the bulb. CONTROL EXPERIMENTS During the season of 1922 crude naphthalene was used on rows of onions after the damage had begun to appear. The results were rather surprising as the mixture of naphthalene and furnace ash had only been cultivated into the soil close to the plants and had killed over 80 per cent. of the maggots in four days. In 1923 it was decided to try some more experiments with this material, but unfortunately most of the onions were seeded before the work could be started. Mixtures containing crude naphthalene were worked into the soil in the prelimin- ary cultivation, but it was only in the case of a small late-seeded plot, and the results were not satisfactory. Other mixtures were tried after seeding, and when the damage first appeared. Some of these showed promise, and will be tried again next year, using larger plots. Each plot this season consisted of a single row of onions with check rows between the plots, and the damage was very nearly the same on all the rows with a few exceptions. It is very evident that to get any definite results from soil-fumigant work the plots must be larger, and separated by a greater distance than exists between rows as laid out in the ordinary garden. The fact that the volunteer and early-sown onions were most heavily in- fested, and that eggs were found on them earlier than on any of the other plants, demonstrates the possible value of using onions in a trap-crop method of control. The later sown onions were almost free from eggs until about the end of the oviposition period of the first generation. The females almost invariably select plants of heavy flaccid growth for oviposition. Volunteer onions or sets that are rather deep in the ground, so that . the leaves branch before reaching the surface, will carry the bulk of infestation. Plants that have a pronounced neck with the leaves branching an inch or more above the surface of the soil are seldom chosen by the females for oviposition, and an examination of several plants showed this type of onion to be almost free from infestation. There is a distinct relationship between rainfall and oviposition which requires further study. This season it was observed that oviposition dropped off materially before a storm and ceased until a day or so afterwards. It is hoped that another year will amplify our records on the life-history and natural control factors. 1924 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 39 THE ONION MAGGOT IN THE OTTAWA DISTRICT G. H. HAMMOND, ENTOMOLOGICAL BRANCH, DOMINION DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, OTTAWA Since the latter part of the 19th century the onion maggot has been regarded as an insect pest of primary importance in the Ottawa district. Early records indicate that in 1875 Mr. William Couper found the maggots to be destructive throughout Ontario, as well as in other parts of eastern Canada. Dr. James Fletcher, in his annual report for 1885, mentioned a case in which a Nepean farmer experienced a loss of 75 per cent. from the onion maggot. During more recent years losses from the onion maggot in fields near Ottawa have ranged from 1 per cent. to 95 per cent., but the average annual losses during 1922 and 1923 have been comparatively light, not exceeding 25 per cent. At Ottawa the eggs of the onion maggot have been taken on garlic, leek and onion. During July and August, 1922 and 1923, it was observed that many more eggs were taken on leek than on onion under garden conditions; never- theless, it should be stated that fewer larve feeding in garlic and leek material matured. The attack of first generation larve to the plants in June is by far the most important form of injury. In the field during 1923, at Ottawa, such injury in the form of a distinct wilting readily seen by the naked eye first became apparent on June 12th in seedling plants, but was most evident between June 20th and June 30th. Larval attack in midsummer and autumn produced malformations of the bulbs and losses in weight. Secondary flies, such as Fannia sp., Muscina stabulans and Muscina assimilis were found in decaying onions associated with the larve of the onion maggot but in no case were these secondary flies of primary importance. LirE HIsToRY Two distinct generations of the onion maggot and a partial third generation were reared during 1923. Only 89 second generation puparia out of 766, or 13 per cent., produced adults during the latter part of the season; the greater number of the third generation larve resulting from these adults, failed to pupate by November 1st. The season of 1923 was cooler than normal and considerably more moist. In an open and warm year doubtless a higher percentage of the third generation adults would have developed. In 1922 eggs were collected first on May 24th, and in 1923 on May 26th. The last eggs taken in the field during 1923 were collected on October 20th. Of 16,000 eggs collected in 1923 from a stated area, 2 per cent. were deposited in May; 48 per cent. in June; 11 per cent. in July; 25 per cent. in August; 12 per cent. in September, and 2 per cent. in October. The majority of these eggs were laid in the soil, but on fine days immediately after a heavy rain, fully 95 per cent. of the eggs were laid on the foliage of the plants, the size of the plants having no appreciable relation to the location of the eggs at any period during the season. The egg stage averaged five days. The larval stage of first-generation individuals varied from eleven to twenty-two days, but the great majority of them took from eighteen to nineteen days to mature. The puparium stage varied from eleven to twenty days, the average being fifteen days. The individual second-generation larval period varied from fourteen to forty-eight days, with an average between July 25th and August 15th of twenty- one days, and between August 15th and September 15th of twenty-eight days. 40 THE: REPORT) OF 2HE No. 33 » The average individual pupal period of the second generation was seventeen days, with a minimum of fourteen and a maximum of twenty-five days. Success attended our efforts to rear flies in continuous series from eggs collected in the spring, and from these it was observed that second-generation adults oviposited between July 20th and September 20th from the first female emergence on July 6th, while the third generation adults deposited eggs between September 10th and October 17th. First-generation eggs were laid between May 26th and June 30th with first- generation larve present in the field between May 30th and July 15th. Many larve were observed emerging from the egg. Emergence occurred most frequently about 8.30 a.m., and took place through a narrow opening extending from near the anterior end to about one-third the length of the egg. The maggot when just hatched is glistening pearly white in colour and somewhat longer than the egg. When full-grown it attains a length of 10 mm. and retains the pearly colour without the lustre. The pre-oviposition period of adults under observation was thirteen days in the third generation and fourteen days in the case of the second. Hibernation occurs in the puparium stage, as has been noted by other investigators. CONTROL Staphylinid beetles were observed to be predaceous upon eggs and larve of the onion maggot in confinement and their close association with infested onions in the field leaves little doubt that they are also predaceous under natural conditions. Furthermore, certain individual parasites belonging to this impor- tant group of beetles were reared from first and second generation puparia. Unfortunately these internal parasitic Staphylinids have not as yet been definitely identified but from their appearance and habits it is probable they are the species known as Baryodma ontarionis Casey, which is an important parasite of the cabbage-root maggot and which has been noted by Gibson and Treherne (Bulletin No. 12 of the Dominion Entomological Branch). During 1923, only .4 per cent. of the onion maggot puparia under observation were found to be infested with this parasite, but in 1919 as high as 25 per cent. were parasitised. This beetle is apparently the most important parasitic natural control factor of the onion maggot in the Ottawa district, but seems very variable in its degree of prevalence. Among the Ichneumonids, *A phaereta musce Ashm., was reared from first- generation puparia in 1923. The first adult parasites emerged on July 25th, five appearing from a single puparium. Small, irregular holes in the anterior end of the puparium, marked the place of exit. The Figitid, Cothonaspis gillette: Wash., was also reared from second-generation puparia in August and September, eight specimens (all males) emerging from two puparia. The percentage of paras- itism of this latter species from material under observation was .83 per cent. Mites were also taken on adults of the onion maggot, being attached to the abdomen and to the front legs. These were determined by Mr. H. E. Ewing, of the United States National Museum, as probably Microtrombidium sp. Spiders are undoubtedly important enemies of the adult fly, some of the experimental work during the last year being affected through their depredations. REMEDIAL MEASURES In the Ottawa district the sodium arsenite poison bait method of control has for several years been experimented with, but in some years this method of control * Both parasites were kindly determined by Mr. H. L. Viereck. 1924 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY At has not been satisfactory. In 1923, for instance, in one field in which the poison bait was set out in pans ten feet apart, so as to give the method every possible chance of success, the plantation suffered a 12 per cent. loss which was second highest degree of infestation noted in the Ottawa district this year. In this connection it is well to emphasize the extreme difficulty in obtaining satisfactory check-fields. Sufficient attention has not, it is believed, been given to such factors as dates of planting, soil fertility, soil moisture, and the existing degree of infestation in relation to the results obtained from experimental work and life- — history studies. As eggs may be taken in the field on May 24th in a normal year, poison bait cans would necessarily need to be set out about May 15th in the Ottawa district, or conjointly with the dates of germination of the onion seeds and the pans would have to be kept filled until about June 30th, or after the termination of the first-generation egg deposition period. From our egg records there was no dis- continuance of the egg deposition during June, hence at least eight refillings of the poison-bait cans would need to take place during a year of heavy infestation to obtain satisfactory results. Unfortunately, since the writer undertook these studies, he has not experienced a year of heavy attack during which close obser- vations were kept, and has therefore not been able to demonstrate this method of control applied under conditions entirely in harmony with the life-history records. As regards the trap crop or cull onion method of control developed as a result of studies made in British Columbia by Messrs. R. C. Treherne and M. H. Ruhmann, the light infestation records at Ottawa during the last few years have not enabled us to pronounce upon the value of this method which, however, undoubtedly shows much virtue as the following records show. As a possible improvement in the trap-crop method of control, as described on page 33 of the Fifty-second Annual Report of the Entomological Society of Ontario for 1921, a number of cull onions were planted in soil in flat boxes, ten inches wide and of a convenient length, with sides six inches high and fitted with galvanized wire screen bottom. These flats were set thirty feet apart through two fields of seedling onions during the summer of 1923. The percentage of loss (estimated by comparing the number of original seedlings tn the row with the number of infested plants from an actual count), at the close of the season in one field was 6.55 per cent., and in the other 1.08 per cent. Both fields were heavily infested during 1922, the former being more heavily infested than the latter. In three untreated fields during 1923 losses of 25 per cent., 12 per cent., and 6.8 per cent. were observed as bases of comparison. An average count of eggs taken from ten trap boxes equalled the number of eggs collected from 376 feet of seedling rows between May 26th and June 30th. As previously mentioned, the loss in a certain baited field was 12 per cent. This may be regarded as a fair basis of comparison with the other fields men- tioned. The other records obtained in baited fields were interfered with by secondary factors which made them unsafe to use in a comparison of this descrip- tion, but in each case the degree of infestation was higher than in the fields where bait onions were used. Evidence is now available from a long series of notes which we could present if time permitted, that in the use of trap onions we have a remedy which is apparently more satisfactory than poison bait. A combination of the two systems, using a poison bait with the cull onions in flats, may prove ultimately to be the solution of the problem on onion-maggot control. 42 THE REPORT OF THE No. 33 ONION MAGGOT STUDIES IN THE DISTRICT OF MONTREAL, QUEBEC, 1923 T. ARMSTRONG, ENTOMOLOGICAL BRANCH, DOMINION DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE During recent years the market gardeners on the Island of Montreal have suffered heavy losses in their onion crops due to the ravages of the onion maggot. This year (1923) an effort has been made to study the life history and habits of the insect and to determine an effective method of control. Dr. J. M. Swaine,’ writing in the Second Annual Report of the Quebec Society for the Protection of Plants, states that at Macdonald College, maggots appeared last season (1909) for the first time and a number of plants were destroyed. In the Montreal district serious losses were occasioned in 1920, and during the past three years the successful growing of onions has been menaced by this insect. ‘Mr. Arthur Gibson,’ in 1916-17, made use of a poison-bait spray consisting of sodium arsenite, molasses, and boiling water, and apparently secured satis- factory results. These experiments were conducted near Rivermead, Quebec, and it was recommended that commercial growers test out the value of the mixture under their immediate local conditions. In the United States, commencing with the year 1913, the use of sodium arsenite as a bait received considerable attention, which resulted after several years’ experimentation, in the belief that the onion maggot could be successfully controlled by poisoned attractive baits. In the spring of 1921, control work with sodium arsenite bait was carried on in the Montreal district by Prof. W. Lochhead and Mr. W. J. Tawse, of Mac- donald College, in co-operation with the Dominion Entomclogical Branch. A number of fields were treated, making use of the two methods of application which were being advised at that time, the use of bait pans, and the diagonal sprinkling method. Fair control was secured according to the evidence pro- duced by Messrs. Lochhead and Tawse, more especially with the use of the bait pans. The sprinkling system proved to be unsatisfactory. Lire History AND HABITS In 1923, at Montreal, the first onion maggot fly was noticed on the wing on May 20, and ten days later, May 30, the first eggs were taken on a group of volunteer onions. Flies continued to emerge throughout the month of June from overwintering puparia. The maximum emergence occurred from June 10th to 13th, at which time from twenty to forty flies were seen to a pan and the greatest numbers were taken sweeping. Eggs collected on May: 30th hatched on June 5th, a period of six days. These maggots reared in vials in the hollow of onion leaves commenced pupation fourteen days later, with the majority going into the resting stage after sixteen days. These puparia gave rise to second-generation adults between July 4th and 10th, the pupal stage lasting from fifteen to eighteen days. Oviposition of the first generation was definitely in progress between May 30th and July 4th, but continued in all probability at least until July 20th. Second-generation Bi Z p03: Swaine, J. M.: Second Annual Report of the Quebec Society for the Protection of ants. OS: 2.1917: Gibson, Arthur: Annual Report of the Entomological Society of Ontario. Pp. 30-33. 1924 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 43 adults commenced egg-laying on July 19th, and continued until September 8th, giving rise in turn to maggots and puparia. Adults of the third generation first appeared in the vials on August 21st and continued to emerge until October 3rd. The average larval life of the first generation, estimated from twelve separate series of egg collections, was determined as being thirteen days; the average pupal life being estimated as 15.77 days. The larval and pupal life of the second generation was increased somewhat. For the larval period the average was 16.4 days, and for the pupal stage 19.8 days, in cases where flies did emerge. > From material reared in series from July until October, 81.4 per cent. of the second-generation puparia did not produce adults during 1923 but hibernated. From egg counts made at regular three to four-day intervals throughout the season it was determined that the greatest number of eggs were laid during June and August. In May 2.3 per cent. of the total number of eggs were laid; in June, 36.1 per cent.; in July, 8.9 per cent.; in August, 39.6 per cent.; and in Sep- tember, 13.1 per cent. In short, first-generation eggs, larve and puparia were present in the field from May 30th until August 4th. Second-generation eggs, larve and puparia were present from July 23rd until October 4th, 81.4 per cent. of these puparia overwintering. Attempts made to breed second-generation adults in a large field cage (6 ft. x 6 ft. x 3 ft.) proved unsuccessful. However, third-generation flies placed in this cage on August 24th, 27th and 29th, respectively, bred and laid eighteen eggs on September 17th, and forty-two eggs were collected from the onions in the cage on September 24th. Some maggots were reared successfully on onion agar, more especially on agar to which a little hydrochloric acid had been added. Out of twenty maggots fed on this agar three went into pupation and one fly emerged. As regards the oviposition habits of the flies it was observed that during the spring and summer, until the plants all attained ‘a size of approximately six to eight inches, practically all of the eggs laid were deposited in the soil within one or two inches of the plant. Towards the end of August and during September eggs were commonly laid on the leaves, as many as eight to fifteen eggs being taken at one time on a single plant. It was observed during midsummer that those onions injured or attacked by first-generation larve were frequently chosen by second-generation adults for oviposition. Plants affected by onion smut also proved attractive for the flies in August. These selective habits are doubtless of great importance in view of the possible use that may be made of volunteer onion growth as a means of control during the spring months. REMEDIAL MEASURES In applying the sodium arsenite poison bait according to the formula laid down in Pamphlet 32 of the Dominion Entomological Branch, two methods of application are suggested, viz.: the sprinkling of the bait across the field in large coarse drops, or the setting out of suitable containers at regular intervals through- out the field filled with the liquid. Prof. Lochhead and Mr. W. J. Tawse,! in conducting experiments in the Montreal section in 1921, using these two methods, found that the sprinkling of the bait was not nearly so successful as where bait pans were used alone. In 11921: Lochhead, W., and Tawse, W. J.: Fourteenth Annual Report of the Quebec Society for the Protection of Plants. Pp. 43-48. 44 THE REPORT. OF THE No. 33 view of this, in 1923 our experiments in control only considered the value of these pans, and in order to give the method every opportunity to prove successful they were kept refilled for the entire period from May 22nd until July 10th. The commercial aspect bearing upon the point as to how many times refillings were necessary was not specially considered. Five acres were treated by the pan method, using about thirty pans to the acre. At the close of the season an 8 per cent. loss was observed in the plantation, and a total of 405 eggs and eggshells were actually taken on ten feet of row in twenty-three separate observations between June 11th and September 5th. In a two-acre check or untreated field adjoining the above the net loss was 3.3 per cent., with a very much lower egg count throughout the season. To account for this negative result it would be only fair to state that while the conditions were as nearly comparable as it was possible to make them, the untreated field had not been manured so heavily and this fact may partly account for the lower degree of infestation if the attractiveness of the poison bait pans in the adjoining field is discounted. As mentioned in Pamphlet 32 of the Dominion Entomological Branch, Mr- W. J. Tawse made a suggestion that possibly encircling the bait pans with a number of growing cull onions would prove a more satisfactory and reliable remedy than where pans are used alone. This recommendation was based very largely on the suggestion made by Messrs. R. C. Treherne and M. H. Ruhmann,? where trap onions are used alone in British Columbia, coupled with his belief in the value of sodium arsenite baits. In order to test the value of this combination method, six acres were set out with pans and traps in adjoining fields to the plantation referred to above. At the close of the season the loss due to onion maggot attack was noted, as 5.4 per cent. with 408 eggs and eggshells being taken in ten feet of row in twenty-three separate observations between June 11th and September 4th as before. Occa- sional observations during the season indicated that eggs were being laid in fair numbers around the trap onions, but no definite count of eggs or record was kept. However, from ten trap onions especially set for oviposition counts, a total of 2,450 eggs were taken between May 30th and September 19th, 1,038 of these eggs being first generation, 1,163 second generation, and the remainder, in all probability, third generation. The degree of infestation this year has unques- tionably been light which accounts for the slight damage that was caused and for the low oviposition counts. The comparative value of the various control measures is obtainable, however, from these records. In addition to the above, two acres of onion field were set out with the special British Columbia poison-bait can, which only differs from the ordinary open pie dish by the addition of a water reservoir and felt mat. No records of oviposition or loss by onion-maggot attack were kept in this field, as the main object was to test the value of this special pan over the open dish from a mech- anical point of view. As a result of this experiment it was shown that the method did not prove any more desirable than the open dish with excelsior or straw floats, and the trouble of refilling in a field where water was not easily obtainable detracted very greatly from their use. As a result of this year’s experiments it was unfortunate, from our point of view, that a greater degree of infestation was not registered. Ina broad, general, commercial scale all fields used this year yielded equal returns and suffered a 11921: Treherne, R. C., and Ruhmann, M. H.: Fifty-second Annual Report of the Entomo- logical Society of Ontario. Pp. 29-33. 1924 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 45 like loss, only one untreated field at Cote des Neiges, showing a loss of 9.9 per cent., the highest observed in the vicinity. Sufficient has been seen, however, to indicate that the use of cull or trap onions does offer a suitable base for experimental studies of the future, and that in combination with a poison bait liquid will probably prove the most satisfactory measures for control of the onion maggot. NOTES ON THE LIFE HISTORY OF THE CLOVER LEAF WEEVIL (Hypera punctata) H. F. Hupson anp A. A. Woop, DoMINION ENTOMOLOGICAL LABORATORY, STRATHROY This paper is a very brief resumé of the more important facts concerning the life history of the clover leaf weevil as it occurs at Strathroy, Ontario. Clover insects do not appear to have caused much damage in recent years in this locality. This may be due to two causes; either the insects have not been sufficiently abundant, or more likely, they have received little or no attention. The clover-leaf weevil would appear to be the major clover pest which has come under our observation in recent years. Our first acquaintance with this insect was in the spring of 1917, when several hundreds of acres of clover and timothy meadows were severely injured in Delaware township. The depre- dations of the larve, however, did not last long, for a fungous disease broke out which,wiped out the entire infestation. Since that time they have again become abundant. Among food plants, red and sweet clover appear to be favourite, with some preference being shown for red clover. The beetles do not become sexually active until about the third week of August. Eggs are deposited quite regularly until the middle of November, the bulk of eggs being laid in September and October. Few, if any, beetles hibernate. From the time the beetles emerge from the cocoon until sexual activity com- mences, the beetles lead a very inactive existence, and feed sparingly. In our studies of the eggs over thirty pairs of beetles were used. The egg capacity of the female varied from 34 eggs to 667 eggs. The female with a record of 667 eggs oviposited over a period of 76 days with 46 days of oviposition. Other females laid 133, 240, 278, 324, 360 and 378 eggs, respectively. With 4,500 eggs under close study it was found that 55 per cent. were deposited within the petiole of the clover plant, 27 per cent. in masses on the outside of the main stem of the plant, and the balance on the soil surface or on the sides of the cage. Under field conditions the percentage of eggs laid in the stems would have been high, but in our experimental work young plants were used having nostems. In a few cases wheat or oat stubble was introduced. Stubble was in all cases pre- ferred for oviposition. Eggs laid in stubble had the highest percentage hatch, due perhaps to the shrinkage of the green clover petioles removed with the eggs. Tue Ecc. The egg period varies considerably. Those deposited during the week of August 25th averaged 18.5 days, with the period lengthening out until the week of September 22nd when the average was 31.3 days. The shortest period obtained was 14 days, and the longest, aside from the over-wintering eggs, was 42 days. A mass deposited November 10th hatched April 23rd. The freshly-laid egg is pale yellow. The shell is semi-transparent, and shows the yolk indistinctly, the ends appearing watery and lighter in colour. A viscid liquid is voided with the egg, by the female ovipositing. This liquid dries 46 THE REPORT OF THE No. 33 quickly when exposed to the air, adding gloss to the shell. When the egg is laid on the outside of the plant the shade intensifies to a clear light yellow in about two hours, showing evenly over the whole egg, continuing so for from one to three days when a faint tinge of green appears. This gradually deepens until from the second to the sixth day the ends darken slightly giving a general appearance of pale olive green. Usually the next day (although sometimes simultaneously) the shell begins to show slight sculpturing, becoming complete in a day or two. All gloss then leaves the egg, and it becomes quite dull, and slightly darker. The pattern of the sculpturing is more evident on eggs laid on the outside of the plant, and is of a very even hexagonal form. No particular change is seen after this until the head of the embryo begins to show. Usually this takes place in from three to five days after sculpturing, depending very much on the weather. Even in early fall it may last fourteen days. At first the head shows faintly as a dark mark, then soon darkening to a plainly visible circular black spot. In most cases this is about one-third distant from either end, but may be anywhere along the egg, as the larva moves about before hatching. With eggs laid inside the petiole, coloration is less marked. Just before hatching, the egg is a very pale green colour, the head of the larva within showing plainer than in eggs exposed to the air. The egg enlarges considerably before hatching, becoming. slightly distorted in outline. THe Larva. The newly-hatched larve remain for a short time near the egg mass, but soon ascend the stem, to begin feeding on the leaflets. Being legless, a large number fall to the ground. In the insectary most of these perished unless they were assisted back on to the leaf. In the field this fact doubtless results in considerable larval mortality, especially if hatching occurs during a rain or heavy wind. The first instar larvz do not retire to the base of the plant in the daytime, but remain on the underside of the leaf near where they were feeding, curled tightly, the last segment just covering the head. An epidermal hair or two of the leaf is usually embraced to help anchor the larva. In the field many of the young larve feed within the unopened leaflets at the base of the plants, thus obtaining ample cover during the day without leaving their feeding- ground. The propensity of the young larve to remain in the one location until some growth is made can be observed very noticeably under insectary conditions. With two hundred specimens observed in vials not a single one voluntarily left - a dried, withered leaf for a fresh one without being transferred to it bodily. Before the first moult the feeding is confined to the centre of the leaves, the injury showing as small round holes. After the larva has attained the third and fourth instar it feeds from the leaf margin as well. They feed at night only, dropping to the ground to spend the day curled up under the refuse at the base of the plant. With careful searching some larve may be found in the field any time from the second week of September until the third week of June of the following year. They are not difficult to identify, and are not likely to be confused with other insects in the clover field. The green larva with its pale dorsal stripe and its habit of curling up when not feeding is easily distinguished. Although the colour is usually green it may be cream, bluish, or with a tinge of pink. The percentage of cream-coloured larve was 2.6 per cent., and they produced normal- coloured adults. Three moults were observed, the length of instars being very variable on account of the intermittent feeding of the larve, due largely to adverse weather conditions. The first instar (fall observation) averaged 17 days, the second 1924 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 7 47 instar (fall observation) 21 days, the third (spring observation) 13.11 days, and the fourth (spring observation) 17.01 days. A very great increase in food consumption is noticed after the second moult. They winter in all four larval stages as well as in the egg stage. Tue Pupa. The larve cease feeding a day or two before they commence spinning cocoons, which operation requires one or two days. The usual location for the cocoon is just below the surface of the soil, but it may be over an inch deep in the soil, where there is lack of moisture, or on the surface under debris. The cocoon is not woven from one continuous thread, the silk being cut off at each end, at a length of from three-eighths to five-eighths inches. Arestis always taken after the spinning of each thread (for about the same length of time as the work) and a new supply of silk material is taken before resuming spinning. Sometimes the supply appears to run low, when the larva kneads the underside of the last two body segments with its head, as if forcing the secretion to the opening. This substance is very adhesive, adhering to the sides of the pupal chamber and to the threads already spun very securely. Curiously enough it does not seem to adhere to the body of the larva, when too large a supply is taken. Slightly over six inches of silk is spun in one hour. The prepupal period lasts from three to eight days and the pupal from five to thirteen days. Tue Aputt. After the pupal skin is shed the adult remains within the cocoon for one to four days. With specimens emerging in vials not supplied with food, the cocoon is always eaten, but this is not the case in the field where there isan abundance of food, only sufficient being eaten from one end to permit the beetles to emerge. After emergence they feed regularly for two weeks, then become dormant until August. The feeding habits of the adults are somewhat different during oviposition, for then the petioles as well as the blades are eaten. There appeai’s to be only one generation in Western Ontario, the beetles dying soon after oviposition is completed. The spread to new fields occurs during the latter part of August. On a bright sunny day the beetles may be seen in flight and running rapidly from plant to plant over the bare spaces on the ground surface. Although hundreds of larve have been reared and collected from the field we have never observed any natural parasite. In years of excessive abundance the outbreak seems to be controlled naturally by a fungous disease known as Empusa sphaerosperma. WINDS AND GIPSY-MOTH SPREAD E. P. Fett, CHIEF ENTOMOLOGIST, CONSERVATION COMMISSION, ALBANY, N.Y. It is well known that wind-spread is an important factor in the dissemination ofithe gipsy moth (Porthetria dispar Linn.). The earlier investigations in eastern Massachusetts, by agents of the United States Bureau of Entomology, have shown that the recently-hatched caterpillars may be carried considerable dis- tances—as much as twenty or twenty-five miles over water. The proposed barrier zone in which the gipsy moth should not be allowed to establish itself made it very desirable to study the winds of western Massa- chusetts and eastern New York during the period when conditions were favour- able for wind-spread. 48 THE REPORT OF THE No. 33 Five temporary weather stations equipped with self-recording instru- ments for registering wind direction and velocity and temperatures were established at approximately equal distances along the Mohawk Trail from North Petersburg, N.Y., to East Charlemont, Mass. They were located, in addition to the two above mentioned, one at a point about midway between Williamstown and North Adams, Mass., one on the east summit, Whitcomb Summit, elevation 2,200 feet, of Hoosac mountain, and the other in western Charlemont, just east of the grade up the mountain and about four miles east of Hoosac tunnel. The western two stations are in the Hoosick River valley, and the eastern two in the Deerfield River valley. The records of these stations were supplemented by hourly observations of wind direction and velocity and temperature at Sheffield, Mass., and Copake Falls, N.Y., the two being separated by a well-marked ridge of the lower Berkshires. Data were also obtained, through the co-operation of the various meteorologists, from those United States weather stations in New England and eastern New York state possessing infor- mation most likely to assist in solving the problem. The following tabulations shows a very small eastward component at any of the stations in or near the Berkshires, either in western Massachusetts or eastern New York. SUMMARY OF PERCENTAGES OF PRINCIPAL WIND COMPONENTS, May 10TH TO JUNE 8TH, 1923 Locality North South East West INostRetecsbune Ni AVesst wc Spears tues 37.8 19.9 SED 56.1 RMoceAdamis Massie <5 wig tugs eden 3 48.5 13.9 WAS! 55.5 Hoosac Mountam Wass: ..ses0 2-2. s. SNS Teal 11125 69.5 GharlemontWassh. ti. a eee ee 576 12.6 6.9 Silead ShetheldseMiassis .. 605 sc ic ro ees aed: 60.8 25-9 7.9 Ziel CopakeallsseNgveoyact > oer e oo. 40.0 24.9 10.9 40.6 Average percentage ........-...«: 46.6 WES 9.1 50.0 On the other hand, there is perceptibly more east wind in the Connecticut valley, as shown by the following tabulation: | Locality North South East West || Pastecharlemonty Wass). ose eee 42.4 17.4 17.4 51.8 PATIMINETS tel ViaSGietwe en. be ps e.cp ieee paces 44.6 Sled 16.3 33.01 aEctoncie CONE. oes cose ee 24.1 44.9 16.6 37.9 INew Haven. (Conn 2.) py-% Ge apss Sos 19.4 47.8 15k 41.1 Average percentage.............. 32.6 35.4 16.3 41.1 A still greater prevalence of east wind, and consequently westward drift for this period, is shown at the Concord, N.H., and Boston, Mass., stations, the east wind at the latter stations being especially marked. Locality North South East _ West Goncord SNAED Seis SLA. SPE he 36:2 18.4 18.2 46.6 if 5252 Rostonba WasSeg.e acd sk eo cuss hie eck 15.0 18.8 | 26. Average percentage.....:.5.55.¢. 25.6 18.6 1924 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 49 The figures for 1923 show a distinctly smaller probability of the pest being swept westward from the New York state boundary line than is the case in the Connecticut valley and most evidently so in eastern Massachusetts. Further- more, it has taken over twenty years for the gipsy moth to spread from the vicinity of Boston, Mass., to the New York state line, and if the wind is an important factor, as is doubtless the case, we must conclude that the westward spread into New York state will be still slower. The records of the United States Weather Bureau for New England and eastern New York stations are the basis for the following: The eastern component for Albany for the past nine years, May 16th to June 8th, has ranged from 1.4 to 22.8 per cent., the average being 11.9. Similar figures for Burlington, Vt., show a range from 2.1 to 12.5 per cent., and an average of 6.4 per cent. Records for a six-year period for Northfield, Vt., indicate a range of 5.4 to 11.2 per cent., with an average of 7.4 per cent. It is evident from the above that east winds are much less prevalent in western Massachusetts and eastern New York than on the eastern coast of New England and consequently less likely to carry gipsy moth caterpillars westward. In view of the recently discovered infestation in northwestern Vermont, our tabulation of the principal wind components from Burlington and Northfield, Vt., stations for the period when wind-spread is likely to occur is of special interest to Canadians and is reproduced below: SUMMARY OF PERCENTAGES AND PRINCIPAL WIND COMPONENTS 7 AM. TO 7 P.M., May 16TH TO JUNE 8TH. Burlington, Vt. Northfield, Vt. North South East West North South East West ICUS Strate. 34.1 28.2 8.3 29.4 ef ree ful a I 24.9 61.9 8.2 1s ye Saas a eyeae IGS ee 36.01 Sa 5.06 14.65 Mee : 1924 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 55 fifty-mile strip from the Canadian border to Long Island Sound. If the work can be continued in that section and Canada sees fit to join in the proposition, I think a barrier zone can be established. The present line, as mentioned, is surely the shortest line on which this problem can ever be attempted in the United States. Mr. McLaAIneE: I should like to ask Dr. Burgess to give us some informa- tion as to the success of the extermination work in New Jersey; the total number of egg clusters found in the first year of the infestation and the number found each year since the extermination work was started. Mr. Burcess: I do not recall the number of egg clusters reported the first year the gipsy moth was found in New Jersey. The information came early in July and it was necessary to have some data about the first of August as to how much money would be necessary to carry on the work. Very rough scouting work was done and it was found that the insect had spread over 100 square miles and the estimates for carrying on the work were based on 100 square miles—$100,000 from New Jersey; $100,000 from the Federal Govern- ment. After the money had become available in the fall, work was carried on and by the following spring it was determined that the infested area had been greatly underestimated. Four hundred square miles were found to be infested. The New Jersey funds were increased to $125,000 and the Federal funds increased also. We have been carrying work on in New Jersey since that time— 400 square mile proposition on a 100 square mile financing, and the second year the area was practically the same as the first year. The area now so far as determined by last spring’s work is approximately 200 square miles, a marked decrease. Mr. McLaIne: What was the actual amount of funds expended to bring about this result? Mr. BurGess: New Jersey—first year, $100,000; second year, $125,000; third year, $125,000. Federal Government—first year, $122,495; second year, $101,672; third year, $167,207. The work in New Jersey has been extremely encouraging and I think anyone who has visited the work is very much encour- aged at the progress that has been made. Mr. KEENAN: What is the distance between the Alburg infestation and the one nearest to it? Mr. Burcess: About thirty-five miles. Dr. SWAINE: I went over the New Jersey outbreak last spring with Dr. Headlee and it certainly is surprising how successful the work has been. Almost unbelievable that such excellent results could be obtained. Mr. KEENAN: When an infestation such as Alburg is discovered, do you adopt a policy of recording the wind direction from the viewpoint of larval spread? Mr. Burcess: This matter will be studied, but, of course, it will be necessary to study the wind records from the nearest point where accurate records are kept. A great many of the local weather stations only take tem- peratures twice a day and the wind velocity is not recorded. Mr. FINNAMORE: What time of the year would it be advisable to scout? Mr. BurceEss: Scouting ought to be done immediately. Scouting is most effective after the leaves have fallen and from then until you get deep snow. When you get deep snow you are apt to overlook infestations below _ snow-line. The most effective time for scouting is right now. 56 THE REPORT OF THE No. 33 RHAGOLETIS POMONELLA AND TWO ALLIED SPECIES (Trypaneide, Diptera) C. HowarpD CURRAN, OTTAWA In volume fifty-one of the Canadian Entomologist (1919), Mr. W. Downes, of the Entomological Branch, gave a complete historical account of the occurrence of a species of Trypaneidz, supposedly Rhagoletis pomonella, in British Columbia and mentioned also five specimens from California which had been described as R. zephyria by Snow. In view of the excellent published account by Mr. Downes, it is unnecessary to again cover this field fully, but it seems advisable to mention the main points and add such information as I have received from Mr. Treherne, who first discovered this insect at Penticton, B.C., in 1916. In the first place both Dr. Doane and Dr. Aldrich have considered the two species found on the Pacific coast identical with R. pomonella, the true apple maggot. I have a type specimen of R. zephyria Snow before me, very kindly loaned for study by Prof. S. J. Hunter, of the University of Kansas. It is evidently quite distinct from the other species as is hereinafter shown. The species found in British Columbia is readily separated from pomonella and in addition to slight external characters I find tangible differences in the genitalia of the male. The outstanding fact concerning R. symphoricarpi, the species found in British Columbia, is its striking monophyllic habit. According to Downes and Treherne it never attacks apple and is found in the larval stage only in the fruit of the snowberry (Symphoricarpus racemosus Michx.). Extensive search was conducted to determine whether the insect attacked apples, haws or other fruits such as often serve as hosts for the apple maggot, but no trace of the maggots was found in anything but the snowberry. Mr. Downes suggested that P. symphoricarpi represented a biological race, but it is quite evident that the species is distinct. Dr. Aldrich stated that he could see no tangible difference between the western and eastern specimens, but I believe they may readily be separated in almost all cases, and the males assuredly can be by dissection of the hypopygium. There are, in many species, 1924 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 57 what may be considered biological races, but our knowledge of insects is so meagre in comparison to what is to be learned that we are not able, at the present time, to arrive at positive conclusions. as to the status of certain forms. We know that many species are much more easily separated in the larval than imaginal stage and it therefore seems possible that many insects may be most readily determined by their host, and that careful study will reveal imaginal distinctions not previously suspected. The three species of Rhagoletis which have been included under pomonella may be separated as follows: R. pomonella. (MALE) Genital claspers, as in Figs. 2and 2a. The lobe of the clasper opposite the hooks is almost transverse towards the base of the clasper and the hooks are longer, the lower hook being much more evidently curved; the spot on the scutellum usually occupies the apical half and extends on the disc, well beyond the apical bristles; size usually over 4mm. (FEMALE) The white scutellar spot occupies two-thirds or more of the length of the scutellum and is very prominent to the naked eye. Size usually over 4.5 mm. R. symphoricarpi. (MALE) Genital claspers, as in Figs. 1 and 1a. The shapes of the parts as well as of the clasper itself are quite different, the hooks are shorter, the lobe tapers towards the base of the clasper, which is always less curved, wider and more compressed beyond the hooks; the spot on the scutellum is much smaller and usually does not extend very much laterad of the apical bristles; size seldom over 3.5 mm., usually slightly less. (FEMALE) The white scutellar spot seldom occupies more than the apical half of the scutellum and is usually very distinctly narrower than in pomonella; length 3.5 to 5 mm., the average length slightly over 4 mm. R. zephyria. (FEMALE) The scutellar spot occupies less than the apical half of the scutellum and reaches well laterad of the apical bristles. The paler lateral margins of the front at the middle extend as far inside the frontal bristles as the distance from the base of the bristles to the orbit. In both the preceding species the pale stripe scarcely extends inside the base of the bristles and these are also slightly closer to the orbit. I must confess that the differences enumerated as separating the first two species, except those of the hypopygium, appear slight. However, they are rather constant. R. zephyria is more readily distinguished in the female sex than are the other two. It would be very interesting to know the host of R. zephyria, but we have no indication. A strange thing about symphoricarpi is that the first two speci- mens were taken by Mr. Treherne on the leaves of apple in an orchard. INSECTS. OF THE SEASON W. A. Ross, DOMINION ENTOMOLOGICAL LABORATORY, VINELAND STATION, AND L. GAESAR, PROVINCIAL ENTOMOLOGIST, O.A.C., GUELPH ORCHARD INSECTS Copiine Morn (Carpocapsa pomonella). Side-worm injury was again quite severe in several sections of the Province; whereas in other parts such as in Norfolk County the injury was negligible, even in orchards which were only sprayed once for codling moth control (post-blossom application). q 58 THE REPORT OF THE No. 33 THE SPRING CANKER WorM (Paleacrita vernata). Many neglected apple orchards in the Province were completely or almost completely defoliated by this species. Reports of severe damage were received from Welland, Went- worth, Peel, Northumberland and Durham Counties, and no doubt the insect occurred in injurious numbers in other parts of the Province. Elms as well as apple trees were stripped—one elm grove of about 2,000 trees near Brampton lost nearly every leaf. This particular grove, according to residents of the district, has been defoliated three years in succession, and it is feared that further injury will result in the death of a number of the trees. THE YELLOW TUSSOCK CATERPILLAR (Halisidota tesselaris). In late sum- mer and fall this insect was present in immense numbers in southwestern Ontario. The caterpillars attacked various trees and shrubs, but the main injury was done to apples, whole orchards being defoliated in several instances, e.g., at Dixie, North Toronto, Oshawa, Owen Sound and Elmira. The caterpillars began to appear in August, and in early September trees were stripped as a result of their feeding activities. This is the first time in our experience that Halisidota tesselaris has been sufficiently abundant to cause much injury. SAN JOSE SCALE (Aspidiotus perniciosus). This pest is still increasing in the warmer sections of the Province, and requires better attention in many orchards than it has been given in recent years. In parts of Elgin County, parasites appear to have had a marked effect in checking the San Jose scale. THe AppLE Maacot (Rhagoletis pomoneila). Reports of injury from this pest were received from several localities. We are glad to say that wherever (except under village or town conditions) a real effort has been made to combat the maggot, no difficulty has been experienced in bringing it under control. APPLE ApuHips. The green apple aphis (Aphis pom) appeared in outbreak form about midsummer in several localities in southwestern Ontario. On badly attacked trees the wood, leaves and fruit became literally covered with honey-dew, and with the black honey-dew fungus. During September the insect largely disappeared, and heavy rains cleaned the apples in most orchards. However, at a few places the aphis was abundant to the close of the season, and much of the fruit was badly smutted with the honey-dew fungus. It is of interest to note that in one orchard, consisting of alternate rows of McIntosh and Fameuse, the former was only slightly infested, whereas the latter was badly attacked. The rosy apple aphis (Anuraphis roseus) was responsible for considerable injury in a few orchards in the Niagara district, but, generally speaking, this species was of little importance. CIGAR AND PIsTOL CASE BEARERS (Coleophora fletcherella and C. malivorella). These insects were abundant in apple orchards east of Toronto, especially in the Bowmanville-Newcastle district, where the severe outbreak of case bearers occurred in 1921. Elsewhere they were of no importance. THE APPLE TENT-CATERPILLAR (Malacosoma americana). In most parts of the Province this insect was scarce, but around Morrisburg numerous webs were found on trees along the roadside, indicating that possibly another out- break will occur in eastern Ontario in a few years. es — 4924 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 59 THE RosE LEAF Hopper (Empoa rose). Some apple orchards, particularly in the Burlington district, were again heavily infested with this species. How- ever, in most parts of the Province the leaf hopper was present in smaller numbers than it has been for some time past. In eastern Ontario and in the Niagara peninsula, leaf hoppers parasitized by a dryinid were very commonly observed. APPLE PLANT BuGs. Apples seriously deformed by plant bugs were received from several new localities. Specimens from the Fonthill district were injured by Lygidea mendax, but in most cases it was impossible to determine what species were responsible for the injury. Although the fruit in individual orchards is sometimes practically ruined by plant bugs, the total yearly injury from these insects is not large in Ontario. PEAR PsyLLA (Psyllia pyricola). Weather conditions must have been particularly favourable for the multiplication of the psylla this year, because, although the over-wintering flies were comparatively scarce in spring, the insect increased at a remarkable rate, and in summer and fall, pear orchards in the Niagara and Burlington districts, and as far east as Newcastle, were very heavily infested. At Burlington the pears on practically all Kieffer trees which did not receive a late application of nicotine, were covered with honey-dew fungus, and in harvesting the crop the pickers likewise became coated with the sticky, sooty material. PLuM CuRCULIO (Conotrachelus nenuphar). For some reason: unknown to us, this insect, although abundant as usual in spring, was very scarce this autumn. Unsprayed apples, which ordinarily would show considerable punc- turing due to the insect’s feeding activities, were more or less free from this injury. CHERRY Fruit Firs (Rhagoletis cingulata and R. fausta). At Niagara-on- the-Lake several orchards of Montmorency cherries were quite badly infested with fruit fly maggots, but elsewhere the insects were not common. PLANT BuGs INJURIOUS TO PEACHES (Lygus carye, L. quercalbe and L. omnivagus). The hickory and oak plant bugs were much more injurious to peaches in the Niagara district than they were in 1922. In two orchards, one with hickories and the other with oaks growing near by, a few damaged peaches were found as far as 200 yards from the host trees, but in both cases the plant bug injury was only severe on the fruit in the immedi- ate vicinity of the oaks or hickories. THE BLack CHERRY APHIS (Myzus cerasi). This plant louse was very abundant on sweet cherry trees throughout the Niagara peninsula. With reference to the control of this pest, experience has shown that, in addition to spraying with nicotine sulphate, it is advisable to remove and destroy aphid-infested water-sprouts in June. THE GREEN PEACH APHIS (Myzus persice). In spring this species was sufficiently abundant in some peach orchards near Winona to alarm the growers. However, the outbreak was brought under control by natural agencies before any serious damage was done. To anyone who has observed the myriads of returned migrants of Myzus persice which appear practically every fall in the Niagara peninsula, it is sur- prising that this louse is so seldom injurious to peach trees. U 60 THE REPORT .OF THE No. 33 THE EUROPEAN RED MITE (Paratetranychus pilosus). By the middle of July many plum orchards throughout the Niagara district were quite heavily infested with this mite, but the outbreak did not increase in severity to the degree we at first anticipated. At Vineland the mite was easily controlled by spraying with wettable sulphur or lime sulphur. GRAPE AND SMALL FRuIT INSECTS THE ROsE CHAFER (Macrodactylus subspinosus). This insect has seldom, if ever, been more prevalent than it was this year. Severe outbreaks occurred in most of the sandy sections of southwestern Ontario. Grapes, fruit trees, ornamentals, etc., were attacked and seriously injured. It is worth while recording that at ‘Fonthill, according to a correspondent, a brood of ducklings died as a result of eating the beetles. It is of interest to note that Mr. Hall’s investigations at Fenwick have furnished us with satisfactory evidence that the chafer only breeds to a very slight extent in clover sod. Along with the other control measures, it would therefore seem to be advisable to recommend the substitution of clovers for grasses in chafer-infested districts. It is highly probable that serious cutbreaks of the rose chafer will occur again next year, judging by the immense numbers of grubs which were found in sandy soils this fall at Fenwick, Dixie and Simcoe. In this connection we might mention that the densest rose chafer grub population we have on record, namely, 1,052 larve per square yard, was found at Dixie in the Hydro-Electric right-of-way. GRAPE LEAF Hoppers (Erythroneura comes and E. tricincta). Leaf hoppers were again present in large numbers in Niagara vineyards. On the whole, this year’s outbreak was not so severe as that of 1922, but a larger area was affected, viz., from the Niagara River to Hamilton. . : THE GRAPE BERRY Motu (Polychrosis viteana). During the past two years the grape crop in a large vineyard near St. Catharines has been seriously damaged by this pest. This season a very considerable percentage of the fruit was infested—in many of the rows practically 100 per cent. of the bunches. The berry moth occurs in all parts of the Niagara peninsula, but it is very rarely sufficiently numerous to cause any appreciable loss. As exposed pupe of P. viteana are said to succumb quite readily to low temperatures, the Ontario winter most probably accounts for our comparative immunity from injury. — THE GRAPE BLossoM MIDGE (Contarinia johnsoni). What we take to be this species destroyed a considerable percentage of the blossom buds in a vine- yard near Fruitland. The affected buds, according to the grower, were swollen and watery in appearance, and when opened were found to contain maggots. The crop in this vineyard has been poor for several years back, and most of the bunches have been thin and ragged. Colaspis flavida. This leaf beetle was commonly observed feeding on grape foliage in the Niagara district, but only in a few cases did it cause-sufficient injury to attract the attention of the growers. Tue Rep SpripeR (Tetranychus telarius). Favoured by exceptionally dry weather, this pest appeared in outbreak form in the Niagara and several other districts of southwestern Ontario. During July the mite was present in extra- ordinary numbers on bush fruits and, as a result of its feeding activities, the ‘eee i 1924 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 61 foliage in many black currant and in several raspberry plantations was largely destroyed. In one raspberry patch at Beamsville, all the leaves on the bearing canes were brown and dead before the berries were picked, and consequently the crop was almost a complete failure. In a few instances strawberries were also badly infested with the mite. BLACKBERRY LEAF MINER (Metallus bethunet). A few blackberry plantas tions near Vineland were fairly heavily infested with this species but, generally speaking, the miner was less abundant in the Niagara and Burlington districts than it has been for several years. STRIPED TREE CRICKET (Cicanthus nigricornis). Although complaints of tree-cricket injury to raspberry were received from all parts of the province, it is doubtful if this insect was more troublesome than usual. So-called winter- killing of the canes was remarkably prevalent, and many persons no doubt erroneously attributed this injury to the tree cricket. THE RASPBERRY SAW-FLY (Monophadnoides rubi). This pest was again somewhat injurious in several localities. At Vineland the emergence period of 698 adults extended from May 28th to June 22nd, the last flies appearing approx- imately four weeks before Cuthbert berries ripened. THE STRAWBERRY Root WEEVIL (Otiorhynchus ovatus). On three fruit farms near Dixie portions of strawberry fields were heavily infested with this insect. On account of the prevalence of winter-killing, it was impossible to gauge the extent of the damage caused by the root weevil. This is the first time we have seen O. ovatus present in injurious numbers, and it is worthy of note that the farms on which it occurred are models for cleanliness—well cultivated and remarkably free from weeds. On July 4th approximately 75 per cent. of the insects had reached the adult stage but were still in the ground and were still pale brown in colour. Almost all the others were in the pupal stage, hence it would appear that the new generation is a cleancut and not a straggling one. THE STRAWBERRY LEAF BEETLE (Paria canella). For several years the adults of this species have done considerable damage to the foliage of strawberries in southwestern Ontario. This season in most places the injury was not so great as it was last year, but there were a few striking exceptions, notably at Georgetown, Campbellville and Simcoe. At the last place raspberries as well as strawberries were very severely injured on some farms, one plot of raspberries having practically every leaf destroyed. In this case the plantation was weedy and neglected. THE STRAWBERRY WEEVIL (Anthonomus signatus). This pest was trouble- some in a few Niagara strawberry fields. Truck Crop INSECTS THE ONIoN Turips (Thrips tabaci). Dry weather conditions were favour- able for the multiplication of this insect, and it caused much loss in the onion marsh at Point Pelee and in other parts of the province. STRIPED CUCUMBER BEETLE (Diabrotica vittata). Cucumber beetles were very abundant in the Brighton district this fall, and caused some loss by eating out holes in pumpkins. In some instances 40 per cent. to 50 per cent. of the pumpkins were badly injured. One field which should have produced fifty tons of pumpkins, yielded only ten tons fit for canning. In most sections, however, the beetle was quite scarce. 62 THE REPORT OF THE No. 33 THE SQuASH BuG (Anasa tristis). This bug is usually only destructive in small gardens, but this season it was decidedly troublesome in commercial fields at Vineland. Cucumbers as well as squash and pumpkins were injured. THE BUMBLE FLOWER BEETLE (Euphoria inda). The flower beetle was somewhat common again on ripe fruit, and to a greater extent on corn, especially — sweet varieties. THE ZEBRA CATERPILLAR (Mamestra picta). This insect occurred in suffi- ciently large numbers on turnips and other plants to be conspicuous. At Aylmer it was responsible for considerable damage to gladioli. THE EUROPEAN CorRN BorER (Pyrausta nubilalis). Discussed elsewhere in this report. ; MISCELLANEOUS INSECTS GRASSHOPPERS. In most parts of the province grasshoppers were of very little importance. At Sudbury, however, the roadside grasshopper (Camnula pellucida) appeared in such large numbers that the crops would have been ruined if timely applications of poisoned bait had not been made under the supervision of Mr. Robicheau, the Agricuitural Representative. The poisoned mixture which was applied was prepared according to the formula given in last year’s report, and some three and a half tons of white arsenic were used in making it. WuitE Gruss. White grubs were destructive in the vicinity of Fonthill. At the Fonthill nurseries, nursery stock, particularly apples and cherries, was severely injured. According to the man in charge, the apples and cherries were planted on clover sod. THE BLACKWALNUT CATERPILLAR (Datana integerrima). Over most of southwestern Ontario, black walnuts and butternuts were wholly or partially defoliated by this caterpillar. In some cases it is claimed that walnut trees which have been defoliated by the insect several years in succession are dying. SPINY OAK CATERPILLAR (Anisota senatoria). In southwestern Ontario, from St. Thomas to near Brantford, many oak trees were completely or partially ~ defoliated by this species. Litac LEAF MINER. Lilac leaves severely mined by some insect were re- ceived from several places in Toronto, and also from Newmarket and Guelph. The complaint was made that if this insect increased further it would make the lilacs so unsightly that they would be better removed. The dates on which the leaves were sent in were June 16th, 28th, July 31st and August 10th. The larva was lepidopterous and it is possible that it was the same one as troubled lilacs in England, namely, Gracilaria syringella. COLUMBINE BorER (Papaipema purpurifascia). In the latter part of July complaints were sent in from various sources stating that a large borer, working in the base of the plants, was destroying the columbines. On examination the insect proved to be the above species. It is only rarely that outbreaks of this insect are found in Ontario. Mr. Arthur Gibson reported it as being trouble- some in 1893 and in 1904. Iris BoRER (Macronoctua onusta).. Specimens of iris infested by what we believed to be this insect were received from Windsor and Sombra on July 7th and September 5th, respectively. "SS . \ -ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 63 SILVER FisH (Lepisma domestica and L. saccharina). In bakeshops the former of these two insects is very common; in fact, it is claimed by some bakers that practically every bakeshop is more or less infested. The other species is found here and there in private homes, but is not yet very common. | on Horn Fry (Hematobia trritans). In Middlesex and Elgin, horn flies seemed to be exceptionally abundant this summer. HEEL Fiy (Hypoderma bovis). More trouble was reported from cattle gadding as a result of the attacks of this warble fly this year than last. A STUDY OF THE PUPAL CASE OF PRIONOXYSTUS MACMURTREI. C. B. Hutcuines, ENTOMOLOGICAL BRANCH, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, OTTAWA. Prionoxystus macmurtret Guer-Men., commonly known as the Lesser Carpenter Worm, is a serious enemy of the red oak in parts of Eastern Canada. The larva makes large winding tunnels in the wood and requires three seasons to mature. | Pupation takes place, usually, in the fall of the year within a silk-lined cell at the further end of the tunnel. The pupa is dark, mahogany-coloured and shining. The average female case is 45.5 mm. long and 10.8 mm. wide; the male being 24.5 mm. long and 6.0 mm. wide. About the last few days in May or early in June, the pupa leaves its chamber and begins to move forward on its back into the tunnel. By a number of con- ‘tractions and expansions of the abdomen, it makes its way along the passage to the mouth of the burrow, where it projects itself sufficiently to the exterior to expose the head, thorax and one or two segments of the abdomen. The remainder of the case rests within the tunnel walls, anchored there securely by means of the numerous spine-like processes which appear on the abdomen. A few violent pulsations and the head shell splits open, allowing the moth to gain its freedom. The following is a study of the principal features of the external morphology of the case. THE HEAD Vertex. The vertex is represented by a narrow chitinous band which is not clearly visible before dehiscence. Front. Dorsally, the front bears two conspicuous sete which are set in ‘slight depressions near the epicranial suture; ventrally, four indistinct punctures arranged in an irregular row. Gene. The gene are probably represented only by ‘a slight rugosity near the fronto-clypeal suture. | Clypeus. In most specimens the suture separating the frons from the clypeus is not clearly marked. The lateral margins of the clypeus are strongly curved outwardly. The clypeus is truncate anteriorly and bears two sete. 4 Labrum. The labrum is small, not so strongly chitinized as the frons, and slightly bilobed. 64 THE REPORT OF THE No. a Mandibles. The mandibles are situated laterad of the clypeus and labrum; they are of a dark brown colour, present a rough surface, and are distinctly elevated. | Antenne. The antenne are pectinate and reach to the tip of the tibia of the second paid of legs. Labium. The labium approaches a rectangle in shape. The palps are triangular and very distinct. Maxille. The maxille are subtriangular and the tips meet about on the same level as those of the labial palps. The lateral extensions are folded and © are blunt at the apex. THE THORAX Prothorax. The prothorax is short, has a distinct pronotum which is quadrangular in shape and is bisected by a longitudinal ridge. The patagia are subtriangular. Prothoracic Legs. The coxe are exposed. They are located caudad to the maxilla and are contiguous to same. The articulation between the tibiz and tarsi is indistinct. Mesothorax. The mesothorax is four times as long as the pronotum. The caudal margin of the mesothoracic spiracle appears as a rugosity situated under the posterior edge of the patagia. Mesothoracic Legs. The coxe are caudad to those of the prothoracic legs; the femora are not exposed, the joint between the tibiz and tarsi is located near the tip of the prothoracic legs. The tarsi do not quite reach the apex of theforewings, which extend to and cover the anterior part of the third abdominal segment. Metathorax. The length of the metathorax is about that of the pronotum. There is a longitudinal ridge on the meson. The greater part of the meta- thoracic legs is not exposed except a small portion of the coxze appearing near the tips of the prothoracic legs and a few of the tarsal joints projecting beyond the wing covers. Only a small part of the hind wings is visible on the dorsum; ventrally, they are covered by forewings. ABDOMEN The abdomen is slightly curved toward the posterior end. The curvature is determined by the fixed segments, these beginning at segment 7 in the female and 8 in the male. The segments support an armature of large and small processes which assist the pupa to reach the exterior. They are divided into three areas, as follows: 1. The first, or anterior, area is a flanged plate thickly chitinized, and has a row of prominent flattened spear-shaped spines across its posterior border. Under the high power of the microscope, small fine depressions can be seen on its surface. ‘ 2. The second, or median, area is of a thinner chitin. It has a row of fine toothed spines on its posterior border. The surface markings are somewhat elongated and suggest a fibrous structure. : 3. The third, or posterior, area is thinly chitinized and covered with a fine reticulation which may provide for any expansion or contraction of the pupal case. ; ees Es as 1924 ___ ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY : 65 Spiracles. The spiracles are large, elevated and quite prominent in both sexes ; those of segment 8 being atrophied. They are tureen-shaped with the outer edges smooth and rounded, the interior being lined with fine bristles. EXPLANATION OF PLATE 13—metathoracic leg. : : cxl—coxa prothoracic leg. Fig. 1: Dorsal view of female pupal case. cx2—coxa mesothoracic leg. ' es—epicranial suture. 7 cx3—coxa metathoracic leg. v—vertex. fp—flanged plate. pls—proleg scar. go—genital openings. ao—anal! opening. p—prothorax. ms—mesothorax. mt—metathorax. wl—Mesothoracic wing. w2—metathoracic wing. Fig. 3: Part dorsal view of male pupal case: ai-al0—abdominal segments, 1-10. aj—abdominal segment. {p—flanged plate. a8—abdominal segment. Fig. 2: Ventral view of same: Fig. 4: Ventral view of same: {—front. go—genital opening. a—antenne. ao—anal opening. e—eyes. ag—abdominal segment. cl—clypeus. atas : Fig. 5: Arrangement of seta on abdominal Ipm—lateral projections of maxilla. md—mandibles. eeereHty: mx—maxillae. Fig. 6: Type of dorsal spines in cossid genera. Ib—labrum. P—Prionoxystus. 11—prothoracic leg. A—Acossus. 12—mesothoracic leg. Z—ZLeuzera. 3 E.S. 66 THE REPORT OF THE No. 33 Spines. The chitinous dentations or spines are arranged transversely on the segments, pointing away from the head. The arrangement is slightly different in each sex. Segment 1, which is reduced in size, shows only one row of very fine spines. On segments 2 to 9 are the larger, rounded, somewhat spear-shaped teeth, darkly tinted on the outer margin, each tooth being clearly visible to the naked eye. There is also an additional row of much smaller, finer, spine-like processes arranged transversely caudad to the larger and which can be seen only with the aid of a hand lens. These appear on segments 2 to 6 in the female and on segments 2: to 7 in the male. Segment 10 has several coarse spines, irregular in size, arranged somewhat semi-circularly, the largest being situated ventrally. In both sexes the large, coarse teeth are fairly regular in outline. The largest of these in each row are situated mid-dorsally and taper off gradually as they run out laterally, passing down some distance beneath the spiracular line and 2m front of the spiracle on all segments except the first three. In segment 1 the entire row is absent; in 2 they terminate just above the spiracle; and in 3 they run to the top of the spiracle. Genitalia. The anterior genital opening of the female is situated on the posterior border of the 8th segment; the caudal opening appears on a heavily chitinized area of the 9th segment (see figure). The genital opening of the male is associated with the 9th segment (see figure). Anal Opening. The anal opening situated near the caudal margin of the ‘10th segment is slit-like and surrounded by prominent folds. Abdominal Sete. The abdominal sete, Fig. 5, are inconspicuous and occupy positions slightly different from those of the larva. The following is a tentative homology based on the nomenclature of the larval sete introduced by S. B. Fracker in ‘‘The Classification of Lepidopterous Larve’’ of [linois Biological Monographs, Vol. II, No. 1, July, 1915. a very small, close to the cephalic border of the flanged plate, about half way between the dorso-meson and the spiracle. ~~. QW under the anterior row of spines nearer the dorso-meson than e p under the same row of spines close to and dorsad of the spiracle. x on the posterior border of the flanged plate directly cephalad of the spiracle. 7 under the anterior row of spines close to and ventrad of the spiracle. » on the posterior border of the median area, caudad of the spiracle (very indistinct, and absent in many cases). Group—usually bisetose, cephalad and slighily laterad of the proleg scar. ] 7 is between the prolegs scars. a, K and » are represented by punctures only; elliptical in outline. Certain depressions or scars, the nature of which could not be determined occur dorsad of the spiracle and might easily be mistaken for setal vestages. (See Fig. 5.) 1924 * ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 67 GENERIC KEY TO THE PUP OF COSSIDAZ: OCCURRING " IN NORTH AMERICA. As will appear from the following key, the pupal cases of Prionoxystus are easily distinguishable from those of other cossid genera. A. Abdominal spines irregular in shape and equal in size on both cephalic and caudal rows.—Zeuzera. AA. Abdominal spines regular, larger in cephalic than in caudal row. B. Cephalic spines pyramidal in outline.—Acossus. BB. Cephalic spines flat; spear-shaped.—Prionoxystus. The writer is indebted to Mr. J. J. de Gryse for criticisms and suggestions. NOTES ON LICE WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE CHICKEN LOUSE (Lipeurus heterographus) Dr. A. R. WIcKWARE, HEALTH OF ANIMALS BRANCH, DOMINION DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, OTTAWA Insects are usually regarded as ubiquitous parasites whose persecutions, while annoying and distracting, are of litthe moment from the standpoint of general health. This viewpoint, per se, appears more or less correct, but when considered in relation to infectious diseases, as vectors or intermediate hosts, their presence portends an ominous state of affairs fraught with grave possibilities. Lice appear to be the least harmful of the insects, yet experimental evidence incriminates several varieties in the transmission and propagation of specific maladies. Thus it has been conclusively demonstrated that the causative organism (Spirocheta recurrentis) of relapsing feyer is transmitted from man to man through the intervention of two species of human lice, Pediculus capitus and Pediculus vestimentt. The findings of the Royal Commission appointed to investigate trench fever also incriminate the human head louse, Pediculus capitus, in the transmission of this malady, while the clothes louse, Pediculus vestimenti, is a known carrier of typhus fever. In view of the foregoing it is reasonable to expect that future research will establish a connecting link between many of the infectious diseases of domes- ticated animals and the lice parasitic upon them. Apart from their role in the transmission of infectious disease, what harmful influence do lice exert on the host, when viewed from a purely parasitic stand- point? It is generally agreed that a more or less intense pruritis or cutaneous rash is caused by the presence of lice upon the body, varying according to the number and variety as well as the age and condition of the infected animal. Their presence upon young animals is supposed to result in a stunted growth, while older animals harbouring them become emaciated and unthrifty. Whether they alone are capable of producing death by irritation without the intervention of some contagious disease is problematical. Ss We ey a Formerly it was thought that this loss of condition was due to the small traumata resulting from the activities of lice while feeding, or the minute injuries produced by the sharp claws with which the feet of all’these parasites are fur- nished; but experimental work conducted by Moore, of the Division of Entom- ology, University of Minnesota, throws a new light upon the subject. In a paper which appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Associa- tion, Vol. 2, 1918, he describes an interesting reaction to louse bites where symp- toms similar to trench fever were observed. May I be permitted to quote the following from this very interesting communication? ‘‘Whereas, Miss Wentz had started feeding with a sma!l number of lice which gradually increased, I started feeding about 700 to 800 twice a day. Almost immediately a general tired feeling was noticed in the calf of the legs and along the shin bones, while on the soles of the feet and underneath the toes this tired feeling was so intense as often to prevent sleep until late in the night. An irritable and pessimistic staté of mind developed. May 7th, an illness resulted with symptoms very similar to grip, and a rash similar to German measles was present, particu- larly over the shoulders and abdomen. As German measles were prevalent in the community at that time, it was considered German measles; and after remaining in bed for several days I returned to work and again took up the feeding of the lice. The general feeling previously noted was present with increasing intensity. By May 15th, the number of lice in our reserve stock had increased to about 1,200, and May 28th, I was again forced to remain in bed. The family physician was called and diagnosed the case as possibly grip. The next day he was again called since a distinct rash was present a!l over the body. The rash was considered quite typical of German measles, but other symptoms of measles were absent. The heart was normal, the pulse about 90, and the temperature varied from 100 to 102. A blood count revealed a normal number of leukocytes and red corpuscles. A severe headache was experienced, accompanied with pains; in the legs, not only along the shins but also in the calves of the legs and the soles of the feet, while intense pain was present in all the joints of the body. The appetite was lost for several days, and the tongue was heavily coated. Dr. A. D. Hirschfelder, who has been assisting on the louse problem, saw me at this time and considered that it was not.German measies, nor was it grip, but might be trench fever. Glandular enlargement was absent and no enlargement of the spleen was noted. Recovery was complete except for a general weak condition by June 4th. “T again took up the feeding of the lice, June 6th, with the hope of producing the symptoms again and deciding if the illness was really caused by the lice, and, if possible, whether it was trench fever. The lice numbered about 800 adults, which gradually died off while young lice hatched from the eggs until by June 22nd about 1,800 young lice were being fed. During the early period between June 6th and 15th, no lassitude was noticed, but from about the 17th on, it gradually returned as the number of lice increased, until the 27th and 28th when it was pro- nounced. On the 29th I was feeling so miserable that it was a decided effort to get up in the morning and again feed the lice. The symptoms were the same as in the two previous illnesses. If the illness was due to the organism of trench fever, a day or two spent in the open with plenty of exercise would hardly prevent the attack, but if it was due to a toxin or toxins, it might be possible, by plenty of fresh air and exercise, to throw off the toxins and escape the attack; hence the 29th and 30th were spent in the open, rowing and fishing. During the 29th the symptoms were still quite pronounced, but gradually disappeared on the 30th, although a general tired feeling persisted for several days. Since that time the lice have not been fed, and two weeks in July were spent on a vacationinthe open. ‘The result has been the total disappearance of the peculiar tired feeling in the legs and feet and a return to perfectly norma! health.” The foregoing is suggestive that the clothes louse, if present in large numbers, may produce an illness, which appears to be an intoxication of the system, with some toxin that they are capable of introducing at the time of feeding. It is also suggestive that some of the symptoms of trench fever encountered in certain cases may not be due to the organism of trench fever but to certain toxins intro- duced by the lice. Without entering into a classification of the Anoplura in which four families including fifteen genera are recognized, they may be regarded as falling into two orders, Siphunculata, Sucking Lice and Mallophaga, Biting Lice. While most mammals may harbour both varieties, the biting lice appear to be less harmful to the host, owing to their methods of feeding on epidermal scales and products of exfoliation, instead of puncturing the skin for the sus- taining blood and lymph. 1924 ~ ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 69 Bird lice are all included under the order Mallophaga, and live by feeding on the.epidermal products such as feathers, scales, etc. Blood dried on the skin may be eaten, but bird lice are not bloodsuckers. Since they do not pierce the skin their depredations may be less inimical to the welfare of the host than the activities of the suctorial variety. While these prefatory remarks may seem rather foreign to the subject in hand, they appear relevant in view of the fact that a traditional belief exists amongst poulitrymen that the head louse, Lipeurus heterographus, is responsible for a heavy mortality amongst young chicks. This parasite is well called the head louse, because of its predilection for this portion of the body. Infestation is most prominent on the feathers of the head and neck, although a few lice are occasionally found on the feathers of the wings. It has often been stated that lice dig into the flesh and even eat the brains of chickens. Undoubtedly this is the species that has caused this mis- conception. Often it is found on a feather with its head close to the body of the chicken but apparently never imbedded in the skin. The head louse is much darker in colour than the ordinary body lice of poultry, Menopon pallidum and Menopon biseriatum, and is quite easily seen when the feathers, especially if white, are separated. The body is edged with dark bands and there are markings of the same shade across the abdomen. The _ first segments of the antenna of the male are very large and the third segments are branched, while the antenne of the female are more slender. This louse averages slightly less than one-tenth of an inch in length. It is much less active than the body lice, but can easily slip between the barbs of the feathers and disappear from sight. It can live away from the fowl at normal temperatures for a longer period than the body lice, probably because it is accustomed to the cooler region of the feathers. The eggs are glued to the feathers of the head and neck, being attached to the barbs often between the shaft and aftershaft. Observation has shown that the eggs hatch in from four to five days during warm weather, but the period may be extended during the cold months of the year. Our own experience shows that the time necessary to complete the life cycle from egg to adult during _ moderately warm weather is about twelve days but this is undoubtedly subject to seasonable variation. To determine whether or not the head louse was capable of causing a heavy mortality amongst young chicks, experiments were undertaken during the summer of 1922. On June 17th, two chicks sent in for autopsy were found to be infested with head lice, and on the following day three chicks about one month of age were infected to propagate a sufficient number for experimental work, an average of _six to eight mature lice being placed upon each bird. On July 7th, these three chicks were found to be heavily infested, making the further carrying on of experimental work possible. On August 12th, thirty chicks were selected from a newly-hatched bunch of incubator birds and were divided into two pens of fifteen birds each. These chicks were fourteen days of age and had been carried through to this period to eliminate weaklings. On August 12th, one pen comprising fifteen chicks were infected with head lice from the older birds, from six to ten adult lice, males and females, being placed upon each chick, by pulling the feathers with adhering lice from the older 70 THE REPORT OF THE No. 33 chicks and allowing the lice to transfer naturally to the fluff of the head. In addition to this, two infected birds were placed under the hover at night and removed the next morning. The following table illustrates the comparative results, viz., the weekly weights, feed consumed, etc.: CONTROL PEN No. 2 Chicks infected July 30—14 days old. INFECTED PEN No. 1 Chicks hatched July 30, 1922. Infected Aug. 12—14 days old. Week of Aug. 12-19 Number of birds living, 15. Total weight, Aug. 12, 1 Ib. 8 oz. Total weight, Aug. 19, 2 lb. 12 oz. Total gain for week, 1 Ib. 4 oz. Average gain per bird, 1.33 oz. Feed consumed ‘‘Mash,”’ 7 lb. Mortality, nil. Week of Aug. 19-26 Number of birds living, 13. Total weight, Aug. 19, 2 lb. 12 oz. Total weight, Aug. 26, 3 Ib. 15 oz. Total gain for week, 1 lb. 3 oz. Average gain per bird, 1.46 oz. Feed consumed ‘‘Mash,”’ 101% Ib. Mortality, 2 birds. 1 died Aug. 23, 1 died Aug. 24. Week of Aug. 26—Sept. . Number of birds living, 13 Total weight Aug. 26, 3 Ib. 15 oz. Total weight Sept. 3, 5 lb. 2 oz. Week of Aug. 12-10 Number of birds living, 15. Total weight, Aug. 12, 1 Ib. 6 oz. Total weight, Aug. 19, 2 lb. 2 oz. Total gain for week, 1 lb. 2 oz. Average gain per bird, 1.2 oz. Feed consumed ‘‘Mash,”’ 6 Ib. Mortality, nil. Week of Aug. 19-26 Number of birds living, 14. Total weight, Aug. 19, 2 lb. 8 oz. Total weight, Aug. 26, 3 Ib. 12 oz. Total gain for week, 1. lb. 4 oz. Average gain per bird, 1.42 oz. Feed consumed ‘‘Mash,”’ 914 Ib. Mortality, 1 bird killed by rats on August 25% Week of Aug. 26—Sept. 3 Number of birds living, 14. Total weight Aug. 26, 3 lb. 12 oz. Total weight Sept. 3, 4 lb. 13 oz. Total gain for week, 1 Ib. 1 oz. Average gain per bird, 1.46 oz. Average gain per bird, 1.21 oz. Feed consumed ‘‘Mash,”’ 12 lbs. Feed consumed ‘‘Mash,”’ 10.8 Ib. Mortality, nil. Mortality, nil. Total gain for week, 1 lb. 3 oz. Week of Sept. 3-10 Number of birds living, 12. Total weight Sept. 3, 5 lb. 2 oz. Total weight Sept. 10, 6 lb. 2 oz. Total gain for week, 1 lb. Average gain per bird, 1.33 oz. Feed consumed ‘‘Mash,”’ 1034 Ib. Mortality, 1 chick died on Sept. 8. Week of Sept. 3-10. Number of birds living, 13. Total weight Sept. 3, 4 lb. 13 oz. Total weight Sept. 10, 6 lb. Total gain for week, 1 Ib. 3 oz. Average gain per bird, 1.46 oz. Feed consumed ‘‘Mash,”’ 12 lb. Mortality, 1 bird died on Sept. 3. When the weighings were discontinued on September 18th, 1922, the total aggregate weight of the twenty-five birds was found to be 12 lbs. 8 ounces, or an average weight per bird of 8 ounces. Upon summarizing these results it will be noted that there was very little to choose between the infected and control pens, the average gain and mortality rate being about equal. Paradoxical as it may seem, the chicks in the infected pen at the end of the experiment appeared to the casual observer to be more virile and in better condition than the birds in the control pen. A second experiment was started on September 27th, 1922, fifty chicks being selected for the purpose. These chicks were picked from a flock numbering about 300 birds, all of which were two weeks of age and were selected for virility, etc. Twenty-five chicks were used for a control pen and twenty-five were infected, from six to ten adult lice being placed upon each bird. Rete ; 4 Xs - i ao . — 1924 - ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 71 On the 29th of September it was discovered that twenty of the original 300 chicks had previously been in contact with adult fowls and these were subse- quently placed in contact with the entire number which resulted in all of them becoming infested with head lice. This unfortunate circumstance necessitated treatment of all controls, blue ointment being used for the purpose. The oint- ment used was the ordinary commercial preparation diluted to half normal strength. One application only was necessary to clean up the infection and no untoward effects were observed in any of the treated birds. Without burdening you with full details of weighing, feeding, etc., it may be sufficient to state that our results were somewhat similar to the first experi- ment, the mortality rate being average and practically the same for both pens. The remaining 250 chicks were kept under observation until late in November and during this period no inordinate death rate was noted. Upon actual count some individual chicks were found to harbour over one hundred adult lice and as time progressed and the chicks grew, the numbers diminished until only a few lice could be detected. References to the head louse of chicks are mostly contained in popular bulletins and check lists of animal parasites, and it is therefore little to be won- dered at that this parasite has been given a pathological role to which it is little entitled, this impression being based upon the personal observations of practical poultrymen little familiar with the many factors contributing to the heavy death rate amongst early-hatched chicks. When it is considered that out of every four eggs incubated, an average of only one chick is raised to maturity, and that in many cases of early spring hatching by artificial methods, the mortality amongst hatched chicks may run well over 50 per cent. during the first ten days of life, due to such conditions as aspergillosis or brooder pneumonia, white diarrhoea, defective incubation, etc., we have little reason for holding head lice responsible for the heavy mortality during this hazardous period. Admittedly, parasitism of any nature or degree must be considered in relation to susceptibility to disease, for undoubtedly a lowered resistance resulting from a heavy infection tends to a fatal issue. In many cases, however, a heavy degree of infestation is an index of lowered resistance from debility and faulty metabolism, or in the case of fowls, from confinement, overcrowding and a withdrawal of the natural means of defense, and in such instances, the presence of parasites may be regarded as the result and not the cause of impaired vitality. While our investigations concerning this parasite are limited, sufficient experimental work has been done to satisfy the writer that the head louse of chickens is a much maligned parasite from whose passivity has been created a role of activity which from personal observation or analogy I judge to be little warranted. INSECTS OF THE SEASON IN QUEBEC. IN 1923 GEORGES MAHEUX, PROVINCIAL ENTOMOLOGIST, QUEBEC The summer of 1923 has been a very heavy season for insect pests, and damages, as a whole, easily double last year’s figure. Sometimes it appeared as if insects of normally very little importance thought it compulsory to show, in a brighter light, their noxious power. This explains why the ordinary short list of important pests is so greatly extended. 79 THE REPORT OF THE No. 33 4 4 VEGETABLE INSECTS CutworMs have been very active in all vegetable-growing sections. Apart from the customary victims (cabbage, tobacco, tomato), they have destroyed entire fields of onions around Quebec city (May 27-June 20). On1oN Maccor (Phorbia ceparum). A remarkable outbreak of this pest was recorded and great damages registered (June 15-30). Sodium arsenite (half- ounce per gallon) gave very satisfactory results in our ten experimental fields. CABBAGE WorM (Pieris rape) kept steadily at work from June 20th until the very end of the season, cabbages and cauliflowers suffering equally. CABBAGE Maccort (Phorbia brassice). Very active during the last part of June. Fields treated with corrosive sublimate, even when found in bad condi- tion, came back wonderfully well. An unprotected field around Three Rivers suffered a total loss of 1,500 plants. Radishes were also among the chief victims. Potato BEETLEs (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) were abundant in most parts— of the province and were aided in their work of destruction, in many scattered localities, by the blister beetle (Wacrobasis unicolor). Beans were also affected by the last-named pest, which is certainly on the increase in Quebec. FLEA-BEETLE (Epitrix cucumeris) showed a decrease over last year and was not seen so early in the fields (June 3-10). CUCUMBER BEETLE (Diabrotica vittata), scarcely noticeable in 1922, did important damage to cucumbers in Montreal, Three Rivers, Quebec and Ri- mouski districts. (June 20-July 25.) FIELD Crop INSECTS GRASSHOPPERS (Velanoplus atlanis and M. femur-rubrum). Last year the Saint Maurice river valley had been seriously infested with swarms of grass- hoppers but the control work, started in due time, gave very good results and this year that district had no trouble from that source. The counties of Charle- voix and Pontiac had, last summer, some sections badly. affected with the plague. These sections of poor sandy soil, on account of a continuous drought, had only a very light crop of grain. Grasshoppers had an easy task to destroy these few signs of vegetation. WuitE Gruss (Lachnosterna sp.) are becoming a serious menace to old pasture lands. Reports from some localities in Eastern Townships and south of Montreal show that entire fields are ruined by white grubs. Around Drum- mondville counts give an average of six grubs to the square foot. Once more farmers should see the dangers of a ‘“‘long range” rotation. ORCHARD INSECTS AppL—E Maccots (Rhagoletis pomonella) have spread considerably this season and caused serious damage to apples. A change in spraying operations will have to be made to control this pest. PLUM CURCULIO (Conotrachelus nenuphar) was, in importance, second on the list in the whole province. eee). ee (1924 - ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 73 APPLE ApHIs (Aphis pomi and A. sorbi) did not seem to be so numerous as last year or to cause as much damage. PISTOL AND CIGAR CASE-BEARERS (Coleophora malivorella and C. fletcherella) were so abundant around the city of Valleyfield as to almost completely defoliate the trees and ruin the apple crop in many orchards. Lack of regular and thor- ough spraying explains this local outbreak. Elsewhere, a few reports have been made concerning the same pest, but damages were not so important. Bubp Mors (T7metocera ocellana) showed in about the same numbers as last year. No special case of heavy infestation were reported. APPLE TENT CATERPILLAR (M. americana). Important damage in June. Fruit TREE LEAF-ROLLFR (Cacecia argyrospila) was widely spread and was certainly more abundant than the previous season (June 5-20). APPLE BORER (Saperda candida). More numerous than usual in some nurseries. One orchard around Quebec city was cut down on account of that pest. SHADE-TREE INSECTS TENT CATERPILLARS (Malacosoma americana and M. disstria). Important outbreak of these pests for the second successive year: showed large increase over 1922. Distribution general along the St. Lawrence river. The Apple Tent Caterpillar was chiefly injurious to poplars, maples, apple and cherry trees. The ~ Forest Tent Caterpillar defoliated poplars and maples and seemed more abundant than the other species. First hatching at Quebec, May 17th. SPINY ELM CATERPILLAR (Euvanessa antiopa). Found more numerous than usual, between June 20-July 20, on elms and poplars. First adults seen May 7th; first eggs, May 8th. WuitE Tussock Motu CATERPILLAR (Hemerocampa leucostigma). A decrease over the two last years (Quebec, July 15-August 10). Adults of Eulype hastata were found in the woods, on the north shore of the St. Lawrence, in tremendous numbers from July 1st to 20th. In Charlevoix county horses were scared to enter the bush; specimens seen in Quebec at night in large numbers. FaLL WEBWwoRM (LTyphantria textor). Seen in good numbers during Sep- tember. Not important on shade trees. Mostly confined to wild-cherry trees along roads. MISCELLANEOUS INSECTS IMPORTANT CURRANT WorM (Pteronus ribesii). Last part of June, in about the usual number. CuRRANT APHIS (Myzus ribis). Widely spread and in large numbers. THREE-LINED BEETLE (Lema trilineata). Locally observed on various vege- table and ornamental plants. TORTOISE BEETLES (Coptocycla bicolor and C. signifera) damaging convolvulus, eating holes in the leaves. Two cases reported. 4 ES. 74 THE REPORT. OF ‘THE No. 33 THE SPREAD AND DEGREE OF INFESTATION OF THE EUROPEAN CORN BORER IN ONTARIO IN 1923 W. N. KEENAN, DIVISION OF FOREIGN PESTS SUPPRESSION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, OTTAWA The first year, 1920, that the corn borer was discovered in Ontario, thirty- five townships were found infested, covering an area of 2,780 square miles. In 1921, seventy-one additional townships were added to the quarantine; in 1922, forty-five more were infested and eleven were included in the quarantined terri- tory on account of their situation. The area under quarantine in Ontario at the beginning of this season, 1923, totalled 12,616 square miles, as compared with 13,857 square miles similarly affected in the various infested portions of the United States. This season, 1923, scouting of the border territory was again carried on during the months of August and September. All the corn-growing townships between Lake Huron, Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe were examined as well as the remaining unquarantined townships of the counties of York, Ontario, Durham, Victoria, Northumberland, Peterborough, and Prince Edward. On account of the possibility of water distribution, all the shore townships along the St. Lawrence river, as far down as Cornwall, were inspected and portions of the county of Carleton were also scouted. As a result of the above inspection, only eight additional townships were found infested; one in Huron county, three in Bruce, two in Wellington, one in York, and one in Durham county. All of the above townships adjoin the quar- antined territory with the exception of Saugeen and Kincardine in Bruce county. The Saugeen township infestation represents the most northern point of infesta- tion in Canada and in this connection it is interesting to note that several hills of corn were found infested in the field, whereas at the other points discovered this year, only isolated stalks were found infested. The northern spread along Lake Huron again demonstrates the relative importance of lake shore conditions in corn-borer distribution and an effort will be made to watch the development of the pest in the township of Saugeen. POSSIBILITIES OF FURTHER SPREAD From the viewpoint of food supply, it is, of course, possible that the European corn borer may spread over a much larger area in the province of Ontario than it covers at the present time. The reports of the foremen of the scouting parties, who worked Grey county in the past two seasons, would indicate that the interior of this county does not grow corn to any extent. Dufferin county is also unim- portant as well as northern and western Simcoe county in general. Northern Ontario county, Victoria county, and northern Peterborough county may be similarly classified, but corn is a sufficiently important crop in various other uninfested sections of the province to warrant efforts being made to retard the spread. An important portion of Wellington county is still uninfested. A large amount of corn is grown in the shore townships of Lake Simcoe, the town- ships bordering the quarantined territory in the counties of York, Ontario, Durham, Northumberland, southern Peterboro, and Prince Edward county. usually grow a large acreage of corn, and the townships along the St. Lawrence river would supply a sufficient amount of corn to favour the development of an outbreak. The counties of Glengarry, Prescott and Russell are somewhat important. The county of Lanark grows about 11,000 acres and the county of Carleton ranks fifth in importance in the province in silage-corn production, with about 18,000 acres. rr” 1924 ~ ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY he DEGREES OF INFESTATION IN INFESTED TERRITORY With the exception of a limited area in the centre of the infestation where accurate records were made by Messrs. Crawford and Spencer, during the investigational work, no special effort was attempted until last year to record the actual degree of infestation in the older portions of the infested territory. The work in this connection last season was carried on after the completion of the border-scouting in late September. Observations were made at various points in three concentric circles surrounding Union village, the centre of the infestation. On account of the small staff available, and the fact that the corn was then being cut, the records were taken from only one field at each locality. An effort was made to locate the most heavily-infested field at each point and the degree of infestation was obtained from 300 representative stalks together with relating data regarding the history of the field. This method did notshow the average conditions but substantiated the original decision regarding the centre of the outbreak and verified established opinions concerning the benefit of late planting. In 1923 a definite system of recording the development of the infestation was inaugurated with the intention of continuing the work for several seasons to supply accurate information regarding the importance of the pest under the varied soil and crop conditions which are encountered in the large territory affected and to locate local outbreaks. Definite points in approximately the same three circles as used last year were chosen and include the counties of Elgin and Middlesex and the western parts of Oxford and Norfolk. In addition various points in the counties of Essex, Huron, Perth, Oxford, Welland, and Lincoln have been included in this season’s records. ’ The method of crop-handling and climatic conditions are apparently very favourable for the corn borer in a large proportion of the infested territory. In 1920, the first year of discovery, accurate infestation records were taken from ~ only a small area, due to the late date investigational work was started. One field near Port Stanley showed 99 per cent. of stalks infested. Ten miles west the heaviest infestation to be found was one per cent., and beyond that the degree diminished rapidly. The north and northeastern spread were somewhat greater than the above, and New Sarum, about ten miles from Union, showed approximately five per cent. stalk infestation. A marked increase occurred in all sections in the central area in 1921 and as noted above, the infested territory extended to sixty-five additional townships. In 1922, 100 per cent. stalk infestation was very common near the control area, and in the records taken on the inner concentric circle, within a radius of six to eight miles from Union, the per cent. stalk infestation varied from 10.6 per cent. on the northeast and 90.3 per cent. on the west to 100 per cent. on the east. The second circle radiating about fifteen miles from Union, showed degrees of infestation varying from 7 per cent. to 77 per cent., the highest occur- ring on the west, in Dunwich township. The third circle, covering localities within a radius of thirty miles of Union, showed infestations ranging from zero to 6 per cent., the highest being on the west, in Aldborouth township. As stated previously, our 1923 records were obtained in a different manner from those of 1922. It is possible that individual fields between the record points would show a greater degree of infestation than any of those studied. Never- theless the survey will represent as near as possible the average intensity of infestation. This season’s circle records cannot be compared accurately with last year’s, but they will serve as a basis for standard records in future seasons. 76 THE REPORT OF THE No. 33 In obtaining the 1923 records, the five nearest fields to a definite ‘‘cross- road’’ point were examined. One hundred stalks were examined from three different parts of the field, in the case of the records from the three circles. One thousand stalks were examined from various parts of the fields concerned at the several points in the other counties. The following is a summary of the condi- tions noted: ‘ Highest Lowest Average Total Area Per Cent. | Per Cent. | Per Cent. Fields Infestation | Infestation |; Infestation | Examined Circle No. 1 (6-8 miles from Union)........ 68.0 4.33 30.16 55 Circle No. 2 (15 miles from Union)......... 47.0 Q. 16.97 80 Circle No. 3 (30 miles from Union)......... 7.66 0. 1.93 135 Essex County (80-110 miles from Union).... 13.66 0. 1.31 48 Huron County (50-70 miles from Union).... 1.4 0. 0.30 12 Lincoln County (95-115 miles from Union). . 0.6 0. 0.20 15 Norfolk, east (45 miles from Union)........ 1.2 0. 0.32 5 Oxford (40-45 miles from Union)........... 2.8 0. 0.93 15 Perth (50-60 miles from Union)............ bes 0.1 0:57 10 Welland (95-115 miles from Union)......... 4.4 0. 1.06 45 Note.—Mileage stated represents distance from centre of infestation. Welland county first found infested in 1920 and apparently a separate infestation. In comparing this season’s records of circle No. 3 with those of last year, a very marked increase is evident, especially in a north and northeast direction and in the districts near the lake on both of the eastern and western edges. The increase, in the outside circle, is also demonstrated by the fact that the average infestation in the 135 fields in the outside circle is now 1.93 per cent., whereas two and three years ago, our inspectors had to search the majority of the field in most cases to find an infested stalk. This season, 1923, a careful consecutive field examination, chiefly in the counties of Elgin and Middlesex, has been carried on under the direction of Professor Caesar, Provincial Entomologist of Ontario. Records were taken from every field along the main road running south to north between Union and Lucan, a distance of thirty-five miles, and also west to east between St. Thomas and Delhi, a distance of thirty-six miles. The following is a summary of the results: Average District Distance | Per Cent. | No. Fields Miles | Infestation | Inspected North and South— Winion=—Sts (i hOMaAS s.), .2 sets te eaters eres ee ee 5 25.9 30 SeEhomas—noreth’... 02; 20) Die IS) pA ote: bee 5 26.2 26 Stitthomas—north5=10 milest sete odster a. ae 5 18.3 22 Si. bhomas—norgth, 10-15) (eonden)..- . 5-4 eee 5 DX, bls 16 Wicility omLongon {0.52 tn on one oe 20.8 16 London—north¥ i. 2. 2 2a bo. See ee 5 6.1 20 London—north 5-10, miles 2442 oa fxsrd erode cterslgw le ee ee 5 1.6 9 iondon—-norti O=tOpmiles: 4. 445-060 ee eee 6-7 1.6 8 East and West— Stslihomas—— Newssaniines..5 + a Sogo. ae eee 5 25.9 18 New Sarum Aylmer “12903 © 3.73 SBP eas See 6 26.5 31 Avlmer—eastits. eet a. TRL EE 3 eae es 8 19.1 36 Base 16, slallsom pings sieher tab oo ieee. ae 8 12.8 6 poillsouburs—east:;$ sc ce aca =. | Mee ee eee ee 5 Pash 10 East-to) Delhit2 Sos FOR 9G. Se ee eee 5 1.6 12 1924 ~ ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY ae As Essex county is the greatest corn-growing county of the province, with a corn acreage of 80,000 acres, the conditions there will naturally be of interest. Mersea township was found infested in 1921 and infested stalks were difficult to locate. The remainder of the county was scouted but nothing was found. In 1922, collections were made in each remaining township. Many fields of corn were examined in the central and northern townships before larve were discovered, but in the southern townships collections were more easily made, although the infestation was extremely light. Our records in Essex county this season show a decided increase. Standard records were taken from five fields at eight points in the shore townships, and also at Pelee Island, the results of which are as follows: Highest Lowest Average Township Locality Per Cent. | Per Cent. | Per Cent. Infestation | Infestation | Infestation Miersearied trap hectic sais ardlgsets9 Sib Hillman Sa 2) 3.48 MBS CI ——SOUED Ss noe o 5 og fon yeens Siret oatote lone Ruthven 1.2 0.3 0.86 Gosfield RM Te cine ree oe Arner 0.4 0.0 0.14 Golchester—south fi). [20S Oxley 0.8 0.0 0.34 orchestra a) es re. Harrow 0.4 Or 0.28 “Saelhesipane. yous Sia ate ame ne Marshfield 0.9 0.0 0.42 _Malden REN PMRBER IR PSN FRIES hg FE hE NI coher Comet 0.9 0.0 0.42 ihylallalere: .. (2ST See ecient Malden Center 0.6 0.0 0.3 eeleemisiand =. 52... 6. s)-.- 5 eEN SaaS Misc. (8 fields) 13.66 0.33 5.89 Pelee Island was found infested in 1921. The degree of infestation was very low at that time. In 1922, the Pelee Island conditions were not studied, but the survey of 1923 showed a remarkable increase and the infestation was much more intense than that of the neighbouring mainland. The infestation in Welland county, first found in 1920, is increasing, but much more slowly than in the western territory. The results of the records in the other counties listed also indicate an increase, although an exact degree of comparison is impossible, owing to the lack of necessary information. In reference to the 1923 increase, in territory near the centre of the outbreak, it has been most important to the north and east. The relation of the corn borer to the corn-canning industry in general has always been regarded with anxiety. This recent development is unfortunate in that it has affected canning- corn crops in the Aylmer region very seriously. The infestation in all other canning districts is as yet comparatively light. In 1920, the degree of infestation in the districts from which the Aylmer canning factory received its corn supply would average five to ten per cent. stalk infestation. In 1921, various canning-corn fields ran from 21 per cent. to 74 per cent. ear infestation. In 1922 the factory refused material with ten per cent. ear infestation, with the result that corn was refused from one or two fields and two loads from other fields were turned back. This year the situation became serious. Corn delivered to the factory by twenty-two growers on September 4th was examined. Notwithstanding the fact that practically all growers had already culled from five to thirty per cent. in the field, the corn presented to the factory varied in ear infestation from six to fifty-six per cent., and from two to forty-three per cent. of the cobs showed actual feeding. As a result of this condition, a special control campaign has been started in the district under the personal direction of Prof. L. Caesar, Provincial Entomologist. 78 THE REPORT OF THE No. 33 The European corn borer has already established its importance as a serious corn-crop pest in approximately one thousand square miles of territory in Ontario. In Massachusetts, it is causing serious financial losses, through infestation in other crops in addition to corn, and the development of similar conditions in portions of the Ontario infested area is regarded as possible. Greater efforts were made this season in the enforcement of the quarantine which gave further assurance of the importance of infested table-corn trans- portation as a means of spread. One phase of the quarantine work consisted of automobile inspection. During the week-ends a total of 1,434 automobiles were held up at different points on the quarantine border from which ninety dozen ears were seized. Seventeen ears were found infested. In 1921, the township of Pickering in Ontario county was found infested, and in 1922 a collection of the borer was taken in Brighton township, North- umberland county. These outbreaks were situated some distance from the nearest infestation discovered in the years mentioned and were very probably due to the movement of infested material. The difficulty of teaching control methods and the financial outlay involved is naturally associated with the size of the infested territory and the extent of crop losses is likewise similarly affected. A large corn-growing acreage in Ontario is still uninfested and southwestern Quebec grows corn abundantly. It is therefore necessary to expend every effort possible to prevent the artificial spread of the pest to new districts, by means of strict quarantine enforcement. : THE STATUS OF THE CONTROL PRACTICE FOR THE EUROPEAN CORN BORER IN ONTARIO (A Progress Report) H. G. CRAWFORD, ENTOMOLOGIST, DIVISION OF FIELD CROP AND GARDEN INSECTS, ENTOMOLOGICAL BRANCH, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, OTTAWA The preliminary scouting and investigations of the European corn borer in Canada indicated that the focus of the most intense infestation in 1920 lay in the region surrounding the village of Union, midway between St. Thomas and the Lake Erie shore, in the county of Elgin, Ontario. The indications in 1920 were amply confirmed in 1921 by a devastating increase of the injury caused by the pest in this vicinity. Hence the area in which control measures could be tried with greatest benefit and with most clear-cut results was selected in this region. Here a block of farms two miles square, referred to as the control area with the village of Union in the centre, was decided upon as the area of most pressing need. The area involved was very representative and presented a great variety of conditions in the immediate vicinity both physiographic and agri- cultural, the corn varying from that in household kitchen gardens and a con- siderable acreage of early market sweet corn to general farm croppings. Within this area ever since the fall of 1921 every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that the general control measures were put into practice by the growers. Considering the short time during which the operations have been carried on, the lack of care on the part of farmers here and there, the character of the methods themselves, the small size of the area, and the motility of the moths, the results have been most encouraging. The co-operation of the farmers - aa 1924 ~ ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 79 has been wholehearted and with the exception of some assistance in the spring of 1921 in the cleaning up of the barnyards, the work has all been done by the growers. The suggestions made for the control were those indicated as likely to be of the greatest value by the investigations carried out by the Departments of Agriculture of the Dominion of Canada and the Province of Ontario, and reported upon to this society in 1921 by Mr. G. J. Spencer. Briefly, they may be referred to as the farm clean-up and the practice of late planting. The clean-up implied that all refuse from one year’s crop is either underground or burned by the first of June of the following year, while the planting was advised to be as late as was safe in the community with the assurance of getting a good crop. The early fall frosts were the chief limiting factors in determining lateness of planting. In general in the area between St. Thomas and the Lake Erie shore, the attack in 1920 was the most intense suffered until that time and was a decided increase over any previous attack. Farmers had become worried and the first volunteer information was received late in the season from near St. Thomas. By this time, however, farmers in the Union area were growing corn with 99 per cent. * infestation without official complaint, and the sweet corn in the district was most severely infested. The next year the investigations opened with vigour and the area was brought under constant and careful study. Hence our information from this time on is much more detailed. In 1921, the attack increased very markedly in intensity, the average infestation for six farms studied in 1920 rose from 77.2 per cent. to 85 per cent, and the stalk infestation for the field corn in the whole control area (four square miles—45 fields) was 58.17 percent. Many fields of flint corn were 100 per cent. infested and ruined. Dent corn attained an infestation of 78 per cent., and from over twenty acres of early market sweet corn the product was a total loss, as it was not worth while culling the crop for the few saleable ears. In 1922 (37 fields), conditions within the control area following the first control efforts in the fall of 1921 and spring of 1922 presented an entirely different aspect. The average infestation dropped to 26.25 per cent., and the cob injury and other manifestations of the attack decreased markedly. Comparing the attack with that of 1921 there was a most remarkable decrease in intensity and loss. The infestation of the market sweet corn was still high where planted early, though where planted late was commercially profitable. However, as there was almost no sweet corn grown on account of the destruction of 1921, it hardly serves for valid comparison. Throughout the general district surrounding the control area there was a marked increase in the infestation. This was most noticeable to the west in the Fingal region, and to the east in the Dexter region. To the north the increase was not as abrupt though it was quite distinct; southward the infestation decreased as a large proportion of the few growers in this region were putting the control methods into operation. In general, although careful systematic studies ’ were not made in the fields surrounding the control area, it was conspicuous that the infestation definitely increased upon the northern, western and eastern sides of the area. Fields much more intensely infested than any within the control area were easily found even within a few hundred yards of its margin. *The percentage infestation of stalks refers to ear-bearing stalks unless otherwise noted. 80 THE REPORT OF THE ~ No.'33 In 1923, conditions within the control area (34 fields), with an average stalk infestation of 36.48 per cent., indicated an increase in intensity of about 10 per cent. in the stalks and a somewhat higher increase in percentage of injury to plant structures such as cobs and shanks over the 1922 conditions. This increase was generally distributed throughout the whole control area. Even this increase was still 22 per cent. less than the 1921 average. None of the sweet corn of 1923 was ruined, the highest losses in the most severely infested fields not exceeding 50 per cent. As was the case in 1922, the infestation in the control area was distinctly less intense than that in the surrounding areas. The most severely infested fields in the district were all outside the control zone. This is in marked contrast with the former distribution of intensity, when the focus for most intense infesta- tion and loss was within this area, as in 1920 and 1921. No definite figure has been developed to indicate exactly the actual loss in any year. However, an idea of the relative annual losses and severity of attack can be secured if we assume as an estimate that the loss as a farm crop in the control area was about 15 per cent. in 1921, that in 1922 would be about 2 per cent., and that in 1923 not over 4 per cent. The general trend of infestation in the surrounding district has been in marked contrast to the situation within the control area. To the west for six or seven miles the infestation increased very abruptly during the years 1921 and 1922 when very severe losses were suffered. The intensity, however, in 1923 in this region decreased quite markedly from this high point. Just why is not known. To the north the infestation has increased steadily, but not nearly as abruptly as in other directions, throughout the period from 1920 to 1923. To the northeast and east the trend of the infestation has been steadily upward, both in percentage infestation and in total population of larve. At the present tirmme, November, 1923, the focus of highest infestation and loss has shifted to the north and east and comprises a more or less oval area beginning at the northeast corner of the control area.and extending for about 20 miles in a general northeasterly direction. The increase in infestation in this area was most conspicuous in 1923, both in flint corn and in canning sweet corn. Very little mention has been made of the narrow strip of country to the south of the control area. It consists of a zone one mile wide, which does not comprise many corn growers, lying between the control area and the lake shore. These growers in the cases where they have instituted the practice of late planting have been experiencing a clear decrease of infestation, though in other cases they have suffered very severe losses. In general the trend is downward, both on account of the control practice and also doubtless on account of the protection afforded by the destruction of larve in the control area to the north. The control suggestions made to the farmers in the observation area by the personal canvass were reinforced by the increasing losses being suffered and resulted in a noteworthy change in certain phases of handling the corn crop in the area. In 1922, the last year of normal planting, 55.5 per cent. of the corn ° crop was of the flint type, the most susceptible type to European corn borer infestation and damage. Of this part of the local crop 45 per cent. was planted by the 24th of May, 78 per cent. by the 1st of June and 85 per cent. by July 6th. Of the dent corn of this year 10 per cent. only was planted by May 24th, 85 per cent. by June 1st and 90 per cent. by June 6th. 1924 - ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 81 ; In 1922, after the first late planting suggestion, the planting dates were materially changed. The following tabulation summarizes the general situation: . TABULATION SHOWING THE PROPORTION OF EACH TYPE OF FIELD CORN GROWN AND THE SEASONABLE DISTRIBUTION OF THE PLANTING DATES IN THE CONTROL AREA For THE YEARS 1921-1923 Per Cent. | Per Cent. | Per Cent. | Per Cent. Per Cent. Year Type of of Crop of Crop of Crop of Crop of Crop by | planted by | planted by | planted by | planted after Corn Type May 24 June 1 June 6 June 6 es I ee Fiint 55.5 45 78 85 15 Dent 44.5 10 85 90 10 Le Ea 8 inh Se Flint 24.5 10 26 60 40 Dent 7535 0 28 60 40 (209 25 Flint 38.5 0 20 55 45 Dent 61.8 0 46 53 47 From the above table the abrupt drop in the percentage of flint corn grown is clear, particularly in 1922. This change in variety of corn used was accom- panied by a retardation in the date of planting, the most important change being in the amount of corn planted before the 1st of June. As can be noted, in 1923, though the proportion of flint corn increased, the average planting dates for the whole crop were, if anything, even a little later than in 1922. The increased planting of flint corn was due to the increased confidence of the farmers which followed the excellent results of the control operations in 1922. In very large measure the freedom of the corn in 1922 from severe loss could be ascribed to the late planting, while that of 1923 was due in largest measure to the reduction in numbers of moths and the dilution of the attack associated with the late season. As has been noted above, the control was not as effective in 1923 as in 1922 in spite of the still further retardation of the planting dates due in this case, both to design and weather conditions. This increase in infestation was due chiefly to the very late spring. ‘The cool weather held the development of the insect back even more than it retarded the development of the corn, with the general result that much of the corn was in condition to serve as good egg- laying quarters from the time that the moths began to fly. Egg-laving in 1923 did not begin till July 4th, which was at least 13 days later than in 1921 or 1922, and continued in appreciable quantities till August 2nd; even after that date scattered eggs were being laid. This resulted in distributing the attack and reduced the extreme infestations. There were but two fields in the control area which suffered measurable damage, and at the end of the season the control area as a whole contrasted most favourably with the surrounding country. Sharp contrasts in the demonstration of the value of control efforts were difficult to obtain owing to the fact that a great deal of publicity for control practice has been carried on. Growers throughout the whole of the originally severely infested area have, to a greater extent than they realize, put the sug- gestion into practice. This is particularly true of the practice of late planting. The general quality of the ploughing has also improved greatly, and the habit of cleaning out the barnyards and the burning of miscellaneous corn refuse is increasingly prevalent. 82 THE REPORT OF THE No. 33 Keeping in mind that throughout the period the infestation in the immedi- ately surrounding territory has been in general steadily increasing, there is little doubt that the control measures have had a very definite effect and have caused a material reduction of losses in the area under study. This was in spite of the fact that the area was relatively very small and was surrounded by country with heavy infestation in which little or nothing of a systematic nature was done to reduce the number of larve. The results attained to date leave no doubt that in any year the wide- spread practice of the published control would reduce the European corn borer population to a point where field corn would be grown with practically no loss. And were these measures practised for three or four years the planting date of May 24th or earlier could again serve as the standard and early sweet corn in the most severely infested areas could probably be grown once more as a reason- ably profitable enterprise. Sweet corn for the early market, on the other hand, will suffer severe losses for years after field corn can be grown free from appreci- able loss. STUDIES IN THE LIFE-HISTORY, BFIONOMICS, AND CONTROL OF THE CABBAGE WORM IN ONTARIO C. R. Twinn, ENTOMOLOGICAL BRANCH, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, OTTAWA The cabbage white or imported cabbage butterfly, Pieris rape L., was first taken in Canada in 1860 in the vicinity of Quebec by Mr. William Couper. Its subsequent spread south and west throughout the North American continent was surprisingly rapid, its first appearance being recorded in the United States in 1865, at Norway in the State of Maine. Before the advent of arsenicals as a popular method of controlling leaf- eating insects, the cabbage worm caused considerable losses. Even now, when spraying and dusting of cruciferous crops is so general, and despite the usual high mortality among the larve due to natural factors, the damage is by no means inconsiderable. | During seasons when the cabbage butterflies are very numerous the late varieties of cabbage and cauliflower may suffer considerably, large irregular holes being eaten out of the leaves, which in addition become scattered with masses of dark green excrement. The larve also have a tendency to concentrate on the tender leaves forming the “head,” often making the latter quite unfit for market. Chittenden? estimated in 1916 that at least one-tenth of the entire cabbage crop of the United States was annually destroyed by the cabbage worm, and this statement would probably apply equally well to Canada. SEASONAL HISTORY In Ontario the butterflies may be seen on the wing from the latter part of May until the end of September. In 1923 none were seen until May 24th, when they suddenly became common. During July, August and early Septem- ber they were extremely abundant in the vicinity of Ottawa, on one or two occasions several hundreds being counted at one time over a single acre of cabbages. 1924 * ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 83 At Ottawa there are three well-defined generations. The butterflies of the first generation reach the height of their emergence before the middle of June; those of the second appearing first in early July, increase rapidly in numbers so that by the middle of the month they are common everywhere; the early butterflies of the third generation mingle with the last of the second during the middle of August, and continue to emerge until the end of September. It is almost certain that no butterflies emerge from third generation pupe until the following spring. Host PLANTS The host plants of the cabbage worm are not numerous, but represent four plant families. The most favoured belong to the Cruciferae family, including such crops as cabbage, cauliflower, radish and horse-radish. Cruciferous weeds are sought after, especially in the spring, and the flowering plant Alyssum marittimum, which is much used for garden borders, is also an occasional host. The garden plants Cleome pungens and mignonette, of the families Capparidacee and Resedacee respectively, and the canary vine and nasturtium of the family, Tropeolacee, are also attacked, but not to any serious extent. Larve were successfully reared on all these plants during this summer (1923) at Ottawa. Frequent mention has been made in literature of lettuce as a food plant of the cabbage worm, but numerous attempts to induce the larve to feed on it at Ottawa in 1923 failed, and no lettuce showing signs of injury could be found, although many of the plants were exposed to large numbers of butterflies throughout the season. THE LIFE OF THE INDIVIDUAL The male butterflies are found most commonly in the vicinity of flowers, and the females in the neighbourhood of their favourite host plants. They are conspicuous insects on account of the general colour of their wings, which is white, finely powdered with yellow. The spring generation butterflies are lighter in colour than those of the summer generation. The tips of the forewings are marked with black, the forewings of the female in addition possessing two distinct black dots which readily distinguish it from the male, which has only one. The wing expanse measures about one and three-quarters of an inch, the female usually being slightly larger than the male. : Both sexes feed upon the nectar of flowers without which they cannot live. The flowers of dandelion, Viola arvensis, radish, red clover, vetch and garden stocks are the most favoured, but frequent visits are also made to pennycress, field mustard, white sweet clover, burdock and Canada thistle, and to the flowers of garden plants such as Erysimum, Scabious, Centranthus macrosiphon, Clarkia, Hydrangea paniculata and cultivated sneezeweed. The flight of the butterflies is slow, irregular and usually low, but when disturbed they can travel rapidly, and often rise thirty to forty feet from the ground. Mating and egg laying occur within twenty-four hours after emergence. While mating the male flits awkwardly from plant to plant, the female remaining passive with wings folded. In depositing her eggs the female hovers on the leaf for a moment, the tip of the abdomen being pressed firmly against the surface of the leaf and withdrawn, leaving the egg adhering. The eggs are deposited singly on any part of the plant above ground, but usually on the 84 THE REPORT OF THE No. 33 lower surface of the leaves close to the leaf veins. Each female is capable of laying a considerable number of eggs, as many as 499 having been deposited on cabbage by a single female under observation. The egg is pale greenish yellow to orange yellow in colour, elongate and somewhat bullet-shaped, tapering to a flattened point. It measures approxi- mately 1 mm. from the base to the apex and a little less than 0.5 mm. at its greatest diameter. The surface is raised into ten longitudinal ridges accentuated by numerous small transverse markings. The process of hatching occupies about twenty minutes. The larva tears a hole in the shell of the egg, about one-third of the distance from the apex, large enough to admit the passage of its body. On hatching it is pale-yellowish orange in colour and measures 1.5 mm. in length. Shortly after hatching the larva usually completely devours the egg-shell, often eating out a shallow circular depression in the leaf tissues where the egg had rested. Within forty- eight hours after hatching it commences to feed on the leaf tissues, the intestinal] tract showing green through the integument due to the ingestion of chloroplasts, Feeding takes place fairly slowly up to the third moult, after which the larve eats voraciously until just before pupating. For some hours previous to moulting the larve cease to feed and spin a fine platform of silk on which to rest. The actual process of moulting occupies about three or four minutes. The head of the larva is forced through the old skin immediately behind the head-capsule so that the latter remains attached to the anterior ventral surface of the head. The moulted skin is meanwhile forced back from the body by an undulating forward movement. The larva then frees itself from the discarded head-capsule by pressing it against the leaf surface while vigorously jerking its head from side to side. The discarded skin remains grey and shrivelled, firmly attached to the leaf. As it invariably disappears a few hours after moulting takes place it seems probable that the larva devours it. When nearing maturity the larve often measure over 30 mm. (114 inches) in length and 4 mm. in width. They are dark green in colour, often showing a tinge of blue; a narrow yellowish stripe extends mid-dorsally along the back, and the spiracles are edged with yellow. Before pupation they cease to feed and migrate in search of a favourable place to transform, rarely remaining on the plants. Pupation takes place in sheltered nooks on fences, or under the loose bark of trees, the larve almost always exhibiting a tendency to ascend. The larva spins a pad of silk to which it attaches its caudal end and a thread of silk is also passed over the body about one-third of the distance from the head and securely fastened at each side. The larva gradually becomes shorter and thicker. Shortly after moulting the characteristic thoracic and abdominal projections develop and pupation is complete. The chrysalids measure 18 mm. in length and 4 mm. in width. They vary considerably in colour, apparently depending somewhat on the colour of the object to which they are attached and to the amount of light to which they are subsequently exposed. Overwintering chrysalids found on exposed surfaces were pale yellowish gray, whereas those taken from dark situations were dark brown. Summer generation chrysalids on the leaves of cabbage are usually a bright green in colour, the thoracic and abdominal projections being yellow tinged with mauve. Rarely they were found coloured pale mauve tinged with yellowish green. Twenty-four hours before the imago emerges the wing pads become bright yellow and the black wing markings of the adult can be clearly seen. 1924 - ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 85 The butterfly emerges by splitting the chrysalid dorsally between the lateral chitinous projections and along the mid-dorsal line forward to the head. In two to three hours it is capable of active flight. AVERAGE DURATION OF LIFE STAGES, 1923 Stage ist Generation | 2nd Generation | 3rd Generation FL Slee cloth daghlnns Gee giannis 5.1 days 4.8 days 6.1 days iemalestage 21. yA ES 18.0 days 16.0 days 26.5 days RERRUISOUGISLAGEL, © ecm: opyi4 eo cery eels » 11.1 days 9.0 days Overwintering MMeCREGRA UIT ILE sCYGClE® 5.5. a0 oc oy 2 ors 34.2 days 29.8 days Overwintering Number of 2nd Individuals Reared... . 23 9 13 The maximum life of the butterflies in outside rearing cages was found to be 12 days, but the majority of them lived only seven days. _ ARTIFICIAL CONTROL Control experiments, involving the treatment in three series of 5,000 early and late cabbages, with Pyrethrum powder and lead and calcium arsenate dusts and sprays, lead to the conviction that under local conditions dusting with lead arsenate and hydrated or air-slaked lime in the proportion of one part to fifteen parts is the most satisfactory form of treatment. The dusts were found more satisfactory than the sprays in that they can be mixed and applied with the aid or ordinary hand dusters, in one-fourth the time occupied in spraying. They spread and adhere well if applied when the leaves are wet with dew, whereas sprays to which soap has been added as a sticker have a low surface tension and much of the liquid is lost in the soil. In these experiments calcium arsenate dusts gave less satisfactory results than the arsenate of lead dust, the latter giving perfect control. Calcium arsenate applied in the liquid form gave extremely poor results as well as causing some burning to the foliage. Pyrethrum powder used with four times its weight of hydrated lime proved satisfactory, but can hardly be used on a commercial scale as it costs ten times as much as the arsenate of lead dust. Judging by this season’s observations early market cabbages escape serious injury and whether treatment is ordinarily necessary or not must be left to the grower’s discretion. For late cabbages and cauliflowers two applications should be sufficient in a normal season, the first about the middle of July and the second four or five weeks later. When the butterflies are very abundant a third applica- tion may be necessary early in September. NATURAL CONTROL Despite the fecundity of the cabbage butterfly and the favourable conditions for its development presented by satisfactory climatic conditions and an abundant ‘food supply, its numbers fluctuate greatly from season to season. This is largely due to important natural control factors which yearly account for large numbers of the pest. Probably one of the most important of these is a larval disease known as “flacherie,’’ which is usually present to some extent every year, occasionally occurring in epidemic form. Larve affected with this disease turn muddy-gray 86 THE REPORT OF THE No. 33 in colour or become mottled with black, green, yellow and grey and remain attached to the plant, soft and limp, or hang suspended by the prolegs, a grayish or blackish fluid exuding from the mouth and anus. The body contents become liquid, and dead larve soon blacken and collapse; their juices spread over the leaves and together with their excrements serve to disseminate the. disease among healthy larve which ingest the virus when feeding. In 1886 Forbes’ experimented with this disease in Illinois. He spoke of it “as a frightfully contagious and destructive disease of the European cabbage worm,’ and came to the conclusion that the causal organism was a micrococcus. Glaser and Chapman,* working more recently with a very similar disease affecting larve of the gypsy moth, found numerous micrococci, but concluded that the disease was due to a filtrable virus. During the past season (1923) this disease killed large numbers of larve used in life-history and host selection experiments, but was rarely met with in the field until late in the season, when dead larvae became common. In addition to disease the cabbage worm is subject to the attacks of two important hymenopterous parasites, Apanteles glomeratus L. of the family Vipionide, and Pteromalus puparum L., a small Chalcid fly. Of these the latter is probably the more useful. teromalus puparum overwinters in the larval condition within its host, the adults emerging early in June, as many as 43 having been counted from a single cabbage butterfly pupa. Some of the flies reared in the insectary and fed on a weak molasses solution lived well over a month. The host is parasitized while in the larval stage, but pupates before dying, the flies during the summer months emerging two to three weeks later through a small hole punctured in the wail of the chrysalid. Large number of cabbage worms are undoubtedly destroyed by this insect, but this fact is not readily apparent in the field because parasitized larve on nearing pupation migrate to locations where they are not easily found. A panteles glomeratus also attacks the larva of the cabbage butterfly, such larve being left shrivelled and dying before reaching maturity. The parasites spin up in small lemon-yellow elongate-oval cocoons held together in an irregular pile by a fine meshwork of silk close to the dying host. This year parasitized larve were found from July to October, but only in small numbers. Another larval parasite is the Ichneumon fly, [toplectis conquisitor* Say., a specimen of which was observed on September 1st from a cabbage butterfly chrysalid at Ottawa. Certain species of common wasps attack the larve, Polistes pallipes* LeP. and Vespula germanica* Fab. having been observed in early August devouring almost full grown specimens on cabbage foliage. Spiders also take toll of the butterflies, many being devoured in our experi- mental cages during the season. ‘ REFERENCES . Scudder, Mem. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. IV, 3, 1887. . Chittenden, U. S. F. B., 766, 1916. . Forbes, Bull. Ill., State Lab. Nat. Hist., 1886, Vol. II, pp. 260-276. . Glasser & Chapman, Jr. Econ. Ent. VI, 479, 1913. whe nS *Species kindly determined by Mr. H. L. Viereck. THE ENTOMOLOGICAL RECORD, 1923 Messrs. CRIDDLE, CURRAN, VIERECK AND BUCKELL, ENTOMOLOGICAL BRANCH, DOMINION DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE In perusing the older copies of the “‘Entomological Record”’ it will be noted that Lepidoptera occupy by far the largest space. Within a few years, however, Coleoptera assumed an equally prominent position and from that time on these two orders have remained as dominant features of the ‘‘Record.” In 1922, for the first time, Diptera exceeded all other orders in importance, and now we have Hymenoptera assuming its just place in our pages. We mention these facts because they should be gratifying to Canadian entomologists as showing that we have at last secured specialists who are able to work up nearly all our insect orders, thus giving an impetus to entomological studies so long retarded due to the impossibility of identifying our specimens. For the information of those not fully informed of the practice originally laid down, we may state that the ‘‘Record”’ does not include species already listed elsewhere. On the other hand an effort is made to include all Canadian species that have been described during the year and to give a reference to the publication in which the description appeared. Any records of captures that extend the known range of a species to a marked degree are desirable but local records of insects already listed from adjacent parts are not considered of sufficient general interest to record in this publication. Some collectors are still apparently reluctant to send in their records, but on the whole the material sent in has been very gratifying and it has added considerably to a knowledge of insect distribution. We have again to express our indebtedness to various specialists in different parts of the world for their assistance in determining specimens. Our Coleop- terists in particular owe much to Dr. Fall in this respect. ‘ [87] 88 THE -REPOR © OFTHE NOTES OF CAPTURES Species preceded by an asterisk (*) described since the last Record was prepared. LEPIDOPTERA Caeeanced according to Barnes and McDunnough’s Check List of the Lepidoptera). Lycenide * Plebeius sepiolus insulans Blackm. Victoria and Gold Stream, B.C., (E. H. Blackmore). * Plebeius icariodes montis Blackm. Mt. McLean, Mt. Cheam and Hope Mountains, B.C., (A. W. Hanham and R. V. Harvey). Can. Ent., Vol. LV, No. 4, 1923. Sphingide * Sphinx mordecai McD. Penticton, Wellington, Vancouver and Vernon, B.C., (Anderson, Taylor, Livingstone and Venaples). Can. Ent., Vol. LV, No. 6, 1923. 749 Amphion nessus Cram. Victoria Beach, Man., May, (Miss B. Brooks). Arctiide 942 Hyphoraia parthenos Harr. Transcona, Man., June, (Eric Brooks). Noctuidze Euxoa lindseyi Blackm. Victoria and Goldstream, B.C., (Blackmore); Calgary, Alta. Can. Ent., Vol. LV, No. 9, 1923. Euxoa eee McD. Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans and Strickland); Calgary, Alta., (Wolley- Dod * Euxoa clausa McD. Lethbridge, Alta., July, (Strickland and Seamans). Oncocnemis parvinigra Blackm. Kaslo, B.C., (Cockle); Mt. McLean, B.C., August, (Hanham). Litholomia napea umbrifasciata Blackm. Victoria, B.C., (Blackmore); Fraser Mills, B.C., (Marmont). The above four insects described in Can. Ent., Vol. LV, Nos. 7 and 9. 3236. Autographa rectangula Kby. Victoria Beach, Man., July, (G. S. Brooks). Geometride * Dysstroma mackieata C.& S. Bilby, Alta., June, (D. Mackie). * Eupithecia bowmani C.&S. Nordegg, Alta., July, (K. Bowman). * Eupithecia inclarata C.& S. Alberta, (Swett). * Eupithecia divinula C.& S. Alberta, July, (Swett). * Nepytia canosaria form fuscaria B. & B. Meach Lake, Que., September. * Enypia venata ab. elaborata C.& S. Wellington, B.C., July, (Taylor). The above six insects described in the Lepidopterist, Vol. IV, Nos. 2, 3 and 4. Pyralidez * Crambus edmontellus McD. Edmonton, Alta., July, (Bowman); N.W.T., 1907, (Flet- cher); Calgary, Alta., (Bowman). Pterophoride * Pterophorus evansi McD. Trenton, Ont., (J. D. Evans); Aweme, Man., (Criddle). * Stenoptilia bowmani McD. Nordegg, Alta., June, (McDunnough). * Oidematophorus lindseyi McD. Aweme, Man., August, (Criddle). The above species described in Can. Ent., Vol. LV, No. 4, 1923. Olethreutidae Exartema nigranum Hein. Hamilton, Ont. Exartema quebecensis Hein. Quebec, (A. W. Hanham). These two species described in Proc. Ent. Soc., Wash., Vol. XXV, Nov. 25, 1923. Argyroploce dextrana McD. Ottawa, Ont., July, (Young); Calgary, Alta., (Wolley- Dod); Edmonton, Alta., (Bowman). Argyroploce bowmanana McD. Nordegg, Alta., July, (Bowman). CanSEnet., VolocV, No- 7, 1923: Pammene felicitana Hein. Montreal, Que., and St. Hilaire, Que., (A. F. Winn). Proc. Ent. Soc., Wash., Vol. XXV, No. 5, 1923. Eucosma metariana Hein. Victoria, B.C., July, (Blackmore). Eucosma palabundana Hein. Aweme, Man., July, (Criddle); Regina, Sask., (Willing). Thiodia influana Hein. Avenue, Man., July, (Criddle); Regina, Sask., (Willing). Thiodia sororiana Hein. Aweme, Man., September, (Criddl e). Thiodia misturana Hein. Oxbow, Sask., (F. Knab); Aweme, Man., (Criddle). Thiodia fertoriana Hein. Goldstream, B. Cc Thiodia modicellana Hein. Aweme, Man., July, (Criddle). * * **# # # % # * ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 89 x* ee HHH HH ee# ee KH H Thiodia festivana Hein. Aweme, Man., June, (Criddle). Gypsonoma substitutionis Hein. Aweme, Man., July, (Criddle). Epinotia digitana Hein. Kaslo, B.C. (H. G. Dyar). Epinotia bicardana Hein. Aweme, Man., March, (Criddle). Epinotia meritana Hein. Victoria, B.C., July, (W. R. Carter). Epinotia vagana Hein. Victoria, B.C., (Blackmore); Duncan, B.C., (Hanham). Epiblema periculosana Hein. Mt. McLean, B.C., August, (Hanham). Ancylis carbonana Hein. White River, Ont. These species described in Rev. N. A. Moths of the Subfamily Eucosmine of the Family Olethreutidae. Bull. 123, U.S. Nat. Mus. Homona negundana McD. Aweme, Man., and Winnipeg, Man., (Criddle). Cacecia eleagnana McD. Aweme, Man., July, (Criddle). Cacecia myricana McD. Algonquin Park, Ont., July, (McDunnough). Cacecia columbiana McD. Salmon Arm, B.C., July, (W. R. Buckell). Tortrix alberta McD. Nordegg, Alta., August, (McDunnough). Tortrix trentonana McD. Trenton, Ont., (Evans). Tortrix flavidana McD. Aweme, Man., July, (Criddle). These six species described in Can. Ent., Vol. LV, No. 7, 1923. COLEOPTERA (Arranged according to Leng’s Catalogue of Coleoptera, 1920) Carabide 169b Carabus tedatus candicus Roes. Medicine Hat, Alta., March, (Carr). 222 284 416 431 460 581 732 741 Elaphrus clairvillei Kby. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). Nebria obtusa Lec. Medicine Hat, Alta., Sept., (Carr). Bembidion carinula Chd. Cobalt Lake, Labr., (Waugh). Bembidion bifossolatum Lec. Medicine Hat, Alta., April, (Carr). Bembidion funereum Lec. Peachland, B.C., August, (Wallis). Bembidion consanguineum Hayw. Peachland, B.C., July, (Wallis). Bemlndion eneicolle Lec. North of Kisbey, Sask., July, (Criddle). Bembidion dubitans Lec. Peachland, B.C., July, (Wallis). 902b Patrobus septentrionis lecontet Chd. Pelican Lake, Man., July, (Criddle). fI22 1543 1650 1821 Platynus viridis Lec. Victoria Beach and Winnipeg, Man., (Wallis and Roberts). Platynus propinquus G. & H. Darlingford, Man., August, (Criddle). Lebia divisa Lec. Cassils, Alta., (W. Carter); Medicine Hat, April, (Carr). Chlenius tricolor Dej. Medicine Hat, Alta., May, (Carr). 1860 Brachyloleus lethophilus Say. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 2218 Slenolophus ochropezus Say. Dartingford, Man., August, (Criddle). Amphizoide 2280 Amphizoa insolens Lec. Spious Creek, B.C., May, (R. Hopping). Omophronide 2287 Omophron tessellatum Say. Medicine Hat., Alta., (Carr). Haliplide 2324 Peltodytes tortulosus Robts. East Ont., (Evans). Dytiscide Laccophilus inconspicuus Fall. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). Celambus lumidiventris Fall. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr); Vernon, B.C., (Hopping). 2405 Celambus farctus Lec. Winnipeg, Man., not quite typical, (Wallis). Celambus compar Fall. Aweme North, July, new to Canada, (Wallis). 2410 Celambus lutescens Lec. Cawston, B.C., July, (Metcalfe). Celambus canadensis Fall. Medicine Hat, Alta., March, (Carr). 2412 Celambus patruelis Lec. Medicine Hat, Alta., March, (Carr). 2414 Celambus sellatus Lec. Medicine Hat, Alta., April, (Carr). 2421 Celambus unguicularis Cr. Medicine Hat, Alta., September, (Carr). * Hydroporus pangus Fall. Cochrane, Ont., (Notman); Bay of Islands, Newfoundland, (Sherman); Aweme, Man., (Wallis). * Hydroporus planiusculus Fall. Aweme, Man., (Wallis); Peachland, B.C., (Wallis). * Hydroporus pacificus Fall. Massett, Queen Charlotte Island, B.C., (Wickham); Metlaktla, B.C., (Keen). : * Hydroporus sinuatipes Fall. Fraser Valley, B.C., and Ben Accord, B.C., (Sherman). * Hydroporus columbianus Fall. Golden, B.C., (Sherman); Kamloops, (Wickham); Aweme, Man., (Wallis). * Hydroporus similaris Fall. Fraser Valley, B.C., (Sherman). * Hydroporus badiellus Fall. Bay of Islands, Newfoundland, (Sherman); Mile 214 to 5 332 H.B. Railway, Man., (Wallis). Hydroporus polaris Fall. Bernard Harbour, N.W.T., (F. Johansen). The above species described in ‘‘A Revision of N.A. species of Hydroporus and Agaporus,”’ 1923. 90 THE REPORT OF THE _ No. 33 2551 Agabus punctulatus Aube. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 2610 Coptotomus interrogatus Fab. Medicine Hat, Alta., September, (Carr). Hydrophilide 2784 Barosus striatus Say. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 2792 Dibolocelus ovalis Ziegl. Lethbridge, Alta., "September, (Seamans). 2802 Hydrobius fuscipes L. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 2876 Cercyon pretextus Say. Peachland, B.C., (Wallis). 2888 Cercyon tristis Ill. Peachland, B.C., (Wallis). Silphide 3001 Anisotoma punctatostriata Kby. Winnipeg, Man., (Wallis). Orthoperide 3266 Sacium lunatum Lec. Aweme, Man., May, (R. M. White). Scaphidiide - 6489 Scaphisoma convexum Say. Victoria Beach, Man., June, (Wallis). Hesteride 6860 Saprinus cribum Csy. Melita and Aweme, Man., May, (Criddle). Melyride 7203 Collops hirtellus Lec. Medi.ine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 7227 Collops quadrimaculatus Fab. Caradoc, Ont., June, (A. A. Wood). ; Cupeside 7746 Priema serrata Lec. Creston, B.C., July, (C. S. Lallamand). Mordellide 7927 Mordellestena emula Lec. Ashdown, Man., June, (Criddle and White). Meloide 8177 Nemognatha dubia Lec. Medicine Hat, Alta., June, (Carr). 8179 Nemognatha piezota Fab. Aweme, Man., July, (Criddle). Elateridz 9089 Cardiophorus gagates Er. Victoria Beach, Man., July, (Wallis). Buprestide 9368 Buprestis maculipennis Gory. Victoria Beach, Man., July, (G. S. Brooks). 9369 Buprestis subornata Lec. Victoria Beach, Man., August, (Wallis). 9578 Taphrocerus gracilis Say. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). Heteroceridz 9653 Heierocerus auromicans Kies. Victoria Beach, Man., July, (Wallis and Brooks). Helodidz 9708 Scirtes tibialis Guer. Onah and Aweme, Man., July, (White). Dermestide 9728 Dermestes tristis Fall. Medicine Hat, Alta., March, (Carr). Lathridiide 10664 Cartodera filum Aube. Ottawa, Ont., (A. Gibson). Coccinellidz 10981 Brachyacantha albifrons Say. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). Hippodamia minuta disjuncta Thum. Lethbridge, ’Alta., (W. Carter). 11181 Coccinella perplexa Muls. Hopedale, Labr., July, (Perrett). 7 11206 Neomysia subvittata Muls. Metashquin, S. ‘Labr., (Waugh). 11225 Exochomus septentrionis Weise. Medicine Hat., Alta., April, (Carr). ; Tenebrionide 11872 Asidopsis polita Say. Medicine Hat, Alta., an: , 12219 Blapstinus oregonensis Coq. Vernon, B.C., (Hopping). : 12480 Strongylum tenuicolle Say. Treesbank, Man. Ofaige "CL. Criddle). Ptinidze 12613 Ptinus fur L. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). a 1924 ~ ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 91 Scarabeide 13041 Canthon praticola Lec. Medicine Hat., Alta., (Carr). 13048 Canthon levis Dau. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 13290 Sah balyi Jex. Victoria Beach, Man., (C. G. Wright, B. Brooks, Brooks and allis). 13298 Geotrupes semiopacus Jek. Victoria Beach, Man., July, (Brooks and Wallis). 13409 Diploloxia tristis Kby. Aweme and Baldur, Man., (Wallis). 13993 Cremastochilus bifoveatus Van D. Peachland, B.C., (Wallis). Recorded in error as crinitus. 14008 Cremastochilus wheeleri Lec. Aweme, Man., (White). Cerambycidz 14424 Judolia sexmaculata L. Hopedale, Labr., July, (Perrett). 14537 Bellamira scalaris Say. Aweme, Man., July, (Criddle). 14548 Typocerus lugubris Say. Hull, Que., (Curran). 14550 Typocerus balteata Horn. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 14619 Merium proteus Kby. Hopedale, Labrador, (Perrett). 14666a Cyllene infusata Lec. Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans). 14672 Hithopalus fulmans Fab. Pelican Lake, Man., (Hill). 14679 Xylotrechus colonus Fab. Darlingford, Man., August, (G. E. White). 14830 Crissidus pulchellus Lec. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 14877 Moncilema annulata Say. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 15109 Saperda cbliqua Say. Victoria Beach, Man., August, (C. E. Wright). 15110 Saperda mutica Say. Oliver, B.C., June, (Garrett). Chrysomelide 15232 Zeugophora puberula Cr. Onah, Man., July, (Wallis). 15296 Coscinoptera vittigera Lec. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 1568634 Chrysomela flavomarginata Say. Medicine Hat, Alta., April, (Carr). 15759 Monoxa sordida Lec. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 15858 Belepharida rhois For. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 16068 Phyllotreta robusta Lec. Peachland, B.C., July, (Wallis). 16072 Phyllotreta albionica Lec. Thornhill, Man., (Wallis); Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 16135 Microrhopala cyanea Say. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). Curculionide 16331 Auletes uter Lec. Winnipeg, Man., (Wallis). 16519 Ophryastes tubercosus Lec. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 16523 Ophryastes sulcirostris Say. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 16558 Melamomphus alternatus Horn. Medicine Hat, Alta., April, (Carr). 16641 Strophosoma coryli Fab. Agassiz, B.C., June, (R. Glendenning). 16782 Lestronotus tessalatus Czy. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 16784 Lestronotus sulcirostris Lec. Darlingford, Man., August, (Criddle). 16810 Hyperodes ulkei Dietz. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 17376 Cleonus plumbeus Lec. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 17377 Cleonus crestatus Lec. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 17391 Cleonus frontalis Lec. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 17398 Cleonus modestus Mann. Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans). 17405 Lexus rubellus Rand. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 17439 Lexus terminalis Lec. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 17961 Gersteckeria basalis Lec. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 18005 Thecesternus affinis Lec. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 18098 Sphenophorus ulket Horn. Winnipeg and Stoney Mountain, Man., August, (Wallis). Scolytide 18252 Dendroctonus borealis Sw. Victoria Beach, Man., (Wallis). 18307 Typodendron lutule Sw. Aweme, Man., (Criddle); Onah, Man., (White). 18310 Hylurgops borealis Sw. Victoria Beach, Man., (Wallis). 18400 Gnathotrichus materiarius Fitch. Victoria Beach, Man., (Wallis). 18458 Pityogenes knechtelt Sw. Victoria Beach, Man., May, (Wallis). 18479 Ips parroti Sw. Aweme, Man., July, (Wallis). 18488 Pityokteines sparsus Lec. Victoria Beach, Man., (Wallis). DIPTERA Species described as new in ‘‘The Canadian Entomologist’’ during 1923 are omitted from the ““Record”’ owing to lack of space. The number given before the name of species refers to the page in Aldrich’s ‘‘Catalogue”’ on which the name of the genus appears. Psychodide 106 Psychoda albitarsis Banks. Hull, Que., June, (Curran). 92 THE REPORT OF THE No.133 Culicide 136 Wyeomyia smithi Coq. Aweme, Man., (Criddle and Robertson). Mycetophilide 139 Asindulum montanum Roeder. Ft. Coulonge, Que., July, (Beaulne); Sudbury, Ont., (Evans); Aweme, Man., August, (Vroom). 145 Exechia absoluta John. Megantic, Que., June, (Curran). 146 Mycetophila quatuornotata Lw. Megantic, Que., June, (Curran). Bombyliide 240 Lepidophora egeriiformis Westw. Victoria Beach, Man., July, (G. S. Brooks). Therevide *246 Psilocephala frontinalis Cole. Maniwaki and Montreal, Que., (Beaulieu); Ottawa, Belleville, (Gibson); Jordan, Ont., (Curran); Toronto, (C. W. Johnson). * Psilocephala canadensis Cole. Trenton, Ont., (Evans); Ottawa, Montfort, (Que.), (Johnson). * Psilocephala latifrons Cole. Prince Edward Co., Ont., (Evans). * Tabuda borealis Cole. Gull Lake, Sask., April, (T. N. Willing). *247 Thereva cinerascens Cole. Savary Island, B.C., July, (R. S. Sherman). * Thereva cockerelli Cole. Aweme, Man., June, (E. Criddle). * Thereva brunnea Cole. Victoria, B.C., (Downes and Anderson); Vancouver, B.C., (Treherne). * Thereva nigripilosa Cole. Victoria, B.C., (Downes); Cranbrook, B.C., (Garrett). Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., Vol. LXII. - Apioceride 253 Apiocera haruspex O.S. Oliver, B.C., July, (Buckell, Garrett, Vroom). Asilidz 259 Cyrtopogon vulneratus Melan. Coniston, Ont., July, (H.S. Parish). Psyche, Vol. XXX, Nos. 3-4, 1923. Buckellia cyrtopogona Cole. Revelstoke Mt., B.C., Aug. 12, (Buckell). (Described as Cophura; follows Cyrtopogon. C.H.C.). 272 Laphria ferox Willist. Bathurst, N.B., July 26, (J. N. Knull). Laphria janus McAt. Revelstoke Mt., B.C., Aug. 12, (Vroom). 274 Proctacanthus occidentalis Hine. Oliver, B.C., (Buckell, Vroom). 275 tie ea: Hine. Lethbridge, Alta., August, (Seamans); Oliver, B.C., September, Garrett). Erax zonatus Hine. Oliver, B.C., July, (Buckell, Vroom). 281-283 Asilus nitidifacies Hine. Moraine Lake, Alta., July, (McDunncugh); Hopedale, Labr., August, (Perrett). Asilus antimachus Walk. Taber, Alta., July, (Carter). Astlus montanus Hine. Victoria, B.C., July, (Anden). Dolichopodide 288 Diaphorus snowii V.D. Banff, Alta., August, (Garrett). 289 Chrysotus discolor Loew. Truro, N.S., July; Fort Coulonge, Que., July, (Beaulne); Orillia, Ont., August, (Curran); Aweme, Man., July, (Criddle, Robertson). 298 Liancalus limbatus V.D. Fort Churchill, B.C., Sept. 11, (Anderson). 291 Argyra robusta Johns. Ottawa, Ont., June, (Curran). Argyra albicans Lw. Hull, Que., Ottawa and Orillia, Ont., June, July, (Curran). Argyra calceata Loew. Orillia, Ont., July, (Curran). 291-292 Rhaphium (Xiphandrium) dubiumV.D. Hull, Que., Ottawa, Ont., May, June, (Curran). Rhaphium (Xiphandrium) femoratum V.D. Banff, Alta., May, June, August, (Garrett) ; Waterton, Alta., June, July, (McDunnough). Rhaphium (Porphyrops) crassipes Mg. Megantic and Hull, Que., June, (Curran). Rhaphium (Porphyrops) rotundiceps Loew. Hull, Que., June, (Curran). Rhaphium (Porphyrops) nudus V.D. Hull, Que., Ottawa, Ont., June, July, (Curran). Rhaphium (Porphyrops) fascipes Mg. Hull, Que., June, (Curran). Rhaphium (Porphyrops) melampus Lw. Hull, Que., July, (Curran). Rhaphium (Porphyrops) signifer O.S. Orillia, Ont., July, (Curran). 292 Syntormon tricoloripes Curran. Oliver, B.C., April, (Garrett); Hull, Que., and Ottawa, Ont., May, June, (Curran). 292 Sympycnus cuprinus Wheeler. Banff, Alta., Aug., (Garrett). Sympyenus marcidas Wheeler. Banff, Alta., July, Aug., (Garrett). 293 Neurigona albospinosa V.D. Oliver, B.C., May, (Garrett). Neurigona tridens V.D. Keremeos, B.C., June, (Garrett). 290 Campsicnemus americana V.D. Ottawa, Ont., Orillia, Ont., May, July, (Curran). Campsicnemus degener Wheeler. Ottawa, Ont., Hull, Que., April, June, (Curran). 2 1924 ~ ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 93 296 Hydrophorus philombrius Wheeler. Aweme, Man., September, (Criddle). Hydrophorus altivagus Ald. Lethbridge, Alta., July, (Seamans). Hydrophorus algens Wheeler. Banff, Alta., July to September, (Garrett). Hydrophorus gratiosus Aldrich. Chin, Alta., May, (Carter, Seamans). Hydrophorus amplectens Ald. Hemmingford, Que., June, (Curran). Hydrophorus extrarius Ald. Ottawa, Ont., April, (Curran). Hydrophorus estuum Lw. Hemmingford, Que., June, (Curran); Aweme, Man., August, (Robertson); Lethbridge, Alta., June, (Seamans). ; Hydrophorus chrysologus Walker. Ontario, Quebec, (Curran), common. *298 Dolichopus uliginosus V.D., Nanaimo, B.C., June, (E. P. Van Duzee). Psyche, XXX, No. 2. Dolichopus viridis V.D. Oliver, B.C., May, (Garrett). Dolichopus sigricauda V.D. Osoyoos and Oliver, B.C., May, June, (Garrett). Dolichopus burnesi V.D. Covey Hill, Que., June, (Curran). Dolichopus conspectus V.D. Chin and Lethbridge, Alta., May, (Seamans); Osoyoos and Oliver, B.C., May, June, (Garrett). Dolichopus gratus Loew. Hemmingford, and Hull, Que., June, (Curran). Dolichopus calcaratus Ald. Covey Hill, Que., June, (Curran). Dolichopus melanderi V.D. Osoyoos, B.C., May, (Garrett). Dolichopus barbicauda V.D. Hemmingford and Covey Hill, Que., June, (Curran). Dolichopus equalis V.D. Meganiic, Que., June, (Curran). _Dolichopus remipes Wahl. Orillia, Ont., July, Covey Hill and Hemmingford, Que., June, (Curran); Sandridge, Man., June, (Hunter and Cumming). _ Dolichopus incongruus Wheeler. Orillia, Ont., July, (Curran). Dolichopus laticornis Lw. Hull, Que., June, (Curran). Dolichopus apheles Mel. & Br. Hull, Que., June, (Curran). Dolichopus genualis V.D. Covey Hill, Que., Ottawa, Ont., June, (Curran). Dolichopus trisetosus V.D. Covey Hill and Megantic, Que., June, (Curran). Dolichopus comatus Loew. St: Cecile, Woburn and Covey Hill, Que., June, (Curran). Dolichopus virga Coq. Covey Hill, Que., June, (Curran). Dolichopus flaviciliatus V.D. Sudbury, Ont., (Evans). Dolichopus renidescens Mel. & Br. Oliver, and Osoyoos, B.C., May, June, (Garrett). Dolichopus porphyrops V.D. Hull, Que., June, (Curran). Dolichopus plumitarsus Fall. Ottawa, Ont., June, (Curran). Dolichopus fulvipes Loew. Covey Hill, Que., June, (Curran). Dolichopus luteipennis Loew. Orillia and Seabright, Ont., July, (Curran). ‘Dolichopus wheeleri Mel. & Br. Covey Hill, Que., June, (Curran). Dolichopus compactus V.D. Oliver, B.C., June, (Garrett). Dolichopus eratus V.D. Oliver, B.C., June, (Garrett). Dolichopus amphericus Mel. & Br. Waterton, Alta., June, (McDunnough). Dolichopus penicilatus V.D. Strathclair, Man., Aug., (Robertson). Dolichopus chrysostoma Loew. Covey Hill, Que., June, (Curran). Dolichopus harbecki V.D. Covey Hill, Que., June, (Curran). Dolichopus versutus V.D. Hull, Que., June, (Curran). Dolichopus sicarius V.D. WHemmingford and Hull, Que., June, July, (Curran). Dolichopus scoparius Loew. Megantic, Hull, Covey Hill and Hemmingford, Que., June, July, (Curran). . Dolichopus plumosus Ald. Waterton, Alta., July, (McDunnough, Seamans). 305 Gymnopternus humilis Loew. Quebec, common, (Curran). ; Gymnopternus phyllophorus Loew. Ontario, Quebec, June to August, (Curran). Gymnopternus lunifer Loew. Hull, Que., June, (Curran). Gymnopternus chalcochrus Loew. Ontario, Quebec, June to August, (Curran). *306 Soe costalis V.D. Toronto, Ont., July; Port Credit, Ont., Ridgway, Ont., (Van uzee). Psyche, XXX, No. 2. Hercostomus unicolor Loew. Waterton, Alta., July, (Seamans); Aweme, Man., July, (Robertson). 307 Tachytrechus vorax Loew. Hemmingford, Que., Orillia, Ont., June to August, (Curran). eaeay binodatus Loew. Hemmingford, Que., Orillia, Ont., June to August, (Curran). Tachytrechus mechus Loew. Hemmingford, Que., Orillia, Ont., June, July, (Curran). Tachytrechus sanus O.S. Waterton, Alta., June, July, (McDunnough, Seamans). Tachytrechus bipunctatus Greene. Waterton, Alta., July, (McDunnough). 308 Pelastoneurus ramosus V.D. Hull, Que., September, (Curran). Platypezide *340 Agathomyia canadensis Johnson. Norway Point, Lake of Bays, Ont., August, (J. McDunnough). Occ. Papers Boston Sec. Nat. Hist., Vol. V. Syrphidez 347 Chrysotoxum coloradensis Greene. Kelowna, B.C., July 29, (Buckell). Chrysotoxum ventricosum Lw. Fort Wrigley, N.W.T., (C. H. Crickmay). 94 THE: REPORT’ OF THE No. 33 351 Cartosyrphus canadensis Shannon. (Ins. Insc. Mens., X, 133, 1922); B.C.; Waterton Lakes Park, Alta., June 12, (J. McDunnough); Hedley, B.C., Aug. 29, (Garrett)° (See Chilosia). Cartosyrphus townsendi Hunter. Hedley, B.C., August, (Garrett). Chilosia hoodiana Bigot. (petulca Willist.) Hedley, B.C., August, (Garrett). 363 Syrphus attenuatus Hine. Mt. Revelstoke, B.C., Aug. 12, (Vroom, Buckell); Aspen Grove, B.C., Sept. 5, (Buckell). 363 Epistrophe (Syrphus) grossularie melanis Curran. Revelstoke Mt., B.C., Aug. 12, (Vroom); Aspen Grove, B.C., Sept. 5, (Buckell). 369 Epistrophe (Xanthogramma) habilis Snow. Revelstoke Mt., B.C., August, (Buckell). (Previously known only from the type which lacks the head, described from New Mexico. C/HeC.). Epistrophe arctica Zett. Nain, Labr., June 15, 1922, (F. W. Waugh). Phytomyptera (Dichetoneura) leucoptera Johns. Kentville, N.S., August 4, 1917, nee Ottawa, August 18, 1908, (Host for all specimens; Cacecia cerasivorana Fitch. Tachinide 439 Hyalomyodes dorsalis Coq. Oliver, B.C., May 26, (Garrett). 444 Heteropterina nasoni Coq. Oliver, B.C., July, (Buckell, Vroom). ; 453 Ernestia arcuata Tothill. Macdiarmid, Ont., June 11, 1922, (N. K. Bigelow). (Panzeria of Aldrich Cat.) Ernestia sulcocarina Tothill. Macdiarmid, Ogt., June 17 to 27, 1922; Port Sydney, Ont., July, 1919. 467 Acemyia tibialis Coq. Douglas Lake, B.C., May 29, (Buckell). 472 Arctophyto gillettii Towns. Keremeos, B.C., June, (Garrett). Arctophyto wickmani Towns. Banff, Alta., August, (Garrett). (NotE—A specimen in the Canadian National Collection, Ottawa, determined as A. gilletti by Coq. (Laggan, Alta.), is this species. C.H.C.) 475 Metacheta atra Coq. Oliver, B.C., May 10, (Buckell). 476 Hilarella siphonina Zett. Nicola, B.C., Aug. 1, (Buckell). Sarcophagide 510 suscontoce cooleyi Parker. Oliver, B.C., Aug. 22, (Buckell); reared from Melanoplus packardt. Sarcophaga hunteri Hgh. Lethbridge, Alta., July, (Seamans). Anthomyidez 540 Phaoniadeleta Stein. Teulon, Man.,(A.J.Hunter). (Hyetodesia of Aldrich Catalogue). Phaonia basalis Mall. Winnipeg, Man., July, 1920, (A. J. Hunter). Phaonia solitaria Stein. Teulon, Man., May, June, (Hunter). mane ee Stein. Hemmingford, Que., June, (Curran); Teulon, Man., May, unter). Helina nasoni Mall. Teulon, Man., June, July, (Hunter). foes cntoy Mall. Hopedale, Labr., June, (Perrett); Nain, Labr., June, July, augh). Helina nigricans Stein. Oliver, B.C., May, (Buckell). Helina linearis Mali. Teulon, August, (Hunter). Mytospila meditabunda Mall. Nicola, B.C., (Buckell). Loncheidz *581 Lonchea atritarsis Mall. Kaslo, B.C., (A. N. Caudell). Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXV, No. 2, 1923. Trypetide * Eurosta solidaginis fascipennis Curr. Ottawa, Ont., June, (J. Fletcher). Ent. News, Vol. XXXIV, No. 10, 1923. Eurosta solidaginis subfasciatus Curr. Vernon, B.C., March, (E. R. Buckell). Ent. News, XXXIV, No. 10. HYMENOPTERA Xyelide * Neoxyela alberta Curran. Banff, Alta., May and June, (C.B.D. Garrett). Can. Ent., Vol. XLV, 20, 1923. Tenthredinide Empria cava MacG. Edmonton, Alta., (F. S. Carr). Empria cadurca MacG. Edmonton, Alta., (F. S. Carr). Dolerus nuntius MacG. Edmonton, Alta., (F. S. Carr). Dolerus nutricus MacG. Edmonton, Alta., (F. S. Carr). Dolerus nummatus MacG. Edmonton, Alta., (F. S. Carr). * 4 *& & 1924 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 95 * * * * e KH * Dolerus nudinus MacG. Edmonton, Alta., (F. S. Carr). Dolerus nummarius MacG. Edmonton, Alta., (F. S. Carr). Dolerus niceus MacG. Chilliwack, B.C., (A. L. Lovett). Pachyprotasis rape L. MacG. Edmonton, Alta., (F. S. Carr). Rhogogastera ruga MacG. Edmonton, Alta., (F. S. Carr). (Tenthredopsis) Rhogogastera evansi Harr. Edmonton, Alta., (F. S. Carr). Tenthredo rutila MacG. Edmonton, Alta., (F.S. Carr). Tenthredo erythromera Prov. Edmonton, Alta., (F. S. Carr). Tenthredo nigrisoma Harr. Edmonton, Alta., (F. S. Carr). Tenthredo scevola Cress. Edmonton, Alta., (F. S. Carr). Tenthredo rumina MacG. Edmonton, Alta., (F. S. Carr). Abia kennicottt Nort. Edmonton, Alta., (F. S. Carr). Trichiosoma confundum MacG. Edmonton, Alta., (F. S. Carr). Cimbex violacea Le P. Edmonton, Alta., (F. S. Carr). Pachynematus allegatus MacG. Edmonton, Alta., (F.S. Carr). Pteronidea egnatia MacG. Edmonton, Alta., (F. S. Carr). Pteronidea egeria MacG. Edmonton, Alta., (F. S. Carr). Pteronidea elelea MacG. Edmonton, Alta., (F. S. Carr). Blennocampa amara MacG. Edmonton, Alta., (F. S. Carr). The above Tenthredinide are treated in Can. Ent., Vol. XLV, 1923. Vipionide Apanteles (Protapanteles) leviceps Ashm. Alta., (E. H. Strickland). Braconidze * * Meteorus communis Cress. Que., Ont., B.C., (C. F. W. Muesebeck). Meteorus hyphantrie Riley. Que., N.S., (C. F. W. Muesebeck). Meteorus proximus Cress. Salines, Ont., Qaubamic, Ont., (H. S. Parish). Meteorus vulgaris Cress. Ont., N.S., Alta., B.C., (C. F. W. Muesebeck). Meteorus niveitarsis Cress. Ottawa, Ont., (C. F. W. Meusebeck). Meteorus tibialis Mues. Montreal, Que., May, 1902, (C. F. W. Muesebeck). Meteorus versicolor Wesm. N.B., N.S., (C. F. W. Muesebeck). Meteorus autographe Mues. Canada, (C. F. W. Muesebeck). The above Braconidz are treated in Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., Vol. LXIII, 1923. Halictidae Halictus viridatus Lov. Smith Cove, N.S., May 8, 1916; Ottawa, Ont., June 27, 1921, (J. H. McDunnough); St. John, N.B., Aug. 11, 1901, (A. G. Leavitt). Halictus hortensis Lov. Kazubazua, Aug. 4, 1914, (F. W. L. Sladen). Halictus versans Lov. Kentville, N.S., July 30, 1914, (F. W. L. Sladen). Halictus sparsus Rob. Aylmer, Que., July 10, 1922, (C. B. Hutchings); Ottawa, Ont., Sept. 16, 1913, (F. W. L. Sladen); Toronto, April, May, July, Aug., Sept. Halictus vierecki Cwid. Toronto, May, June, Aug., Sept. Halictus cressoni Rob. Smith Cove, N.S., May; Ile de Montreal, June, (Beaulieu); Co. Hastings, Ont., July, Sept., (Evans). Halictus atriventris Cwfd. Vernon,-B.C., May, Mara, B.C., May, (R. C. Treherne); Brent, Alta., Aug., (E. H. Strickland). Halictus nymphearum Rob. Ottawa, Toronto, June, July, Sept., Oct.; Hemmingford, Que., Aug., (J. I. Beaulne); Co. Prince Edward, Ont., Oct., (Evans). Halictus ovaliceps Ckll. Penticton, June, (E. R. Buckell); Vernon, B.C., June, (E. P. Venables). Halictus pectoralis Sm. Lanoraie, Que., June, (Beaulne); Toronto, June, Aug.; Ottawa, Sept., (F. W. L. Sladen). Halictus pectoraloides Ckll. Aweme, Man., Aug., (N. Criddle); Penticton, B.C., May, June, (E. R. Buckell). Halictus cooleyi Cwfd. Lethbridge, Alta., June, (Sladen); Crescent, B.C., August, (Sladen); Victoria, B.C., July, (J. B. Wallis); Vancouver, B.C., August, (Sladen). Halictus arcuatus Rob. Smith Cove, N.S., May; Ottawa, April, (Sladen); Ile de Montreal, May, June, (Beaulieu). Halictus cordleyi Cwfd. Lethbridge, July, (J. B. Wallis); Banff, Sept., (C. B. Garrett) ; Cranbrook, B.C., (C. B. Garrett). ee a eg Vier. Aweme, Man., July, (Sladen); Chilcotin, B.C., June, (E. R. uckell). Halictus quadrimaculatus Rob. Smith Cove, N.S., July, (A. Gibson); Aylmer, Que., June, (Hutchings); Ile de Montreal, June, (Beaulieu); Trenton, Ont., June, (Evans). Halictus foxit Rob. Sully, Que., June, Quebec City, Aug., (Sladen); Ottawa, June, (Sladen); Medicine Hat, May, (Sladen); Melfort, Sask., July, (Sladen); Aweme, Man., May, (N. Criddle); Kaslo, May, Lytton, April, (W. B. Anderson); Nelson, April, Vernon, May, (R. C. Treherne). Halictus similis Sm. Weymouth, N.S., June, Aug.; Ottawa, June, Oct., (Sladen); Ile de Montreal, July, August, (Beaulieu); Cheticamp, C.B.I., Aug., (Johansen). 96 THE REPORT OF THE No. 33 Halictus olympie Ckll. Royal Oak, B.C., June, (W. Downes); Victoria, B.C., May, June, (R. C. Treherne). Halictus sisymbrit Ckll. Vernon, B.C., June, July, August, (N. L. Cutler); Penticton, - May, (E. R. Buckell); Royal Oak, Aug., Sept., (W. Downes). Halictus forbesi Rob. Kentville, N.S., June, (Sladen); Aylmer, Sept., (Hutchings); 2 St. John, N.B., Sept., (A. G. Leavitt); Ottawa, Sept. and Oct., (Sladen). Halictus pura Say. Aylmer, Que., May, July, (Hutchings); Grimsby, Ont., June. Halictus viridissimus Vier. Toronto, Ont., June; Grimsby, Ont., Aug. Halictus radiatus Say. Ottawa, Ont., July, (Sladen); Toronto, Ont., Aug.; Treesbank Sept., (C. G. Hewitt); Penticton, April, (E. R. Buckell). Halictus splendens Le P. Caradoc, Aug., (H. F. Hudson); Aweme, Man., May, July, August, (N. Criddle); Medicine Hat, July, (Sladen). Halictus virescens Fabr. Trenton, Ont., June, (Evans); Lethbridge, July, (Sladen); Okanagan, B.C., May, (E. R. Buckell). Halictus ligatus Say. Trenton, Ont., Sept., (Evans); Chatham, Ont., August, (Sladen); Lethbridge, Alta., June, July, (Sladen); Jasper Park, Alta., Sept., (Johansen); Agassiz, B.C., August, (Glendenning). Halictus farinosus Sm. Lillooet, B.C., July; Penticton, August, (Sladen). Sphecodes persimilis Lov. & Ckll. Ottawa, Ont., May, June, (F. W. L. Sladen); Trenton, Ont., June, (Evans); Hull, Que., April, (F. W. L. Sladen); Toronto, Ont., June, (Harrington); Sandridge, Teulon, Man., June, July, (F. W. L. Sladen); Grimsby, Ont., May, (Harrington). Sphecodes obscurans Lov. & Ckll. St. Stephens, N.B., July, (R. C. Treherne); Ottawa, Ont., June, (F. W. L. Sladen); Blenheim, Ont., May, (Harrington); Montreal, Que., May, (Beaulieu); Smith’s Cove, N.S., July, (A. Gibson); June, (Evans); Teulon, Man., June, (F. W. L. Sladen). Sphecodes lautus Lov. & Ckll. Ottawa, Can., September, (F. W. L. Sladen); Ft. Coulonge, Que., (J. I. Beaulne); Hastings, Ont., September, (Evans). Andrenide Andrena milwaukeensis Graen. Kentville, N.S., May, June, (Gorham); Chelsea, Que., May, June; Megantic, Que., June, (Curran); St. John, N.B., June; Toronto. Andrena perarmata Ckll. Penticton, B.C., April, (E. R. Buckell); Summerland, B.C., April, (Sladen); Chilcotin, B.C., May, (Buckell). Andrena pyrrhacita Ckll. Hanceville, April, Chilcotin, April, May, (E. R. Buckell); Kamloops, B.C., April, (W. B. Anderson). Andrena clarkella Kby. (= bicolor Prov.). Chelsea, Que., April, Sudbury, Ont., Ottawa, April, (Sladen); Aweme, Man., May, (Criddle); Edmonton, Alta., June, July, (Carr). ; Andrena dunningi Ckll. Grimsby, Ont., June; Ottawa, May, June, (Sladen); Ironsides, Que., April, (Sladen); Bird’s Hill, Man., June, (Wallis). : Andrena transnigra Vier. Banff, Alta., May, June, (Sladen); Armstrong, Penticton, B.C., May, (E. R. Buckell); Cranbrook, May, (Garrett). Andrena perindotata Vier. Crescent, B.C., August, (F. W. L. Sladen). Andrena carliniformis Vier & Ckll. Okanagan Fails, B.C., June, (E. R. Buckell); Victoria, B.C., (G. W. Taylor); Agassiz, B.C., May, (F. W. L. Sladen); June, (R. Glendeuning); Kamloops, B.C., May, (E. R. Buckell). i Andrena errans Sm. Aspen Grove, B.C., May, (Vroom); Chilcotin, B.C., May, (E. R. Buckell) ; Agassiz, May, (Sladen); Victoria. ; Andrena saccata Vier. Royal Oak, B.C., May, (R. C. Treberne); Sidney, B.C., May, (F. W. L. Sladen). Andrena regularis Mall. Annapolis, Royal N.S., April, (Sanders); Weymouth, N.S., May; Kingsmere, Que., May, (Sladen); White River, Ont., June, (Sladen). Andrena vicina solidula Vier. Melita, Man., July, (N. Criddle); Lethbridge, Alta., July, (H. L. Seamans); Armstrong, B.C., June, (N. L. Luther); Sahtlam, B.C., May, (E. M. Anderson). i : Andrena advarians Vier. Golden, B.C., May, (Sladen); Victoria, April, (Anderson). Andrena washingtoni Ckll. Sidney, B.C., May, (Sladen). a Andrena pertarda Ckll. Meach Lake, Que., Sept., (Hewitt); Medicine Hat, August, (Sladen); Penticton, June, (Buckell). Andrena azygos Vier. Lillooet, B.C., May, (W. B. Anderson). Andrena frigida Sm. Ottawa, April, (Sladen); White River, June, (Sladen). Andrena hitei Ckll. Teulon, Man., May and June, (A. J. Hunter), (F. W. L. Sladen); Sandridge, Man., June, (F. W. L. Sladen). : Andrena moesta Sm. Ottawa, Ont., April, May, (Sladen); Aweme, Man., May, (Criddle); Edmonton, April, (Carr); Banff, May; Penticton, April, (Treherne). Andrena thaspii Graen. Ottawa, June, (Sladen); Spruce Bank, Nfid., July, (Walker); Kentville, N.S., July, (Sladen); Lethbridge, June, (Sladen); Rosthern, Sask., July, Sladen). Andrena wilkella Kby. Fredericton, N.B., August, (Sladen); Fort Coulonge, Que., June, (Beaulne); Ottawa, June, (Sladen); Saanich, B.C., May, (J. Wilson). Andrena perplexa Sm. Blenheim, Ont., May. 1924 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 97 Andrena prunorum Ckll. Glenboro, June, (S. Criddle); Medicine Hat, May, July, Sladen); Lethbridge, July, (Sladen). Andrena kincaidi Ckll. Penticton, B.C., April, (Buckell). Andrena hilaris Sm. Trenton, Ont., May, (Evans). Andrena commoda Sm. Kazubazua, Que., July, (Sladen); Ottawa, June, (Sladen). Andrena cressoni Rob. Fort Coulonge, Que., June, (Beaulne); Trenton, Ont., May, (Evans); Agassiz, May, (Sladen). Andrena trumani Vier. & Ckll. var. Agassiz, B.C., May, (Sladen). Andrena lupinorum Ckll. Calgary, July, (Sladen). Andrena pruni Rob. Ironsides, Que., April, 1915, (Sladen); Ile de Montreal, May, 1906, (Beaulieu). Andrena erythrogaster Ashm. Toronto, April, June; Grimsby, Ont., June, (Brimley); Fort McMurray, May, (F. Harper); Aweme, May, (White); Stony Mountain, Man., June, (Wallis). Andrena piperi Vier. Okanagan Falls, B.C., June, (Buckell). Andrena subtilisSm. Fairview, B.C., May, (Buckell); Cranbrook, B.C., May, (Garrett); Vernon, B.C., May, (Venables). Andrena noveanglie Vier. Co. Hastings, Ont., July, (Evans); Ironsides, Que., May, (L. M. Stohr). Andrena peckhami Ckll. Toronto, June; Rosthern, Sask., July, (Sladen); Lethbridge, Alta., June, (Sladen). Andrena atala Vier. Invermere, B.C., June, (Sladen). Andrena geranii Rob. Toronto, June. Andrena auricoma Sm. Kazubazua, Que., August, (Sladen); Medicine Hat, August, (Sladen); Victoria, B.C., April, May, (Treherne). Andrena runcinate Ckll. Boucker, Sask., Medicine Hat, July, (Sladen); Lethbridge, July, August, (Sladen). Andrena candida Sm. Royal Oak, B.C., April, (Treherne). Andrena scurra Vier. Lethbridge, May, June, (H. L. Seamans); Invermere, May, (Sladen); Penticton, June, (Buckell). Andrena salictaria Rob. Ottawa, April, May, (Sladen); Aweme, Man., April, May, (Criddle); Cranbrook, B.C., May, (Garrett). Andrena nigrocerulea Ckll. Vernon, B.C., May, (Ruhmann); Lillooet, June, (Ander- son); Royal Oak, April, (Treherne). Andrena neurona Vier. Duncan, B.C., April, (W. B. Anderson); Penticton, B.C., May, (E. R. Buckell). Andrena longthirtiscopa Vier. Royal Oak, B.C., April, May, (Treherne); Agassiz, May, (Sladen); Victoria, April, (Treherne). Andrena colletina Ckll. Penticton, B.C., September, (Buckell); Cranbrook, B.C., September, (Garrett). Andrena lata Vier. Ottawa, Ont., June, (Sladen); Aylmer, Que., July, on Ceanothus americanus, (R. Oxburn, H. L. Viereck); Trenton, Ont., May, (Evans); Toronto, Ont., June, (Harrington). Andrena astragali V.& C. Penticton, June, (Buckell); Oliver, May, (Buckell). Andrena tridens Rob. Ottawa. Andrena mandibularis Rob. Strathroy, Ont., June, (H. G. Crawford). Andrena accepta Rob. Medicine Hat, Alta., July, (F. W. L. Sladen). Andrena erigenie Rob. Covey Hill, Que., May, (C. E. Petch); Toronto, Ont., May, (Harrington). Andrena pallidifovea Vier. Penticton, B.C., May, (Buckell); Vernon, April. Andrena erigenoides Vier. Victoria, B.C., April, May, June, (Treherne). Andrena g. maculati Rob. Toronto, May, June. Andrena asteris Rob. St. John, N.B., September, (A. G. Leavitt); Toronto, August, September; Grimsby, Ont., August, (Brimley). Andrena haynesi V. & C. Medicine Hat, August, (Sladen). Andrena alicieg Rob. Toronto, August. Andrena solidaginis Rob. Toronto, August; Aweme, September, (Criddle). Andrena mendosa Vier. Penticton, B.C., May, (E. R. Buckell). Andrena wellesleyana Rob. Aweme, Man., April, May, (Criddle). Andrena nasoni Rob. Hull, Que., April, (Sladen); Ottawa, May, (Sladen); Toronto, June, (Sladen). : Andrena angustitarsata Vier. Victoria, May, (Treherne); Victoria, May, (A. E. Cam- eron); var. Lillooet, May, (E. M. Anderson). Andrena fragilis Sm. St. John, N.B., June, (Leavitt); Ironside, Que., May, (Sladen); Toronto, June, (E. M. Walker); Aweme, Man., May, (Criddle). Andrena barbarica Vier. Toronto, June, (E. M. Walker). Andrena integra Sm. Hemmingford, Que., June, (Beaulne); Toronto, July, August; Ottawa, June, July, (Sladen). Andrena bradleyi Vier. WKazubazua, Que., June, (Sladen); Aylmer, Que., May, (Sladen); Mer Bleue, Que., May, (A. W. Richardson). Andrena carolina Vier. Halifax, N.S., June, (J. Perrin); St. John, N.B., May, (Leavitt); Aylmer, Que., May, (Sladen); Ottawa, June, (Sladen); White River, June, (Sladen). 98 THE REPORT: OF THE, - No. 33 Andrena wheeleri Graen. Fort William, Ont., June, (Sladen); Aweme, July, (Criddle); Toronto, June. Andrena claytonie Rob. Kazubazua, Que., July, (Sladen); Ottawa, April, (Sladen). Andrena alleghaniensis Vier. _Port Sydney, Ont., (N. K. Bigelow). Andrena crategi Rob. St. John, N.B., eae ‘July, (Leavitt); Hemmingford, Que., June, (Petch); Ottawa, May, (Sladen); Vernon, May, (Treherne). Andrena sigmundi Ckll. Aylmer, Que., May, (Sladen); Ottawa, May, (Sladen). Andrena forbesi Rob. Toronto, June. Andrena miranda Sm. (= hippotes Rob.) Charlottetown, P.E.I., July, (F. W. L. Sladen); Trenton, Ont., May, (Evans); Truro, N.S., (Brittain). Andrena marie Rob. Toronio, June; Aweme, Man., May, April, (C. Criddle). Andrena obscura Rob. Ottawa; Toronto, July. Andrena striatifrons Ckll. Medicine Hat, April, (Sladen); Penticton, April, (Buckell); Victoria, March, (Sladen). Andrena swenki Vier. Golden, B.C., May, (Sladen). Andrena cleodora Vier. Penticton, June, (Buckell); Kaslo, June. Andrena grandior Ckll. Port Sydney, Ont., July, (N. K. Bigelow). Andrena grandior multiplicatiformis Vier. Ottawa, Ont., June, (J. I. Beaulne). Dufoureide Halictoides oryx Vier. Salmon Arm, B.C., June, (Sladen); Naramata, B.C., June, (Buckell). Panurgide Perdita perpallida Ckil. Medicine Hat, July, August, (Sladen). Perdita stottleri flavida Swenk & Ckll. Lethbridge, July, (Sladen). Perdita affinis Cress. Medicine Hat, August, (Sladen). Perdita bruneri Ckll. Medicine Hat, August, (Sladen); Aweme, Man., (Criddle). Perdita swenki Cwid. Medicine Hat, August, (Sladen). Nomadide Nomada cuneata Rob. Toronto, May; Ottawa, May, (Sladen). Nomada luteola Le P. Ottawa, May, (Sladen). Nomada pascoensis Ckll. Vernon, B.C., July, (Cutler). Nomada lLuteoloides Rob. Weymouth, NS. , May; Toronto, May, June. Nomada citrina Cress. Saanich Dist., B. Gc June, (Downes). Nomada civilis Cress. Penticton, May, (Buckell): Okanagan Falls, April, (Buckell); Saanich Dist., June, (Downes). Nomada nigrocinctaSm. Penticton, April, (Buckell); Aylmer, Que., May, (Sladen). Nomada corvallisensis Ckll. Salmon Arm, B.C., April, (Buckell) Nomada lewist Ckll. Calgary, Alta., May, (Wolley-Dod). Nomada vicina Cress. Kazubazua, Que., August, (Sladen); Port Sidney, August; Toronto, August, September; Lethbridge, August, (Sladen). Nomada americana Kby. Woburn, Que., June, (Curran): Agassiz, May, (Sladen); Ottawa, alae May, (Sladen); Banff, Alta., April, May, (Sanson): Cranbrook, May, (Garrett). Nomada cressoni Rob. Ft. Coulonge, Que., June (Beaulne); Ottawa, June, (Sladen). Nomada illinoensis Rob. Cheticamp, C.B.I., June, July, (Johansen); Ottawa, June, (Sladen); Eastern Passage, N.S., July. Nomada sayi Rob. Ottawa, May; Walhachin, Penticton, June, (E. R. Buckell). Nomada articulata Sm. Bowmanville, Ont., Co. Hastings, Ont., (Evans); Toronto, Ont., May, June, (Harrington). Nomada scita Ckll. Penticton, June, (Buckell); Walhachin, June, (Buckell). Nomada superba Cress. Chilcotin, June, (Buckell); Victoria, May, (Downes). Nomada obliterata Cress. Chelsea, May, (A. Gibson); Toronto, May, June; Ottawa, May 8, (Sladen). Epeoloides pilosula Cress. Aylmer, Que., June, (Sladen); Aweme, Man,. July, (Sladen). Bombomelecta pacifica Cress. Vaseaux Lake, B.C., May, (W. B. Anderson); Penticton, B.C., May, (Buckell). Bombomelecta fulvida Cress. Medicine Hat, April, (Sladen); Penticton, April, (Buckell); Chilcotin, May, (Buckell). Bombomelecta separata var. maculata Vier. Victoria, B.C., April, (Treherne); Royal Oak, B.C., May, (Treherne). Epeolus bifasciatus Cress. Grimsby, Ont., July. Epeolus lectoides Rob. Ottawa, Ont., July, (Sladen). Epeolus autumnalis Rob. Sully, Que., June, (Sladen); Siabuare Ont. Triepeolus pectoralis Rob. Grimsby, Ont., August. Triepeolus lestes Ckll. Medicine Hat, August, (Sladen); Vernon, B.C., mnie and July, (Sladen); Victoria, July, (Sladen). Triepeolus donatus Sm. Toronto, August, September; Ottawa, August, (Sladen); Athabasca, Alta., Aug. Triepeolus rectangularis Ckll. Summerland, B.C., July, (Sladen). : . j - j F £ 4 « , Euceride ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 99 eee helianthi Rob. Medicine Hat, July, August, (Sladen); Lethbridge, July, (Sladen). Triepeolus cressoni Rob. Ottawa, July, August, (Sladen). eran) occidentalis Cress. Medicine Hat, August, (Sladen); Vernon, B.C., July, aden). Holcopasites illinoensis Rob. Medicine Hat, July, August, (Sladen); Lethbridge, Alta., July, (Sladen); Prince Albert, July, (Sladen). Melissodes desponsa Sm. Ft. Coulonge, Que., August, (Beaulne); Quebec City, August, (Sladen); Ottawa, July, (Sladen); Toronto, July. Melissodes illata L. & C. Kazubazua, Que., July, August, September, (Sladen); Fredericton, N.B., August, (Sladen); Hull, Que., August, (Beaulne); Aweme, August, (Criddle); Maryfield, Sask., August, (Criddle); Medicine Hat, July, (Sladen); Vernon, B.C., July, (Sladen). Melissodes microsticta Ckll. Vernon, B.C., July, (Ruhmann); Royal Oak, August, (Downes). Melissodes mysops Ckll. Medicine Hat, July, (Sladen); Vernon, B.C., July, August, (Ruhmann); Thompson River, August, (T. Wilson). Tetralonia edwardsi Cress. Vernon, B.C., August, May, (Treherne); Fairview, B.C., May, (Buckell); Lillooet, B.C., May, (E. M. Anderson). Tetralonia actuosa Cress. Vernon, B.C., May. Tetralonia cordleyi Vier. Vaseaux Lake, B.C., June, (Buckell); Fairview, May, eee ace B.C., July, (Buckell); Vernon, June, (Treherne) ; Lillooet, Bee une, air. Tetralonia fowleri Ckll. Vaseaux Lake, B.C., June, (Buckell) ; Fairview, May, (Buckell) ; Victoria, June, (Downes). Anthophoride mee sii Ckll. Penticton, April, (Buckell); Okanagan Falls, May, (E. M. nderson). Anthophora sodalis Cress. Aweme, Man., July, (Criddle); Lethbridge, Alta., May, June, (Sladen); Penticton, June, (Buckell). Anthophora stanfordiana Ckll. Golden, B.C., May, (Sladen); Penticton, June, (Buckell) ; Kaslo, B.C., July, (Cockle). Anthophora washingtoni Ckll. Summerland, B.C., July, (Sladen); Penticton, August, September, (Buckell). : Anthophora ignava Cress. Vaseaux Lake, June, (Sladen); Penticton, April, May, (Buckell) ; Lillooet, May, (E. M. Anderson). Hyleide (Prosopis) Hyleus mesille Ckll. Medicine Hat, Alta., May, (Sladen); Fairview, May, (Buckell); Summerland, August, (Sladen). Hyleus verticalis Cress. Toronto, July; Ottawa, June. Hyleus sanicule Rob. Toronto, July. Hyleus nevadensis Ckll. Kaslo, B.C., June, (J. W. Cockle). Hyleus cooki Metz. Kaslo, B.C., June, (Cockle). : Hyleus trizentulus Ckll. Kaslo, June, (Cockle); Penticton, June, (Buckell). e Colletide Colletes compactus Cress. St. John, N.B., September, (Leavitt); Truro, N.S., September; Bridgetown, N.S., September. Colletes estivalis Patt. Aweme, Man., July, (Sladen). Colletes willistoni Rob. Point Pelee, Ont., June, (N. K. Bigelow); Kazubazua, Que., June, (Sladen). Colletes nudus Rob. Point Pelee, Ont., July, (N. K. Bigelow). Colletes tegularis Swenk. Verncn, B.C., September, (Buckell). eee Ckll. Penticton, B.C., September, (Buckell); Walhachin, September, uckell). Megachilide Formicapis neomexicanum Ckll. (= F. clypeata Sla.) Aweme, Man., July, (Criddle) ; Waterhole, Alta., August, (E. H. Strickland). Andronicus producta Cress. Hemmingford, Que., June, (Beaulne); Aylmer, Que., June, (Sladen); Toronto, June; Ottawa, May, June, July, (Sladen); Saskatoon, May, (Sladen); Lethbridge, June, (Sladen). Monumetha argentifrons Cress. Ironsides, Que., June. (Sladen); Toronto, August; Teulon, Man., June; Ft. William, Ont., June, (Sladen); Banff, Alta., August, (Sanson) ; Penticton, June, (Buckell); Ft. Simpson, McKenzie River, June, (C. H. Crickmay) ; Nicola Lake, B.C., May, (Buckell) ; Shawinigan Lake, V. I., July, (Sladen). Osmia odontogaster Ckll. “Sidney, B.C., May, (Sladen); Victoria, B.C., May, (Downes). Osmia georgica Cress. Toronto, June. sal ta ae glad 100 THE/ REPORT OP THE No. 33 wl Osmia simillima Sm. Sudbury, Ont., July. Osmia californica Cress. Okanagan Lake, B.C., April, (T. Wilson); Lytton, B.C., July, (T. Wilson). Megachile relativa Cress. Regina, Sask., August, (T. N. Willing); Peachland, B.C., August, (J. B. Wallis). Megachile pruina Sm. Medicine Hat, August, (Sladen); Swift Current, Sask., August, (Sladen); Lethbridge, June, August, (Sladen); Summerland, B.C., August, (Sladen). Megachile optiva Cress. Toronto; Muskoka. Megachile montivaga Cress. Ottawa, July, (Sladen). Megachile subexilis Ckll. Aweme, Man., July, (Criddle); Saskatoon, July, (Sladen); Melfort, Sask., July, (Sladen); Calgary, July, (Sladen); Banff, July, (Sanson); Leth- bridge, June, (Sladen) ; Penticton, June, (Buckell) Ft. Norman, McKenzie Rv., August, (Crickmay). Dianthidium notatum Latr. Summerland, August, (Sladen). Anthidium cognatum Cress. Western Canada, (Cockerell). Anthidium portere Ckll. Calgary, (Cockerell). Celioxys mesta Cress. St. Anne de la Porcatiere, August, (Sladen); Trenton, Ont., September, (Evans); Toronto, August; Ottawa, June, July, (Sladen); Bear Lake, Alta., August, (E. H. Strickland); Peachland, August, (J. B. Wallis); Shawinigan, V.I., July, (Sladen). Celioxys dubitata Sm. Kirk’s Ferry, Que., July, (Sladen); Athabasca, Alta., August, (E. H. Strickland). Celioxys deplanata Cress. Medicine Hat, August, (Sladen). Celioxys banksi Cwfd. Toronto, September. nuenee striae Cress. Lake Simcoe, Ont., September, (E. M. W.); Ottawa, July, aden). Celioxys sodalis Cress. Toronto; Point Pelee, Ont., June, (N. K. Bigelow). Stelidide Stelis tripetinum Rob. (=Stelis ontariana Sla.) Ottawa, August. Stelis monticola Cress. Vernon, B.C., (E. P. Venables). Stelis montana Cress. Okanagan Falls, B.C., July, (Sladen); Lethbridge, June, July, (Sladen); Banff, August, (Garrett); Ft. Steel, B.C., June, (W. B. Anderson). Stelis elegans Cress. Penticton, June, (Buckell). Ceratinide Ceratina acantha Prov. Aweme, Man., July, (Sladen); Oliver, B.C., April, May, June, pate tatiae (Garrett); Gordon Hd., B.C., July, (Downes); Victoria, April, May, Treherne). Apidz pee ats Cress. Grimsby, Ont., August, (Sladen); Grimsby, Ont., September, rimley). Bremus strenuus Cress. Kutlan Glacier, Y. T., June, (Alf. Pattison). Bremus arcticus Kby. Bernard Harbour, N.W.T., June, August, (C. E. A.); Cape Ross, N.W.T., June, (V. Stefansson); Herschell Is., July, (F. Johansen). Bremus bifarius Cress. Victoria, B.C., (F. W. Taylor); Banff, Alta., (N. B. Sanson). Bremus bifarius nearcticus Handlirsch. Clinton, B.C., May, (R. Phair); White Horse, Y.T., July, (A. P. Hawes)» Banff, Alta., September, (C. B. D. Garrett). Bremus americanorum Fabr. N.S. This is the same species that was recorded in the 1907 Ent. Rec. from Ottawa under the name ‘“‘Bombus pennsylvanicus D. G.” HEMIPTERA (Arranged according to Van Duzee’s Check List) Cicadellidz Phlepsius marmor S. & Del. Onah, Man., July, on Juniperus horizontalis (Criddle). Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash., Vol. 25, No. 7, 1923. Miride * Lopidea lathyre Kt. Aweme, Man., on Lathyrus (Criddle); Saskatoon, Sask., (A. E. Cameron). * Lopidea dakota Kt. Winnipeg, Man., (Mitchener and Cocks); Saskatoon, Sask., (Cameron). . These two species described in Ent. News, Vol. XXXIV, No. 3, 1923. Notonectidz * Notonecta borealis Tor. B. & Hu. Bearfoot Mountains, B.C., Sept. Bul. Brook. Ent. Soc., Vol. XVIII, No. 3, 1923. —_—— ——- oe ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 101 * x* kee HK ee ee he & Perlidz * * * * EPHEMEROPTERA Tricorythus atrata McD. Wakefield, Que., August, (McDunnough). Baetis phebus McD. Ottawa, Ont., (McDunnough and Richardson). Baetis dardanus McD. Aweme, Man., June, (Criddle). Baetis nanus McD. Ottawa, Ont., August, (McDunnough). Centroptilum fragile McD. Ottawa, Ont., August, (McDunnough). Centroptilum curtosum McD. Ottawa, Ont., August, (McDunnough). Shae ii McD. Nordegg, Alta., (McDunnough); Banff, Alta., Banff, Alta., August, (Garrett). Cloeon rubropicta McD. Ottawa, Ont., June, August, Norway Point, Lake of Bays, Ont., July, (McDunnough). Cloeon punctiventris McD. Ottawa, Ont., August, (McDunnough). Cloeon chlorops McD. Ottawa, Ont., August, (McDunnough). Siphlonuroides cresus McD. Ottawa, Ont., May, (McDunnough). Siphlonuroides midas McD. Ottawa, Ont., May, (McDunnough). Siphlonurus berenice McD. Cascades, Que., June, (McDunnough). Siphlonurus phyllis McD. Banff, Alta., July, (Garrett). Ameletus validus McD. Banff, Alta., October, (Garrett). All these species described in Can. Ent., Vol. LV., No. 2, 1923. PLECOPTERA Nemoura cornuta Claas. Nanaimo, B.C., June, (E. P. Van Duzee). Nemoura columbiana Claas. Laggan, Alta., (J. C. Bradley). Nemoura trispinosa Claas. Murray Bay, Que., July, (E. Corning). Leuctra bradleyi Claas. Emerald Lake, B.C., July, (Bradley). ODONATA Agrionide Agrion equalis Say. Winnipeg, Man., (Wallis). Agrion maculatum Beau. Waugh, Man., July, (Wallis). Libellulidz Williamsonia fletcheri Will. Mer Bleue, Ont., (Young, McDunnough and Richardson), Can. Ent., Vol. LV., No. 4, 1923. ORTHOPTERA Acrididz Tettigon Gryllide Acrydium brunneri (Bolivar). Fredericton, N.B., 1918, (G. P. Walker). (New to Province). Platybothrus brunneus (Thomas). Goodlands, Man., Aug., 1923, (N. Criddle). (New to Province). 7 spurcata Saussure. Oliver, B.C., Aug., 1922, (E. R. Buckell). (New to Canada). Trimerotropis gracilis (Thomas). Chilcotin, B.C., July, 1921, (E. R. Buckell). (New to Canada). Trimerotropis salina McNeill. Baldur and Ashdown, Man., July, 1920, (N. Criddle). (New to Canada). Schistocerca alutacea (Harris). Medicine Hat, Alta., Aug., 1923, (L. H. Seamans). (New to Canada). me. pratensis Scudder. Oliver, B.C., July, 1922, (E. R. Buckell). (New to anada). Hypochlora alba (Dodge). Goodlands, Man., Sept., 1923, (N. Criddle). Phetaliotes nebrascensis (Thomas). Oliver, B.C., Aug., 1919, (E. R. Buckell). (New to Province). Asemoplus somesi Hebard, Banff, Alta., July, 1922, (C. B. D. Garrett). Melanoplus borealis junius (Dodge). Anahim Lake, B.C., Aug., 1921, (E. R. Buckell). (New to Province). iid Peranabrus scabricollis (Thomas). Nicola, B.C., Aug., 1922, (E. R. Buckell). (New to Canada). Nemobius fasciatus (DeGeer). Kelowna, B.C., Aug., 1922, (E. R. Buckell). (New to Province). THE ‘REPORT: OF THE No. 33 102 ARACHNID Linyphiide Ceratinella atriceps Comb. Cabot Lake, Labr. Gongylidium armatus Banks. Cabot Lake, Labr. Hilaira brunneus Em. Cabot Lake, Labr. Linyphia limitanea Em. Cabot Lake, Labr. Erigone longipalpis Sund. South Labr. Epeiride Epeira angulata Clk. Cabot Lake, Labr. Lycoside Pardosa forcifera Thor. Nain, Labr. All the above spiders taken by F. W. Waugh and presented to the Canadian National Collection. The following species were described in the Can. Ent., Vol. LV, No. 10, 1923. Linyphiide * Gongylidium columbianum Em. Terrace, B.C., (Mrs. Hippisley). * *# KK Areoncus pedalis Em. Dauphin, Man., (Hippisley). Grammonota spinimana Em. Moose Isiand, James Bay, (F. Johansen). Cornicularia pacifica Em. Terrace, B.C., (Hippisley). Delorrhipus bicornis Em. ‘Terrace, B.C., (Hippisley). Lophocarenum minimum Em. Terrace, B.C., (Hippisley). Lophocarenum inflatum Em. Terrace, B.C., (Hippisley). Ee INDEX 1924 - ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 103 PAGE PAGE Anacampsis populella............... 9 Eulype hastata...< .....,a8e3 ee caeeeenae 73 MSE UETISEOS 2 core, does 5 Nokes ays som wD hae 62 Bupalmus alynt...5 2a, «1 tae 17 _ Anastatus bifasciatus................ 35 Euphora ida... .n,4ss00063,40 444 62 Meeeemisoia senatoria......-.. Je I2 VO. 62 Euvanessa antiopa...... tons es o5-ms 73 Anthonomus signatus.............-: 61 Fall webwormi:.....4...4.5<5- 30nd WANE ; Anuraphis roseus.............00005% 58 PANNIG, SP ce ole «oceies .0. vss RR 39 F A panteles AWOL POSios sp ovcnsesnsn .nvyeror a2 «INN 33 Flea-beetle.,....45/.45 55 ac yay eee 72 B LO MEL ALUS x. De LES Tae 86 orest tent caterpillar.) 7)... eee 17 if $ MELANOSCELUSE THA 2G...» = 33 Fruit tree leaf- roller nod tien aonb HAs 73 me Aphaereia muscac..........60045....- 40 GIpSy, MOEN... n\cstsicene.cleeactege ae 32, 47, 51 IM ILTSELIONUL.. Fa .-ah Jt.) ae MTL 58, 73 Gracilaria syringella.. 1.0... eee eens 62 CTI TO SACS cade oo coe IIMS EROS 73 Grape leaf hopper... -1.,.auapiase eee 24 Apple RFA B ED cock dn: hove scot ROROUO ARI 58 «) berry moth... ;.. .<,-« «eeese ae 60 RMN pA dct Sarkar BRIO SE. DNs 73 « ‘blossom midgess ciate ).9tisee- 60 SINT 09. 2. sce os es aver or oe ROD 73 i leat-hoppers..\...0 744 60 REMPINACC OG wer. as hao 2s ORS NNS DNS 58, 72 Grasshoppers... .,..., 4asiagian in -zslav ite 62, 72 BEEIAnt UGS... os. saoad a 59 Green apple aphid......'......,,.ssenrmme: 87 : peeebent-caterpillar. .......%.tAssiow. & 58, 73 “ peachaphis.. ..., .seenoaee Suse 59 “and thorn skeletonizer........ 18 Haematobia irrutans. .. 45 -..+,428e* «= 63 Aspidiotus perniciosus...........-.- 58 Halisidota tesselaris..........++. of rots 58 Baryodma ontarionis.............+-+ 40 Haltica tombacing.......... fate ee 15 Blackberry leaf miner.............. 61 eel flys |)... Gdes aos, aaa os ee 63 Black cherry aphis).. ii. 300i: oa eeu. 59 Hemerocampa leucostigma........+-: 73 Blackwalnut caterpillar............. 62 Hemerophila partana...........++-+ 18 RUSRSRMOE ON foo THLUCG TRtD. A cenks: 73 Hessians fly... .. 0.755 cepa =. 10 Bumble flower beetle............... 62 Horn fly-.,.,.,./:0.:.2. 42 3eereneeta.-'- 63 Cabbage ATO OO Ley Semaine curtis ocak ae LOR 2 Hylemyia antiqua.........5+++55- 36, 39, 42 UOTE | ree ae ee ena eee 12782 Hypera punciatas. 2 o-.6 5084 See 45 O@aenecia argyrospila........:....... 73 FPy phair textare 3 2 cvs ote het L713 ig hewittana Busck............ 9 Hypoderma bovis... 2.2... .00sssss5s 63 Calligrapha lunata Fab.............- 15 Important currant worm............ 73 Calosoma sycophanta.............--- 33, 34 iris borersckc eed ee OO ee 62 Camnula pellucida............ aaa a 62 Ttoplectis: CONQUISIHOR 2s 2. oi oe 17 Carpocapsa pomonella............+.. 57 DS OGHMOSLEL NG: SD oe eae 72 Gepnus cincius Nort... . 25... 20.55-% 16 Weemantralinegigin..0 eo ee ee ee ee 73 (COTES Li ee rr 33 Lepisma dOmesHea : : ps. one ie oso 63 MEME ReMMOUSE. . 2. cele bees 67 £6 IS LGEME TUNE MRO eo as Ses clink 63 PaGGmYeIEEIE Lies... erie ss 59 Leptinotarsa decemlineata.. ........ 72 Cigar and pistol case bearers........ 58, 73 ilacwleaf minem oe aes aa ete 62 Slgverleat weevil.............2.6-: 45 Lipeurus heterographus............+.- 67 0 0 57 DV CUED MEDUAG: «athe aie) sty as = o> rn, 59 DMEM PHOVIOG 2 fs ee eo 60 EN OUSICUINAE. gira sks aie 59 Coleophora LCLCHET OW Danek ee eigen + sic Be Sion de: Ce LOMINIULCUS ena is stn he ys 59 LT 58. 73 ROP GUEEGOIOGE: 4 ore” Bet teh, 8 Peano oe 59 eieneine DOTEE... 2... 6 ee ee 35 WW ErODMSIS UNTCOLOT. 05 = se ee 72 Compsilura concinnata............-- 62 Macrodactylus subspinosus..........- 9, 60 Conotrachelus nenuphar...........-- 59, 72 IMA LTOMOCHULGVONUSLET 5 6 core cin es 2 aus 62 COMATINIG JORNSONA..... 6. 02.66.02 e es 60 Malacosoma americana. ean aa RD OMS (GGBIOCYCIOADICOLOT.n.. 55 ee vi 73 OUSSIPUG Re Sok ee 17 3 STN ee 73 € PUORLD SE aaus yo anas mts ili Corn borer, European............ 10, 74, 78 MIBTESH GO PICs. i.25- Sale ie ae 62 Mormonas pis gilleties... 0... ee et 40 Melanoplus GHENIS: Seer oo as oe 72 neumber Dectle.. 6. 6.3. cee ee 13 femur-rubrum.........+.- 72 MIMETAPEIS, 5 ooo. seo. ee es oe 73 Menopon biseriatum...........++4-+ 69 Ue Oa a 10 s PONGGUM Wass Fink, wpe stcen tole ale 69 WDOLOMOTHLESETIVING. 2m ose ee ee So 62 Wier ssDELWUied nace: @ 40 E/T VUE POTTS Ce SRE oO 59 Monophadnoides rubi..........++++- 61 IES PEOGIS 2) 2s Ne ee 17 Museaana assimilis. S22 siya a 39 HPI EN CUCUINETUS «3556 tse mas seein 72 ee SLQOUONS co 52 bn hee eee 39 EESTI ONEUTL COMES. cw wc dais wee 60 MSCS GETAST Cl hse cioe ceo tae. aera 59 - COMES ZICZAC........+-- 24 GAD ae AOI. PREP cao 59 oi UTAPELGHA Hea Pade eres, 23 60 SETS re eR ee on etre 73 104. THE REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY No. 33 PAGE Cicanthus nigricornis............... 61 Onion maggots ss. .5 soe 36, 39, 42, 72 = 314 0° 8 aR a eR a eM eee Ss 11, 64 Ottorhynchus ovatus.........6.5265.%-. 61 HAUICA CHILO VCTMOLG= 5. sein cack eke ets 58 Papaipema purpurifascia............ 62 IPOVASCH ENG SESTELUIA 0 se ee as 33 Paratetranychus pilosus...........4. 60 POTLG CONEIGS 55 hrc 61 Pear psyllal scccccsyacce thee iyo 59 Pelecinus polyturator. ... <0 \8 282. OF. 9 SPHOLDtd sOF OSSUCHE Ds, 51s Poet 72 Oe CODOLUNE,. hc Xotee cps pei wo 72 Phytophaga ulm .. ccc ooo cone ee 9 PREIS: FOPCC nn hac Hoh 72, 82 Pistol and cigar case-bearers......... 58, 73 Plum-curcaliOs.s 4 sc%.ce cc ORO 59, 72 FP Olstes- PAs pes oo... oe: ta SOP QLASLR OT 86 WOLYCHTOStS UCONGs 25-1) AIA 60 POrthelrud G88 PAL. ices) ass oO Vad 47, 51 Potato beetle, Colorado............. 10 f beetles: : ica gerccxc eee Le 10, 72 Prionyoxystus macmurtrei........... 63 Psyllta- Pyle co. «025 AR 59 Pteromalus puparum................ 86 PICTORUS TEDESIT 6 oro os os sO TT 73 Raspberry saw-fy: . 0.2. TSSieay OR 61 Red mite, European... <5. 28oo a. 60 PaaS ILCs ror ten, coc erc ch acces oases oS 60 Rhagoletis cingulata................ 59 ¢ fausta, . 3... 2, FR 59 = pomonella.............56, 58, 72 se symphoricarpi............ 56 “ BOPhyrta: 5s SON 56 PAGE Rhynchites btcolor » 3-2). Son 12 Rosevchater? 3.4.3.) sac ce eee 9, 60 y .cureulio se 5. tol ce =e 12 “> - leaf bhopper..:.-:4): Ge ee 59 San Jose scale. .'ss.-::..27.. 33 eee 58 Waperda COndtdn....- a4 ae 73 Seéd*corn maggot. ......-. : 25) ae eee 11 Silver fish.........../...:... Seieseeeee 63 Sod webworms. . .\....<......4-:..:. sane 11 Spilographa setosa Doans............ 15 Spiny elm caterpillar...) Ace 73 Spiny oak caterpillar. ...nx.ianase ase 62 Spring canker worm....... 22.2... 32s 58 Squash. bug... ........0,-...+.«...0 eee 62 Strawberry leaf beetle.............. 61 root-weevilea; Sagan 2. 61 « weevil... <.../.;. eee ee 61 Striped cucumber beetle............. 61 “ _ -tree. cricket... .«:.<20 eee 61 Wetranychus. telartvus........-.- see 60 Three-lined beetle.................. 73 DUTEPS, LA0GC4.. 6. 5esi0y 350s 1 ee 61 Tmetocera ocelland:.. ...... >: ..- eee 73 Tortoise. beetles. . ...-)....%. .. aie eee 73 Vespula germanica.......2.0.02.-% 86 Walnut datana .. 725-8022 sus Ieee 10 Wheat-stem sawfly.........:....... 16 White grubs...) .3.....0.....,. eee 62, 72 White-marked Tussock moth........ 10 White tussock moth caterpillar. ..... 73 Wireworms-........ 3.2.35) 23¢R eee 10 Yellow tussock caterpillar........... 58 Yebra caterpillar =... 2... ee eee 62 \ | Ontario Department of Agriculture 4 | | | | i 4 ] Fifty-Fifth Annual Report i | | OF THE | ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY | OF ONTARIO 1924 PRINTED BY ORDER OF HON. J. S. MARTIN, Minister of Agriculture TORONTO Printed by CLARKSON W. JAMES, Printer to the King’s Most Excellent Majesty 1925 CONTENTS r bis Se q PAGE II SES TOR e ee ys. ace EL sao ol eis 's be DAT onan Gaara eae . SNIPER STATE ME NT Wc wears tee csr fb lag acs e 2s os. SOs che Soe me ee eet ae eee 4 EESTI Ge gi AS 2 SG ee RE SORA Araceae reg: Sie ccc 5 4 Ol Dr) PGE COSTER pee ae eae i en er ed eee SPN ee 5 | menormartne Voutreal branch... 3.2.2. s.r. ood cx owen DBk Aa wae eee 6 , REECE HORONLO USEAHCH ois eh hee Leyes oe wg DY serene ee eee if | Renormomiuerbritisn: Columbia Branch: <2 20000. Cale. ee ep hee 7 Report on Insects of the year, Division No. 1: C. B. HUTCHINGS.................. 8 Division Nos: vAS CosENS aw eee eee 9 Division No.0. 2D. DETWILE Reenter 10 Division No: J. Bs EiumSone yee te eee ee 11 Lessons from the Grasshopper Outbreak of 1919-23 in Manitoba: NORMAN CRIDDLE 13 The Rose Chafer and Farm Management: WILLIAM A. Ross and J. A. HALL...... 16 The Lilac Leaf Miner (Gracilaria syringella Fabr.): C. B. HUTCHINGS............. 19 Notes on the Occurrence of the Lesser Grapevine Flea-Beetle in Canada: ARTHUR ea aE Fotos cng d poe ok nthe sige ne ee eee ee Zaue Notes on Insect Parasites of Phyllophaga anxia in the Province of Quebec: C. E. HeppIuSE ATIC MG VL ANELAMIMOND: 36 5.c.00b) ste Sete eh alk Ee ae ie te 24 Note on Ptinus fur L. and villiger Reit. as Stored Product Pests in Canada: C. ENON AT RD NOURI ANN ccs occ G8 ey or ee aveee tates elo Ne oi Soe) Sot eee eee DR gna Dee a ee 28 Waranesaeainst the insects) (Cali METCAUR:. -.°)02 225. ane ee eee ee 30 The Spread and Degree of Infestation of the European Corn-Borer in 1924: W. N. EAESEENVAUNG. tS bovoy-oe cfs. 3. ns EATS a LS Et ce EE ae 47 4 Mortality of the Larvae of the European Corn-Borer (Pyrausta nubilalis Hubn.) in Eaeearivalnctarsun 1924 PROP: Min CAESAR. 3 as actu aon arte one eee ee 50 A Field Study of the Reduction of European Corn-Borer Larvae in Standing Corn: Re BATN BE RANG GAS BICHT 2 2.) 5s'p25 isc een tte ete eee een ee ea 53 The Introduction and Colonization in Ontario of Two Hymenopterous Parasites of PresTopean. Corn Borer: ) At. DATRDY serie. ann Ne > ae tea sacs n oes Rae 54 A Brief Note on Farm Cutting Boxes and Corn Shredders as Factors in the Control of the European Corn Borer (Pyrausta nubilalis Hubn.): G. A. Ficat and R. H. RPAMRNEIRG torrie, Sey ns Atk Tatar ate i? Ea enh Ter nny oe Mes 56 eer OMEOIS GOLEM IS OLEL ses fapsie aS bsg «2 Oe Lee on EOL et eet an ee 57 The Outbreak of the Gipsy Moth in Quebec: LEONARD S. MCLAINE............... 60 A Study of the Methods Used in Growing Entomophthorous Fungi in Cases Prior to their Artificial Dissemination in the Orchards: ALAN G. DUSTAN.............. 63 Notes from a Study of Nepticula pomivorella Packard: HAROLD Fox............... 67 - Notes on the Life History of the Lesser Clover Weevil (Phytonomus nigrirostis): H.F. UE SONP AICPA. ACONV OOD). 5>..0 ct oF os 2 oR NOP ri aes nc, AE rate ee 71 Entomology in the Rural Schools in the Province of Quebec: PRor. GEORGES MAHEUX Us Observations of the Host-Selection Habits of Pieris rapae L.: C. R. TWINN........ 75 Miscellaneous Notes on the Pear Psylla Problem: Wiu.LiAmM A. Ross.............. 80 BISecHSicnethe season: WW. A. Rossand-lt ‘CAmSARRR ey Foc x cicvietl.c pines Mle utr 84 @he Entomological Record, 1924: NorMAN CRIDDLE?.. 2... 2.2. Sele ee eee &9 PRON As es oni sie cb ORL Sek aoe EPRI AC FOO: EERO 5 6 cl ot LEO Ia Oe crite 107 [3] Entomological Society of Ontario OFFICERS FOR 1924-1925 President—Dr. J. M. SWAINE, Entomological Branch, Ottawa. Vice-President—REV. FATHER LEOPOLD, La Trappe, Que. Secretary-Treasurer—Pror. A. W. BAKER, B.S.A., O. A. College, Guelph. Curator and Librarian—J. A. FLock, O. A. College, Guelph. Directors—Division No. 1, C. B. Hutcurncs, Entomological Branch, Dept. of Agriculture, Ottawa; Division No. 2, C. E. Grant, Orillia; Division No. 3, Dr. A. CosENs, Toronto; Division No. 4, F. J. A. Morris, Peterborough; Division No. 5, Dr. J. D. DETWILER, Western University, London; Division No. 6, J. F. Hupson, Strathroy; Division No. 7, W. A. Ross, Vineland Station. Directors (ex-Presidents of the Society)—REeEv. Pror. C. J. S. BETHUNE, Toronto; PROF. JoHN DEARNEss, London; Pror. WM. LocHHEAD, Macdonald College, Que.; JoHN D. Evans, Trenton; Pror. E. M. WALKER, University of Toronto; ALBERT F. WINN, Westmount, Que.; peer Lawson Cagsar, O. A. College, Guelph; ARTHUR GIBSON, Dominion Entomologist, ttawa. Editor of ‘‘The Canadian Entomologist’’-—Dr. J. McDuNNouGH, Entomological Branch, Ottawa. Delegate to the Royal Society of Canada—THE PRESIDENT. FINANCIAL STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDING OCTOBER 31stT, 1924 Receipts 7 Expenditures ; Cashon-hand, 1923352527 oes $484 92 Printin gyn ies oso el ee $1,433 22 pr OUDSCEEPEIONS 3 e.ca 0.4 soto eae ee 587 80 Salaries, 1923 and 1924:......¢. 400 00 Membership dues 2. 7 cic ota 140 30 Expense? {34.00 2) Ae eee 90 31 CIVErCISEMeHIS a. 2. aes ueee oe 146 00 Insurancés2% sect eee 36 00 Back HIDELS 1.26 ace Say 46 21 Exchange’.203 4 ),. a. ee eee S570 GES he etc ee ee SiS Balanceicash on hand =.) ee 458 83 Bank.miterests i727 > sen sleek ee 9 23 Pex changer n csshc: om eee ee 3 85 GoveLninent. oratlt sapere 1,000 00 $2,422 06 $2,422 06 Byvecashonehainc 45. 0 eee $458 8&3 To printing account payable..... 115 00 INét; balance 33 ge tee $343 83 Respectfully submitted, Auditors—J. A. FLock A. W. BAKER, L, CAESAR. Secretary-Treasurer. ‘i pidge! Entomological Society of Ontario ANNUAL MEETING - _ The sixty-first annual meeting of the Entomological Society of Ontario was held at the Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph, Thursday and Friday, November 27th and 28th, 1924. _ The morning and afternoon meetings were held in the lecture room of the Department of Entomology. The Thursday evening meeting was held in ~ Memorial Hall, when President Reynolds welcomed the members and visitors ~ to the college and Dr. C. L. Metcalf delivered the public lecture on “‘Methods _ of Warfare Against Insects.”’ REPORT OF THE. COUNCIL Ss The Council of the Entomological Society of Ontario begs to present its report for the year 1923-24. q The Diamond Jubilee Meeting of the Society was held in the quarters of the Dominion Entomological Branch at Ottawa on Thursday, Friday and - Saturday, November ist, 2nd and 3rd. % The meeting was well attended by members of the Society from various _ provinces of the Dominion, by a number of American entomologists and - numerous other visitors. Much credit must be given to the local committee _ for the success of the meeting. The Thursday evening meeting was held in the Assembly Hall of the Normal ~ School, when Dr. A .F. Burgess delivered the public address on ‘‘The Value of ~ Natural Enemies of Injurious Insects.’’ On Friday evening a dinner was held at the University Club. After dinner the members and visitors were addressed by Mr. J. A. Ruddick of the Dominion Department of Agriculture. Mr. Morris _ then delivered the presidential address:—‘‘Nature’s Clairvoyant, A Study of _ W.H.Hudson.”’ Mr. Gibson then read an interesting paper from Dr. Bethune, “The Early Days of the Entomological Society of Ontario.”’ During the meeting the following papers were presented: 1. Notes on the Rose Curculio in Manitoba (10 minutes), Mr. H. A. Ropertson, Entomo- logical Branch, Treesbank, Man. - 2. The Control of the Apple Sucker (Psylla mali Schmid.) in Nova Scotia by Entomoph- thera sphaerosperma Fres. (15 minutes), Mr. A. G. Dustan, Entomological Branch, Wolfville, N.S. 3. Concerning the Canadian Species of the Syrphid Genus Eumerus (Diptera) (5 minutes), Mr. C. Howarp CurrAN, Entomological Branch, Ottawa. _4. The Occurrence of the Ptinid Beetle, Niptus hololeucus, in North America (5 minutes), Mr. ArTHUR GIBSON, Entomological Branch, Ottawa. > 5. Transfer tests with the Green Apple Aphid (Aphis pomi DeGeer; Aphis spiraecola Patch) (10 minutes), Ep1ra M. Patcu, Entomologist, Orono, Maine (Read by Mr. W. A. Ross). > 6. The Distribution of Canadian Odonata (15 minutes), Dr. E. M. WaLkKeER, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont. 7. Two Problems in Natural Control (15 minutes), Mr. NorMAN CrIDDLE, Entomological Branch, Treesbank, Man. &. The Present Status and Distribution of the Apple and Thorn Skeletonizer (Hemerophila P een (10 minutes), Dr. M. D. LEONARD, Associate State Entomologist, Albany, +N [5] 6 THE REPORT OF THE rc. 9. The Inhalation of Arsenical Insecticides (15 minutes), Mr. ARTHUR KELSALL, Entomo- logical Branch, Annapolis, N.S 10. Taxonomic and Synonymic Tendencies, with Special Reference to the Diptera (15 minutes, Mr. C. Howard CurRAN, Entomological Branch, Ottawa. 11. The Control of the Grape Leaf-hopper (10 minutes), Mr. W. A. Ross, Entomological Branch, Vineland, Ontario. 12. The New Regulations under the Destructive Insect and Pest Act (15 minutes), Mr. L.S. McLaine, Entomological Branch, Ottawa. 13. Studies in the Life- history, Bionomics and Control of the Cabbage Worm in Ontario (10 minutes), Mr. C. R. TWINN, Entomological Branch, Ottawa. 14. The Onion Maggot and Its Control (10 minutes), Messrs. H. E. Gray, G. H. Ham- MOND, and T. ARMSTRONG, Entomological Branch, Lethbridge, Ottawa and Montreal. 15. The Garden Springtail (Sminthurus hortensis) as a Crop Pest (15 minutes), Dr. W. H. BRITTAIN, Provincial Entomologist, Truro, N.S. 16. Notes on the Life-history of Hypera punctata, MEssrs. H. F. Hupson and A. A. Woop, Entomological Branch, Strathroy. Ont. 17. Winds and Gipsy Moth Spread (15 minutes), Dr. H. L. McIntyre, Supervisor, Gipsy Moth Control, Albany, N.Y. 19. Canadian Problems in Forest Entomology (15 minutes), Dr. J. M. Swaine, Entomo- logical Branch, Ottawa. 20. Rhagoletis pomonella Walsh, and Two Allied Species (Diptera) (5 minutes), Mr. C. Howarb CurRAN, Entomological Branch, Ottawa. 21. Insects of the Season in Ontario (5 minutes), Pror. L. CAESAR, Guelph, and Mr. W. A. Ross, Vineland Station, Ont. Read by title only at request of PRor. CAESAR. 22. Insects of the Season in Quebec (5 minutes), Mr. G. MAHEUX, Provincial Entomologist, Quebec, Que. 23. Notes on Lice, with Special Reference to the Chicken Louse (15 minutes); Dr. A. B. VICKWARE, Health of Animals Branch, Ottawa. 24. Flower Relations of Wild Bees (15 minutes, Lantern), Mr. H. L. VrEREcK, Entomolo- gical Branch, Ottawa. 25. The Spread of the European Corn Borer in Ontario in 1923 (15 minutes), Mr. W. N. KEENAN, Entomological Branch, Ottawa: 26. The Status of the Control Practice for the European Corn Borer in Ontario (15 minutes), Mr. H. G. Crawrorp, Entomological Branch, Ottawa. 27. The Present Status and Spread of the Japanese Beetle, Dr. C. H. HADLEY, Harrisburg, Penn. 28. The Control of the European Corn Borer in the Light of our Present Knowledge (15 minutes), Pror. L. CAESAR, Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph. 29. A Study of the Pupal Case of Prionoxystus macmurtrei (10 minutes), Mr. C. B. Hutcuincs, Entomological Branch, Ottawa. 30. Methods in Insect Photography (15 minutes), Pror. A. BROOKER KLUGH, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ont. 31. Notes on the Injury Caused by Monochamus scutellatus to Burned Standing Timber in New Brunswick (15 minutes), Dr. J. D. TorHiL_, Entomological Branch, Fredericton, NB: It is the sad duty of the Council to record the death of our esteemed col- league, Mr. R. C. Treherne, the Vice-president of our Society. Each member of the Council knows that the country has lost a strong man in entomology, and each feels that he has lost a true friend. REPORT OF THE MONTREAL BRANCH The fifty-first annual meeting was held on May 10th, 1924, in the Lyman Entomological Room, Redpath Museum, McGill University. Seven meetings were held during the season with an average attendance of?six members. The following papers were read during the year: Notes on“Renthredimidae 32) 052 SiG ie en rn pe) ee ee J. W. BUCKLE. WN Madget Bag 2) Sr hy 2 es A bs Seas abe on ee ee Geo. A. Moore. Notes on Ranatra fusca, and how the female protects herself from parasitical TAILES Lek. ead «nee ahle 6 abe ay ele hae Se Weck Ste pee ee er T. C. BARNEs. Stilt) bugs; (Neitdidae).. 20". oo Fag oe hoe Se a aes Nien oe ena eas A. Moore. Life History of Prociphilus tessallata.-- 25 ses. te One eee pas Bayes. & to ~ -ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 7 INTO OSSASSIT: SUES 2 nF 2, oe Gig a ols aps ale ale aol g, Moat a e ee Geo. A. Moore. MIELE STA MEER BPE A TS San oa ET crud oy us hoe) vise Bowe esayarioh) oiaon hoes Gero. A. Moore. | Histology of the Alimentary Canal of Blatta orientalis..................... T. C. BARNEs. BEINN ACGUALICANSECES © 02". oe Kee dhs Ses ois aie oi Lp ats Qe Mee AD T. C. BARNEs. MMU WRI GIA LAY Ls weld ALG re ek tye Wo dee oes CLG as SAR G, He Han: MEME SE LATIN type ne s creol cia ohne chow eM ya Sinus Ht, «Gee Seg Moe oy Boe Geo. A, Moore. The Treasurer reported a balance on hand of $180.11. — . The following were elected officers: President, Geo. A. Moore; Vice- President, G. H. Hall; Secretary-Treasurer, J. W. Buckle; Council, G. Chagnon, A. C. Shepherd and J. Warren. J. W. BUCKLE, Secretary. REPORT OF THE TORONTO: BRANCH During the past year seven regular meetings of the branch were held and the average attendance was nine persons. One new member was elected, Miss F. Hahn. At the meetings of the Branch the following seven papers and addresses were given: (Le Conalese, Te Iran YeicV oy oy ees a Vase Bae tet Oe SP Dr. E. M. WALKER. SDWwEES SANG Te Loyal eel pe ae a a Messrs. S. LoGierR and N. K. BIGELow. Chalcid-flies and Ichneumon-flies................ Dr. N. H. C. Forp and Dr. W. A. CLEMENS. paiameane social Wasps. ......... 2. heehee eee es Dr. E. M. WALKER and H. H. MacKay. SQUABIRY IEEOS 5. Ae Anse teaeeT P e a a Pre RL Mr. N. K. BiGELow. SSCL EASES 5. 6 is RP eee eee ir ee EI ems eg ee ey al Mr. A. T. LoGciEr. Smee ESTOLEATIES@. 2 Mure Se et ga eo cee hc eee nee ee Mr. S. LoGigEr. The treasurer reported a balance on hand of $17.25. SHELLEY LOGIER, President. H. H. MacKay, Secretary. BEEORT OF THE BRITISH COLUMBIA BRANCH The twenty-third annual meeting of the British Columbia Branch was held in the Provincial Museum, Victoria, on Saturday, March 15th, 1924; the attendance was small owing to sickness, etc. The following papers were read: Leaf Rollers attacking orchards in the Okanagan...................... E. P. VENABLES. Des oaPeRnCEESt pA peL-Ma ker.) so 01s sh od Poa bah aS «Mee cee OR tance edhe ok: W. B. ANDERSON. CS GPRES, TD CUSTER a a ae ee a Raine eR Ry Re ee ees aed, A. W. HANHAM. The evolution of the young entomologist.............. 0.5 .....0.0%-- R. S. SHERMAN. CI MIReCOLG SHUR El emlipterai teckth) ye os cp huis od ak» SEEM ee ee Be ee W. Downes. ihisecessoutue year om Vancouver Island’... ..2).3..) saeco oe ks W. Downes. Life history notes on the aphids of the genus Pemphigus............... R. GLENDENNING. The election of officers resulted as follows: Hon. President, F. Kermode; _ President, L. E. Marmont; Vice-President (coast), R.S. Sherman; Vice-President (interior), E. P. Venables. Advisory Board: Messrs. Bannister, Downes, Lyne, Ruhmann and Whittaker. Honorary Secretary-Treasurer, R. Glen- denning, Agassiz, B.C. The treasurer reported a balance on hand of $133.75. R. GLENDENNING, Hon. Secretary-Treasurer. 8 THE REPORT OF THE | <2 eae REPORT-ON_INSEGTIS-OF HE, YEAR: Division. No. 1, Otrawa.D1strict:—C. B. HUTCHINGS SHADE TREE INSECTs . - The Maple Leaf Cutter, Paraclemensia acerifoliella Fitch has been exceed- ingly abundant this summer throughout the Provinces of Quebec and Ontario. Trees in the vicinity of Ottawa have suffered considerably from this small leaf- feeding insect, though not to the severe extent as those in certain areas in Eastern Ontario. The worst damage done, however, was in the Eastern Townships, where some of the large sugar bushes were completely stripped of their foliage. The beech also suffered considerably from this insect. The Fall Webworm, Hyphantria textor Harris, was again quite apparent this autumn, but perhaps in less numbers than in 1923. It was seen chiefly on — ash, apple and elm, although other hosts claimed its attention. The Willow Borer, Cryptorhynchus lapatht Linn, was found in large numbers at Aylmer and the surrounding district on willow oa poplar. The damage to. willows especially was quite severe. The Spring Canker Worm, Paleacrita vernata Pack, appeared again in Ottawa’ south and completely stripped large numbers of apple, elm, basswood and other © trees. It was nevertheless not so numerous this year as in 1923 or 1922. Several species of sawflies, Tenthredinidae, were numerous on oak, butternut, hickory, elm and willow. Cicadas were prevalent about Aylmer during summer. They made their appearance very early in the season this year, some being taken during the later part of June and early in July. The Forest Tent Caterpillar, Malacosoma disstria Hubn., appeared in less numbers this year and only a few scattered webs were observed. The Birch Leaf Skeletonizer, Buccalatrix canadensisella Chamb., has been remarkably scarce this year. During previous seasons 1923, 1922 and 1921, especially the last two mentioned, it was very abundant and ruined the foliage of all birches in Ontario as far west at Fort William. The White Spotted Sawyer, Monochamus scutellatus Say, was fairly active this summer.on white pines. Many beetles were seen and taken on the wing. The Walking Stick Insect, Diapheromera femorata Say, has been reported from different parts of Ottawa as being uncommonly numerous. It was found feeding chiefly on basswood, oak and hazel. The Lilac Leaf Miner, Gracilaria syringella Fab., was exceedingly severe this summer, everywhere the lilac was to be found. In the central part of the city these shrubs appeared to be special objects of attack. The infestation has spread westward since last year and is now to be found at the Central Experi- © mental Farm. Some species, however, appeared to be quite immune, and in spite of heavy infestation all around remained free of any signs of attack. FIELD Crop INSECTS ae The Frit Fly, Oscinis variabilis Lw., during June and July caused consider- able injury to wheat and barley plots at the Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa. Adult flies were emerging on July 9th. Grasshoppers, Orthoptera, have been numerous in certain en thee on sod and meadow lands. Melanoplus atlantis Riley; M. femur rubrum de Geer; M. bivittatus Say, were the species observed. 4 4 __* . _ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 9 FRUIT AND GARDEN INSECTS The Codling Moth, Carpocapsa pomonella Linn., was again abundant in unsprayed orchards. The Raspberry Cane-borer, Oberea bimaculata Oliv., has been very general and severe in its attacks on the young cane tops this summer. As this fruit is being more and more extensively grown each year in the outlying districts of Ottawa, the borer becomes of considerable economic importance. The Carrot Rust Fly, Psila rosea Fab., was particularly severe this summer and caused serious damage to the carrot plots at the Central Experimental Farm, ~ Ottawa. The Cabbage Butterfly, Pieris rapae Linn., although numerous about Ottawa this year, was less injurious than in 1923. The Tarnished Plant Bug, Lygus pratensis Linn. Flowers and truck gardens suffered from a heavy widespread infestation of this insect, especially towards the close of the season. Asters and dahlias, particularly, were affected. The injury begins in the bud, and the flowers develop imperfectly, or not at all. In some localities these crops were a failure on account of the ravages of this pest. The Cabbage Maggot, Hylemyia brassicae Bouche. The injuries by this insect were very noticeable in the Ottawa district on cabbage, turnip and radish; as a consequence.many home and truck gardens suffered considerable loss. MISCELLANEOUS The Cigarette Beetle, Lasioderma sericorne Fab. Both larvae and beetles were found at Ottawa in tins of tobacco which originally had come from Montreal. The tobacco was so badly injured that it was utterly useless. Division No. 3, Toronto District.—A. COSENS My report this year will be limited to a few observations made while enjoying a vacation in the Province of Quebec. In that district three species of forest insects are outstanding in destructive- ness: The white pine weevil, Pissodes strobi Peck; the spruce bud-worm, Tortrix fumiferana Clemens; and the larch sawfly, Lygaeonematus erichsoni Hartgn. The larvae of the first bore in the inner bark of their host, while those of the other two feed upon the foliage of the infested trees. The white pine weevil was noted as affecting the introduced Norway spruce as well as the white pine A number of drooping leaders of the former were examined and invariably disclosed numerous larvae tunnelling in them. Many of the trees bore deformed tops, where leaders had been killed by attacks of the insects in former years. As far as observed the native white spruce is immune _ from attack. The spruce bud-worm has been known for many years in Quebec. In _ 1909 it was reported as very plentiful and causing much damage to the spruces and balsams in the Upper Gatineau country. It has been reported also as firmly established in the Beaupre district and along the Mattawin. This year it was stated to be not as plentiful as usual. Probably owing to insect parasites the pest is not always at its peak of destructiveness. Were this not the case the spruces and balsams would be doomed in districts where the infestation is of long standing. In various localities, especially north of Three Rivers, the larch sawfly did a great deal of damage during the past season. Many fine stands of young tamarack were almost defoliated by the pest. \ 10 THE: REPORTIOFP £HE & = < The problem of the protection of the trees from these three pests is a difficult ae ae one to solve. Spraying on such a large scale is out of the question. All that ~ ; seems feasible is to cut the timber as soon as the trees are seriously endangered by the attacks of the insects. Even this plan is not always possible as the stands infested are in many instances too immature to be profitably marketed. This was true this year in the case of the tamaracks attacked by the larch sawfly. Over large areas the trees were thrifty but small, not averaging more than five inches at stump height. : In this report, I wish also to record the collection of a species of the False Scorpion or Chelifer, that is known to attach itself to house-flies. The afflicted fly was caught in the nursery office of the Laurentide Pulp and Paper Co., Proulx, Quebec. There were three specimens of the pest attached to the legs of the fly and one has still retained its hold after being- preserved in formalin. These Chelifers are strange little creatures. Their yellowish, flattened bodies not more than one-tenth of an inch in length, are very inconspicuous. Their close relation to both the spiders and the scorpions is clearly shown in the united head and thorax, the four pairs of legs and the well-developed pincer-like mouth appendages. Whether the pseudo-scorpion is to be regarded as a fly parasite or not is uncertain. It is equally difficult to decide whether it should be considered as leading a predatory life and pulling down the flies by its numbers. The only point that appears positively certain is that the fly furnishes the Chelifer with an excellent means of aerial transportation. Division No. 5.—J. D. DETWILER During the latter part of the summer arctiid caterpillars were very much in evidence. Jsia isabella was, 1 think, more abundant than I have ever seen it. The harlequin milkweed caterpillar, Euchaetias egle, was very common on the milkweed, Asclepias syriaca. The fall webworms, Hyphantria, were fairly common. Early in the summer, onions in my garden were attacked by small caterpillars which on rearing also proved to be woolly bears (probably Diacrisia virginica) but the adults have not yet emerged. Late in the summer I also notice some large sycamore trees, Platanus occidentalis, practically stripped of their foliage by what I believe was Halisidota harrisit. H. tesselaris and H. maculata were also common. The datanas were quite plentiful. The black walnut trees on the university campus were badly infested The caterpillars were no doubt those of Datana integerrima; Datana ministra was common. The apple trees on our campus were badly infested by the codlin-moth, Carpocapsa pomonella, and the apple maggot, Rhagoletis pomonella. The leaf miner, Nepticula pomivorella, was also rather abundant. In the garden the imported cabbage worm, Pieris rapae, and the striped cucumber beetle, Diabrotica vittata, were present in considerable numbers as usual. My sweet corn, Golden Bantam, was badly infested with the European corn borer, Pyrausia nubilalts. I might also report that I found the egg parasite, Tetrasticus asparagt, of the common asparagus beetle, Crioceris asparagi, quite abundant here in 1922. Mr. Gahan, of the United States National Museum, kindly identified it and Mr. Rohwer stated that it had not been previously reported from this locality. x In the clover the larvae of Hypera punctata were reported numerous nea London during the early part of June, but about June 15th the number rapidly y * ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY if * ° decreased. Of course their partial disappearance was to be expected. From the same locality great numbers of clover seed midges were reported, also that the yield of clover seed was very low. Aphids on the clover were said to be very numerous. A preliminary study of the galls of the vicinity was carried on by a student, _ Miss Nelda Wright, and the following forms are reported. Box Elder: Warty swellings on leaves—Eriophyes negundt. ~Box elder leaf gall—Contarinia negundifolia. Cherry: _ Wild cherry pouch gall—Eriophyes padi. Goldenrod: i. Goldenrod ball gall—Eurosta solidaginis. : Goldenrod rosette gall—Rhopalomyia capitata. Elliptical goldenrod gall—Gnorimoschema gallaesolidaginis. 4 ; Hackberry: i Hackberry nipple gall—Pachypsylla celtidis-mammae. Hackberry blister gall—Pachypsylla vesiculum. Linden: Linden twig gall—Cecidomyia citrina. Linden wart gall—Cecidomyia verrucicola. Linden mite gall—Eriophyes abnormis. Oak: Saucer-like gall—Dryophanta discus. Woolly-gall—A ndricus flocct. Jewel oak gall—Philontx marrocarpae. Conical twig gall—Andricus ventricosus. Oak bullet galli—Disholcaspis globulus. . Poplar: Poplar vagabond gall—Pemphigus vagabundus. Basal leaf gall—Pemphigus populicaulis. Rose: Mossy rose gall—Rhodites rosae. Willow: Willow cone gall—Rhabdophaga strobiloides. Willow twig gall—Sackenomyia packardt. Division No. 6.—H. F. Hupson The season has been cool, wet, and generally backward, which doubtless has helped to retard the activities of certain insects, while on the other hand it has been decidedly helpful to others, notably the European corn-borer. In the latter case, at the time when eggs were hatching, the weather being cool, a much larger percentage of young larvae were able to enter the stalk than would otherwise have been the case had the weather been hot, for undoubtedly the direct rays of a hot sun have a detrimental effect in reducing the number of borers which gain access to the plant. The activities of cut-worms were likewise carried over a longer period than usual, their work being continued almost to the end of June. The more important insect pests noted are as follows :— FIELD Crop INSECTS Wireworms. The species involved is not known, they were reported to be generally destructive in Lambton, Essex, and Elgin Counties. _ Cutworms. There are probably several species involved, material not having been received. They were reported as being extremely abundant and injurious to corn, cauliflower, potatoes, and tobacco. The outbreak appears to have fairly general, and was recorded from Middlesex, Elgin, Kent and Essex Counties. ~ Yate Li 12 THE REPORT OF THE ee European Corn-borer (Pyrausta nubilalis). Possibly the most destructive pest of the year, certainly as far as corn is concerned. The intensity of attack has been most marked. It was decidedly injurious to the corn crop throughout Western Ontario. Early sweet corn was particularly hard hit in Middlesex County. : Hessian Fly. We have seldom had a year in which we have been so remark- ably free from this insect. A few early sown fields were attacked last fall, but this spring, owing to weather conditions at the time the spring brood cHietenes no injury was occasioned. Wheat Midge. Although the little pink red maggots could be secured in the wheat heads in almost any field, it was noted they were more abundant in low, damp locations. No injury resulted from their presence, outside a few shrunken grains in the affected heads. Potato Beetles. On the whole the insect was less numerous than last year. A number of late planted fields were not sprayed at all. Potato. Flea Beetle. A very marked reduction over last year. Potato Leaf Hopper. Quite common, and fairly injurious around London, in unsprayed fields. Seed Corn Maggot. Reported as being slightly injurious in Kent County. Bean Maggot. A slight but fairly general injury noted in Elgin County. Pea Weevil. Noted in exhibition peas at Simcoe Fair. GARDEN INSECTS Cucumber Beetles. These were quite abundant this year, being especially - prevalent from June 16th—20th. Spraying with nicotine dust when the beetles are pairing seems a very effective control. - Cabbage Maggot. Decidedly injurious where the corrosive sublimate treat- ment had not been applied. Radish Maggot. On light land there appeared to be no injury, but on heavy land the crop was useless. ; Cabbage White. Quite abundant this year, but a large percentage of the larvae were either parasitized or killed by the bacterial fungus ‘‘flacherie.”’ Carrot Worm. Not as abundant as last year, the larvae being heavily parasitized. : Tomato Worm. - Unusually scarce this year. Parsnip Webworm. Very abundant this year, particularly in pasture fields where cow parsnip, Heracleum lanatum, abounds. Tarnished Piant Bug. Generally reported abundant in celery and flower gardens. Four Lined Leaf Bug. Unusually abundant and destructive this year in perennial and herbaceous borders. Iixus Concavus. Present in almost all rhubarb plantations. Papatpema cataphracta. Injurious to potatoes and delphiniums. Fruit INSECTS Codling Moth. In unsprayed orchards this pest was quite common. San Jose Scale. Generally on the increase in Western Ontario. Aphids (species unknown). Very common on apple trees, deforming the fruit. > Alypia octomaculata. The larvae of this moth were unusually abundant this year in grapes. - | ~ ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY; 13 Plum Curculio. Several local cherry plantations were injured by this insect, rendering the fruit useless. Black Cherry Aphis. Very common this year. _ Rose Chafer. We experienced the largest outbreak of this pest we have ~ ever had. It feeds on practically every green thing, including immature fruit. LiIvE Stock INSECTS : Heel Fly. This pest is causing great concern with cattle men, cattle were reported to have died from gadding near the Muncey reserve. MISCELLANEOUS INSECTS The leaf-eating beetle Serica serica was quite common on hazel and hawthorn. Dichelonycha subvittata was common on linden and maple. Ithycerus novaboracensis was taken quite frequently from beech. 3 4 7 : 3 ’ 4 = LESSONS FROM THE GRASSHOPPER OUTBREAK OF 1919-23 IN MANITOBA NORMAN CRIDDLE, TREESBANK, MANITOBA . The grasshopper outbreak of 1919-23 was the first extensive one experienced in Canada since 1874. It was also the most important one we have ever had - owing to the fact that during the earlier infestation settlers were few and far between, whereas now vast stretches of growing grain are involved. The money at stake was, therefore, immeasurably greater. We know very little about the former outbreak excepting that eye-witnesses proclaimed it to have been a sudden visitation of winged locusts in which the insects dropped from a clear sky, resembling as they came down the flakes of a snowstorm. Arriving in late summer they remained to breed, and it was from the young hoppers of the following year that most of the damage resulted. This invasion consisted of the long-winged Rocky Mountain locust, Melanoplus spretus Uhl., which had come from more arid parts, probably from the, foothills of the Rockies, but whether there were other species involved we do not know. The 1919-23 outbreak was less spectacular and it had its inception in quite a small area of southwest Manitoba and southeast Saskatchewan. The species involved, too, (Camnula pellucida Scudd.), was one that entomologists had previously experienced little trouble with, and as there had been no warnings of grasshopper activities the previous year, we were caught somewhat unprepared. . Most of our previous experience in grasshopper fighting had been derived from a rather restricted infestation in 1900—04, during which we had discarded the cumbersome hopperdozer in favour of poisoned baits and in other respects had made some progress. Kansas and other states had experienced grass- — -hopper troubles between the 1900 and 1919 outbreaks and we were, therefore, able to profit from their discoveries. Our work in Quebec, too, had given us some additional data, all of which we took full advantage of. From the small beginnings of 1919 the grasshoppers quickly multiplied and spread over most of the southwestern portion of Manitoba and extended well -_ to the northward. But the greatest extension was west, and ultimately a very large area in Saskatchewan became involved, as well as practically all of southern Alberta. kee THE REPORT OF THE ce It is not my intention to go into details either as to the area infested or the amount of poisoned bait used. Sufficient to say that while the cost was great the savings were vastly greater, and large stretches of growing grain were saved that would otherwise have been destroyed by the hungry grasshoppers. After the second year in Manitoba (1920), the original species, Camnula pellucida Scudd., began to give way to Melanopli, more particularly to M. atlantis Riley, until eventually Camnula vanished and the infestation was continued by the genus Melanoplus alone. There was thus, in reality, a double outbreak causing a protracted infestation not at first anticipated. = Now that the outbreak is over one naturally asks what are the lessons gained? To begin with, the outbreak has provided us with the opportunity to study the insects’ habits in detail. This in itself is important as an aid to devising remedial measures. We have studied them from eggs to adults and we can now not only recognize the insects in all their stages of growth but we also know their habits. This is particularly important in fighting Camnula, which, as is now recognized, migrates to regular breeding areas where its eggs are literally packed together in millions. It is comparatively easy to find these egg beds even after the adults have died, due to the denuded vegetation, but to find the insects in the act of ovipositing is a sight to be remembered. I do not intend to infer that there are not numerous smaller breeding places as well as the larger ones, but the species always returns from the grain fields and deposits its eggs amid the sod, selecting definite areas for that purpose. The species of Melanopli, on the other hand, choose the stubble or grass fields for egg laying, ovipositing around the small bare openings rather than actually in the grass clumps. These details are naturally of importance in overcoming the insect. We have also learnt something of the causes that lead to grasshopper outbreaks and also of the factors that control them under natural conditions. It should be remembered that grasshoppers multiply very rapidly when conditions are right for them. A single pair may produce fifty eggs, forty-eight of which must be unproductive in order to maintain a balance. Upset this ratio by two extra survivals for each pair and the total number will be doubled. It is not very difficult, therefore, to imagine how grasshopper outbreaks begin. Dry, hot weather during the breeding seasons and an absence of natural enemies might easily multiply a normal grasshopper population into an outbreak of importance within three years. Referring to natural enemies, it is evident that these vary in usefulness in different parts of the country and also in different years. In Manitoba, the most important. grasshopper enemy was a species of bee-fly, Systoechus vulgarts, the larvae of which devour the grasshopper eggs. Next to this in importance were blister beetles, Sarcophagid flies and the fungous disease Empusa gryll1. Red spiders, Trombidium sp., were very numerous and doubtless weakened the adults as well as destroyed many of the grasshopper eggs. A Carabid beetle, Percosia obesa Say, was frequently found in its larval stage amid the egg masses, and we several times reared Scelio caloptent Riley from individual eggs. The wonderful part performed by Bee-flies in controlling Camnula pellucida in Manitoba, does not seem to have been duplicated to the same extent farther west, though the insect did valuable work even in Alberta. But, as one extended westward, bee-flies grew less important and species of Sarcophagidae became more so. This also seems to have been the case in Montana. I was in that state late last August and at that time it was almost impossible for a grass- hopper to fly without being pursued by one or more of these flesh flies. t ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY -~ 15 — Gulls proved an important local factor in preventing and controlling grass- hopper outbreaks and their value within an area of twenty miles of their breeding places can hardly be overestimated. The most important species in Manitoba was Franklin’s gull. Crows could always be counted upon to frequent grasshopper infested fields and several incipient outbreaks were checked by these birds. They also learnt to locate the Camnula egg beds, among which they did valuable service. Many birds feed regularly upon grasshoppers, and some, such as the Sharp-tailed grouse, depend very largely upon them as food for their young. These species are all useful in maintaining a balance, but it is to those birds that gather in flocks that we owe most when grasshoppers have got beyond their normal numbers. Turning to artificial control of grasshoppers, it is interesting to know we have been able to check our previous findings as well as to add to them. We have learnt that mechanical contrivances for catching the insects are of small value in comparison with poisoned baits. We saw numerous spectacular efforts ‘to burn the hoppers, catch them in machines and poison them with gas. Some people, indeed, sprayed the insects with undiluted coal oil, obtaining thereby a wonderful kill both of the grasshoppers and crop. All these contrivances proved to be merely retarders to progress and after a short time they were discarded by all experienced persons. Of the value of poisoned baits there was no doubt even though the various authorities differed as to the best attractants. Fruit such as oranges and lemons under the formula of the Kansas bait, was used almost entirely during the first year, but later on it was discarded as too expensive in our northern latitudes. We then turned to Amy] acetate as a substitute for fruit, a substance first successfully used in Montana. Later on we cheapened our formula still more by leaving out all flavouring except salt, and during our last year’s campaign we used bran, sawdust, salt and arsenic alone. Horse droppings, the standard bait of our 1900-03 infestation, still proved © to be among the best formulas, but its use was not practical with mixing machines on the scale in which baits were used in 1920. Individual farmers, however, used it with much success. One question that has confronted us from the beginning has been the difference of opinion expressed by various entomologists as to the merits of certain attractants. There were not only differences in various states and provinces but, in some cases, at different mixing stations but.a few miles apart. The variation in results at widely separated places could be explained by climatic - factors and there is doubtless some reason in the explanation. As for the different results in near-by stations, we have in some cases traced the variation to the water used in mixing, which might be alkaline or not. There are times, however, when any of the usual baits are effective, a ninety per cent. kill resulting from their application. This proved a mystery for a considerable time and it has not been definitely disposed of yet, but the study of weather factors has shed important light upon the subject. We now know that temperature is one of the most important factors to be considered in bait application. It has, for instance, been long recognized that the grasshoppers do little feeding when the temperature is below 60 F. but it is only within the last three years that we have begun to draw up a definite scheme for applying bait based upon meteoro- logical conditions alone, the chief of which is temperature. We found in our experiments that grasshoppers were practically inactive at a temperature below 65 F. in the shade even though the sun were shining. As the temperature e. ts . 3 16 THE REPORT OF THE | rose, however, the hoppers began to congregate into the sunlight to warm themselves, at 68 they began to feed in a small way and at 78 the height of — their feeding activities was attained. They still ate hungrily at 85, but as. — the temperature rose to 90 feeding became less and the insects commenced to seek shelter from the sun. At 96 the only noticeable attractant was water, to which the hoppers came readily. During a meeting held at Bozeman, Mont., in 1924, Mr. R. L. Parker showed a temperature chart in which the grasshopper activities had been worked out in detail. This chart agrees very closely with my own findings and indicates that we are in close agreement on this important subject. There is no doubt that loss of material and great waste of time have resulted from a lack of knowledge as to the best time to apply baits, and there is reason to suspect that most of our failures have been due to this cause. To put out bait before breakfast when the temperature is far below'4 the grasshoppers’ feeding range may seem to save time but in reality it means that the bait has largely dried out before the insects are ready to feed and on this account it has become to a great extent unpalatable and valueless. The wonderful kills with any kind of bait are thus explained. The baits were accidentally put out at the right time. I may add that we consider sun- light a.desirable factor to success in applying baits, though it is not actually necessary if the temperature is high enough. Lastly, we have substituted mixing machines for the old slow hand mixing, in this way not only saving time but also ensuring an even mix. These machines were situated at strategic points where strict account was kept of the amount of bait supplied to each farmer, and each got-a just share in accordance with his requirements. This phase of the work was under the direct supervision of the Provincial Department of Agriculture, to whose officers the highest praise is due. - THE ROSE CHAFER AND FARM MANAGEMENT WitiiamM A. Ross AND J. A. HALL, DOMINION ENTOMOLOGICAL LABORATORY, VINELAND STATION, ONTARIO During the past three years we have conducted an investigation on the rose chafer problem in southern Ontario, particularly in Pelham township, Welland county, and this investigation has demonstrated, we believe, that fundamentally the control of the rose chafer is a matter of farm management. It is true that spraying with sweetened arsenate of lead* has proved to be of value—it will protect grapes and other plants from the ravages of the insect— but we have found that spraying has serious limitations. It is unduly expensive, where more than one application has to be made; plants with nearly ripe fruit — and certain ornamentals cannot be sprayed; but most important of all, experience has shown that, on account of the omnivorous habits of the beetle, the spraying of vineyards and orchard trees here and there throughout an infested district will never reduce the insect to small proportions. Spraying is of value, but let us make this point clear, we consider it of value only as a means of protecting certain plants from serious injury until the chafer has been brought under control by the farm methods discussed herewith. i *Arsenate of lead powder 3 Ibs., cheap molasses 1 gallen, water 40 gallons. ~ a5 — r J a > . =~ aga _ ENTOMOLOGICAL'SOCIETY - 7 17 EFFECT OF SPRING CULTIVATION Early spring cultivation or, to be more specific, cultivation done prior to the pre-pupal or dormant stage of the insect, has little or no effect in reducing the chafer population. A few grubs may be crushed by the plough or other implement, but the vast majority escape without injury, those turned up by ploughing being sufficiently active to “‘dig themselves in” rapidly. Further- more, at the time the earliest cultural work is done, many of the larvae are still below plough depth. We have abundant evidence, however, that ploughing and cultivating -in late May and early June, during the period the chafer is in the pre-pupal and pupal stages, are very fatal to the insect. In 1923 a badly infested field was ploughed on June 7th and 8th at which time approximately 92 per cent. of the grubs had pupated—and on the two successive days it was disked and ‘harrowed. This cultivation reduced the average chafer population from 93.66 insects per square yard to 27.33, or, in other words, it was responsible for a mortality of approximately 70 per cent. In 1924 a neglected sod field with an average grub population of 150 per square yard was ploughed on May 26th, 27th, 28th, and was then disked three times at intervals of five days. After cultivation the average chafer population was secured in two ways: (1) By taking a census of the insects in 11 square yards in different parts of the field, and by trapping the chafers in six large cages. Both methods gave approximately the same population per square yard namely, 14.7 in the first case and 15. in the other, showing that cultivation had accounted for approximately 90 per cent. of the insects. In another field—oat stubble—ploughing, disking and harrowing in late May and early June reduced the chafer population from 182.6 to 47.6 per square yard, or, in other words, destroyed approximately 74 per cent. of the insects. EFFECT OF CULTIVATION ON EGGS Insectary experiments and field observations indicate that eggs in the absence of moisture, e.g., eggs exposed to the sun and wind, and eggs in dry soil, fail to hatch, and furthermore that newly hatched larvae succumb when exposed to the sun. Advantage may be taken of this by ploughing and disking in July when the majority of the eggs have been deposited. In 1923 part of a neglected sandy field well stocked with eggs was ploughed on July 11th, and was then disked three times on July 14th, 25th and August 13th. The other part was left untouched as a check. A census of the grub population in the cultivated and check plots gave the following results: Culti- vated land—121 grubs per square yard; Check—520 grubs per square yard, indicating that cultivation had destroyed in the neighbourhood of 76 per cent. of the eggs or newly hatched grubs. During 1924 similar experiments were conducted on a larger scale in one field at Fenwick and in another at Ridgeville. In both instances several strips of land about 20 feet wide were ploughed and then disked three times at intervals of 3 to 4 days, and ‘‘check”’ strips alternating with the cultivated lands were left uncultivated. In the experiment at Fenwick the average grub population per square yard in the check was 112, whereas in the cultivated strips it was 39, indicating a reduction of 65 per cent. At Ridgeville the figures were 208 grubs per square yard in the check, and 60.6 in the cultivated land, indicating a reduction of 71 per cent. 18 THE REPORT°OF THE 5 EFFECT OF FALL PLOUGHING The experiments on the effect of fall ploughing, which are summarized herewith, demonstrate that late fall ploughing has a marked effect in reducing the grub population. Fall Spring Approx- Exp. Ploughed population] population] imate per No. q per sq. per sq. cent. yard yard reduction 1 October iSth. (early) ass see a ee 190.5 167.2 1S 2 Octobert22ndevy-e onere tee cn ee Lee one 108.6 (flNS: 34.36 3 NovemberglS thing. cess rarene oi Sacer ein ae ee 224 129 42.96 4 November lS thie tte eas a ater ae nee an cin eee eee WD Sie2 52 5 INovembers! Othian tater ke eee ae eee 105.6 52.8 50 In each of the five experiments referred to in the table, a census of the grub population in the ‘‘checks’’ made in the fall and again in the spring showed no appreciable reduction in chafer population—the highest percentage of mor- tality being 2.04 per cent. ECOLOGICAL FACTORS AND CONTROL In conducting surveys of rose chafer breeding grounds, we have observed that the insect does not occur in clay, clay loam or in gravelly soils; that it is not present in land shaded by trees, and that it does not breed to any appreciable extent in clover sods. In connection with clover sods, we found in 1923 that in localities where the grub population in grass land averaged 190.2 per square yard (40 square yard examinations) it only averaged 13.8 per square yard (16 square yard examinations) in clover—red, sweet and alfalfa. Further evidence that the chafer does not breed to any extent in clover was secured by making “‘paired counts,”’ that is, each examination made in clover was duplicated in the adjoining field of grass, stubble or weeds. This yielded the following results: Grub population in clover, 3 per square yard; grub population in check, 121 per square yard. In the 1924 survey the grub population in grass lands was 128.6 (108 square yard examinations), whereas in clover sod—red, sweet and alfalfa, it was only 5 per square yard (30 square yard examinations). In one instance, three grass sod examinations yielded 1,432, or 477 per square yard, and 3 examinations in the adjoining red clover yielded only 28 larvae, or 9 per square yard. In the Simcoe district ‘‘paired counts’? gave the following results: 18 square yards sod yield 2,742 larvae—152 per square yard, whereas, in the adjoining clover, the population was only 140 or 8 per square yard. THE APPLICATION OF FARM METHODS OF CONTROL We have learned that the plough, disk and cultivator are the most important weapons in fighting the rose chafer, and that these weapons can be used most effectively at three different times, namely, in late May and early June, or, in other words, at the time land should be prepared for corn and potatoes; in mid-July when land should be prepared for buckwheat, and when old straw- berry patches should be ploughed under; and in late fall when ploughing is commonly done. We have likewise learned that the insect does not occur in land shaded by trees; that it does not breed to any appreciable extent in culti- vated crops or in fields of clover. How are we going to utilize this information 4 -ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 19 in combating the rose chafer? First of all we have to take into consideration the most important breeding grounds of the insect, viz.:. the waste, sandy land; the idle farms, and the vacant lots and fields held fos speculative purposes, ~ some of which are found in every district where the chafer is a serious pest. The most important and unfortunately the most difficult step in fighting the rose chafer is the reduction of these favorite breeding grounds to a minimum. There are three methods of dealing with neglected sandy lands, at least one of which should be practicable in any chafer infested section: (1) Bring it under cultivation. (2) Seed it down to alfalfa or sweet clover. (3) Reforest the land if it is worthless for agricultural purposes. While reforestation will not afford immediate relief, it will in time, when the trees are large enough to shade most of the ground, make the land wholly unsuitable as a breeding place for chafers. Apart altogether from rose chafer control, it should be the policy of private owners or of municipalities to reforest waste sandy land and convert what is worthless and ugly into something profitable and beautiful. In addition to the reclamation of waste sandy land, old neglected fence rows should be broken up, and all vineyards, orchards and berry patches should be kept well cultivated. Cultivated crops such as corn, potatoes and straw- berries should be grown to the greatest extent possible on the land surrounding the vineyards and orchards, and in the crop rotation clovers should be wholly substituted for grasses. Roadsides should be cultivated up to the ditch, or if this is not possible, shade trees should be grown along the roadside. The fundamental methods of controlling the rose chafer are, in brief, clean farming, good farming and the substitution of clovers for grasses. THE LILAC LEAF MINER Gracilaria syringella Fabr. C. B. Hurcutnes, ENTOMOLOGICAL BRANCH, OTTAWA Economic Note: The lilac is one of the commonest and most beautiful of our ornamental shrubs. Its fragrant blossoms, which in early springtime hang in heavy clusters ranging in colour from white to shades of purple, red and lilac, make it extremely popular and an object of admiration to all flower lovers. While there are several species of lilac in cultivation, the common lilac, Syringa vulgaris, and its large number of varieties, are best known. On account of their satisfactory foliage of many rich green shades which last throughout the summer months, their hardiness, ease of cultivation and general adaptability, they are specially prized throughout Canada and are found thriving in back- yard lots equally as well as on lawns and extensive gardens where they often act as useful hedges and windbreaks. History oF Livac. The lilac is a native of Europe and Asia. It belongs ‘to the genus Syringa of the Olive family Oleaceae. There are several original varieties of Syringa, the principal being vulgaris, the common lilac, and persica, the Persian lilac. The word lilac is from lilag, the Persian word for flower. Syringa is from sirinx, which is the native name given to this plant in Barbary, a district on the Northern Coast of Africa. The plant was introduced into England for cultivation about 1597. It is 20 | THE REPORT OF THE not known, however, when it came to this continent, but there are records of it being here as early as 1652, and it is highly probable that immigrants were — responsible for its spread later to western America. 4 OBSERVATIONS. For the past two summers, at least, the lilacs in many parts of Ontario have been attacked by an insect enemy which has severely — | damaged the foliage, thereby ruining the beauty and symmetry of many of these ornamentals. My attention was first drawn to this insect during the summer of 1923. I had occasion to visit the Victoria Museum, Ottawa, some time in the month of August, and noticed the lilacs about the grounds there badly infested with a leaf miner. Curiosity led me to examine other shrubs of this kind in neighbour- ing gardens on Frank and Metcalfe Streets, and to my surprise found also that those of the central residential sections of the city, the Driveway and the Central Experimental Farm showed the infestation, thus indicating a general local outbreak. = Specimens of the injured leaves containing larvae were brought to the laboratory for closer study. From this material there emerged the following spring (1924), aspecies of moth which was identified by Mr. J. J. deGryse, of the - Entomological Branch, as Gracilaria syringella Fabr. and one considered to be a very serious European pest on lilacs. Just how and when this insect came into Canada is not definitely known, however. As the summer advanced complaints began to come in from various parts of the city, and later on at both our Ottawa and Toronto Exhibitions a number - of inquiries were received respecting this trouble. In the meantime life-history studies and some control esperiments were carried out. I was assisted in these investigations by Mr. A. R. Graham; and through the courtesy of Mrs. E. J. Chamberlain of 333 Metcalfe Street, we were permitted to conduct our observations and experiments on the lilac” hedges in her garden. CHARACTER OF INJURY. About the end of the third week in May the moths emerge and deposit their eggs in groups of from five to ten on the undersides of the leaves, next to the axils of the veins.. The caterpillars hatch in a week’s time and bore upward into the leaf, feeding upon the parenchymatous tissues between the upper and lower epidermis. The point of feeding at first appears simply as a discoloured spot; but this soon becomes irregularly enlarged, and since there may be several of these spots on one leaf, and due to the number of larvae around each, they spread and soon coalesce, giving the leaf surface that characteristic bladdery appear- ance. After feeding this way for three weeks the larvae come to the exterior and curl the leaves. This is generally done from the apical end, although side rolling is not uncommon. The roll is held in place by several strands of white silk fastened down on the exterior, and the larvae which still retain their gregarious habit feed from within on the upper surface of the leaf as they roll it. In ten days they mature and leave the roll, letting themselves to the ground by a fine thread and pupate in the rubbish or surface earth. This resting period occupies approximately two weeks. A second generation then emerges and attacks the leaves more severely than the first, with the result that the foliage is often completely destroyed. The time occupied for the entire life-history is a little over seven weeks. The first generation terminates about the third week in July and the second continues towards the middle of September. DESCRIPTION. The moth belongs to the Microlepidoptera and to the family Gracilariidae. The body is dark brown in colour and about 4 mm. ay HENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIEFY. 21 3 Pree pee ~ long, with a wing expanse of 1 centimeter. The uppers are of brownish tint, _ splashed with six yellow, irregular, transverse patches. The under wings are _ grey-brown and fringed with light grey, very fine hairs. The moths fly during the early hours of the evening. : The larval part of the life-history may be divided into two stages, viz.: _ mining and skeletonizing. In the mining stage the body of the larva is of a greenish tinge, quite transparent, glossy and covered with numerous fine, long hairs. The prolegs are wanting. Later in the skeletonizing stage it becomes a faint, yellow colour through which the intestinal tract is clearly defined. A full grown larva is approximately 8 mm. long, i.e., a little over 14 inch, and 1144 mm. broad. The body, over which a number of sensitive spines are arranged, is cylindrical and somewhat spindle shaped. The head is brownish-yellow, quite conspicuous, smooth, sloping and somewhat compressed. The antennae have three joints. The ocelli, which are arranged in a semi-circular manner, are six in number. The true legs are three-jointed and each bears a tarsal claw surrounded at the base with fine bristles. On the third, fourth and fifth body segments are the false or prolegs, each crowned with a wreath of hooked feet pointing forwards. The anal pair on the tenth segment is semi-circular and also points towards the head. On the ninth segment are several extra long spines which are arranged obliquely and directed outward and backward. > The pupa is about 4 mm. long and yellow in colour, enclosed within a thinly spun cocoon of white silk which the caterpillar fastens to the earth, board or rubbish where the transformation is to take place. ‘ CONTROL. Several strengths of nicotine sulphate were used. While one to one and a half tablespoonfuls to one gallon of water was found hardly strong enough for all stages of the larvae, that of two tablespoonfuls to the gallon effected a perfect control. Not only did this strength kill all the larvae in the mines, but it reached and destroyed those within the rolled leaves. It was observed that the poisoned liquid was supported on the curling leaf surfaces and later was drawn gradually into the roll and-readily affected the feeding larvae. The time to spray is when the leaves first show signs of being spotted, early in June, using one and a half tablespoonfuls of the nicotine to one gallon of water. Follow this with the stronger solution two weeks later, if necessary. The material should be applied as a fine spray and the branches well covered above and below. The picking of the spotted leaves early in the season and burning these . may hold the pest in check to some extent. While this plan lends itself con- veniently in treating small shrubs, it is obviously too tedious and impracticable for the larger plants and high hedges. SoME VARIETIES OF Syringa vulgaris SHOWING VARIOUS DEGREES OF ATTACK BY e Gracilaria syringella F. In making observations in the Arboretum at the Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, where over 150 varieties of this shrub are being grown, it was observed that the miner showed a marked partiality for some varieties, while on the other hand it avoided others entirely. The following-list, which it was found convenient to divide into four parts, will illustrate this, and the name of the different varieties examined are recorded below. It must be understood, however, that this list is made for the year 1924, and is, therefore, only suggestive. Heavily Infested. Madame J. More! Madame Moser Macrostachya Rouge de Marley Ruba insignis Belle de Nancy. Purpurea Monument Carnot. 22 THE REPORT OF THE Chee Lightly Infested. Prinz Notger Charles X Auvergne, Princess Maria Volcan Renoncule. : Dr. Linley Furst Liechtenstein Charles Joli. Prof. Sargent Senateur Volland Double Blue S. sibirica. ’ Very Slightly Infested. Jacques Calot Eckenholm Congo. Amethyst Bulgaria Edward Andre. De Miribel Lovaniensis W. M. Robinson. Madame Casimir Perier. Not Infested. Dr. Nobbe Montgolfier ~*~ Marie Le Graye. Virginite Vergissmeinnicht Chas. Baltet. Rene Jarry Desloges S. Murillo Mad. Abel Chatenay. Geheimrath Singlemann Delepin Emilie Lemoine. Michel Buchner President Carnot Obelisque. Alba grandiflora Comte Horace de Choiseul Versaliensis. Negro Croix de Brahy Madame Briot. FoRMER ReEcorps. No traces could be found of Gracilaria syringella in the United States records, and there seems to be only one brief note from Canada. This appears in the fifty-fourth Annual Report of the Entomological Society of Ontario for 1923, on page 62, under the heading, “Insects of the Season,’’ by Messrs. Caesar and Ross. It reads as follows: “Lilac leaves severely mined by some insects were received from several places in Toronto, Newcastle and Guelph. Leaves were sent in on June 16th, 28th, July 31st, and August 10th, and complaints were made at the time that if this pest in- creased it would make lilacs so unsightly they would be better removed. The larva was lepidopterous and possibly the same one that has troubled lilacs in England, viz.: Gracilaria syringella.”’ / Two English investigators, Collinge and Gillanders, have short accounts of the life-history, and Truffaut, a French entomologist, at Versailles, in his “Les Ennemis des Plantes Cultivees,’’ devotes a short paragraph on page 377 to a discussion of this insect. Other French and German entomologists have studied this insect at different times, and a list of the principal references has been added at the end of this paper. Besides feeding upon lilac, Gracilaria syringelia has been recorded on Ash, Privet and Eyonymus (spindle tree) and Deutzia. ~ References Fifty-fourth annual report Entomological Society of Ontario, p. 62, 1923. Manual Injurious Insects, by Walter Collinge, Birmingham, Eng., G. syringella, the Lilac Leaf Miner, p. 173, 1912. Forest Entomology, A. T. Gillanders, p. 280, 1908. Les Ennemis des Plantes Cultivees, pp. 377; Geo. Truffant, Versailles, France. A brief life history note, 1913. Trait d’Entomologie Forestiére, pp. 539, Recorded on Ash, 1913. Judeich Nitsche, Forst Insecktenkunde, Vol. 2, p. 1066, recorded on ash. Die Raupe der Fliedminiermotte, G. syringella, Von Dr. L. Fulmek, Vienna, 1910. Die Feinde der Syringin, from Die Gardenwelt, Berlin X XVI, 21, 1922, Enemies of the Lilac including G. syringella. Report on Insect Pests and Fungus Diseases of Field and Orchard in 1920. Tidskrift for Planteavl Copenhagen, Denmark, G. syringella on lilac and privet in Denmark, 27, 1921, pp. 697-759. A communication on diseases and pests of cultivated plants in Bohemia in 1918. Zemedelsky, Arch, Prague, Austria, 1920, pp. 80-96, 195-202. G. syringella abundant near Prague, Austria. Handbuch der Pflanzenkrankheiten, by Prof. Dr. P. Sorauer, p. 248, 1913. Les Insectes nuisibles, Vol. III, p. 105, by Ch. Goureau, 1861. Entomologie et Parasitologie Agricoles, by G. Guenaux, p. 394, 1917. a | : - ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 23 Pror. CAESAR: There were some badly affected hedges in Guelph. I saw one about 40 feet long and practically every leaf was dead by the end of July. I think there is some possibility that arsenate of lead might control this pest but I am very glad to hear that Mr. Hutchings has had good success with nicotine sulphate. NOTES ON THE OCCURRENCE OF THE LESSER GRAPEVINE. FLEA- BEETLE IN CANADA ARTHUR GIBSON, OTTAWA An interesting outbreak of this insect occurred in Ottawa city in June, 1917. In the same year, and in other years, Mr. Dwight Isely found the insect in numbers in the State of Pennsylvania, studies being made at North East, Pa. The species was found to be undescribed and the name of Altica woodsi was given to it by Mr. Isely. A description of the insect, with a biological account, was Bae ped in Bulletin No. 901, U.S. Department of Agriculéure (December, 1920). The Ottawa Phresh is the only one of which we have record in Canada. In that year, the larvae and beetles were found in considerable numbers on the foliage of Virginia creeper. On June 8th, numerous eggs were seen to be present on the leaves. These had been deposited singly near the larger veins, as noted by Isely. In three instances at Ottawa, two eggs had been deposited close together. Nineteen eggs were counted on one small leaf 314 inches long by 214 inches wide; on another leaf, 314 inches long by 2% inches wide, twenty- six eggs were counted. The eggs lay flat upon the leaves and as has been recorded with other species, were streaked lengthwise with a thin line of excrement. My notes state that the colour of the eggs is of a pale orange-yellow; the above author gives the colour as “‘straw yellow.” Eggs collected on June 8th, hatched on June 15th. By June 30th many of the larvae were mature and were entering the earth. Pupation took place near the surface. One larva made its cell one-half an inch below the surface. The mature larvae were yellowish-white in colour and measured 6 mm. in length. In our breeding jars the larvae fed almost exclusively on the undersides of the leaves. Examples of both sexes of the beetles which emerged from this brood of larvae were confined in a breeding jar in an outdoor insectary and eggs were deposited freely on and about August 15th. This would suggest two generations in the Ottawa district, at least in some years. According to the above author there is in Pennsylvania only one generation, the insect passing the winter in the adult stage. Regarding the Strawberry Flea-beetle, Altica ignita, Ull., Chittenden (Bull. 23,‘N.S., U.S. Bureau of Entomology) states that indications pointed to two generations annually in the District of Columbia and that there was probably a third generation in the south. Most of the species in. this genus, however, apparently have only one annual generation. ~ Regarding the adult, Isley says that it ‘is similar to Altica chalybea, from which it may be distinguished as follows: Colour, metallic green, rarely with purple or olivacious reflections; antennal joint 3 equal in length to joint 4; average length 3.05 mm., varying from 2.43 to 3.05 mm. The Ottawa speci- mens collected on June 8th and those which I reared from eggs are all either bluish or greenish in shade with, of course, the metallic reflection. The outbreak at Ottawa is the only one of economic interest which we 24 THE REPORT OF THE have from Canada. In the Canadian National Collection of Insects we have the beetle from the following additional localities: ; ae Montreal, Que., 12 June, 1906 (G. Beaulieu) ; Aylmer, Que., 24 August, 1923 (C. B. Hutchings) ; Trenton, Ont., 17 August, 1902; 24 June, 1906 (J. D. Evans); Bowmanville, Ont., on grape, 19 June, 1913; 3 Aug., 1913; 8 Sept., 1913 (W. A. Ross); ~ Beaumaris, Ont., 26 June, 1917 (G. Beaulieu). All of the specimens have been examined by Mr. Norman Criddle, of the Dominion Entomological Branch, who considers them to be the species under discussion. Our records indicate that the insect in Canada has been found on Virginia creeper and cultivated grape. In Pennsylvania wild grape is also attacked. Pror. CAESAR: I would like to add that several years ago I found this species on wild grapes in Prince Edward county. Both adults and eggs were easily found on the leaves. NOTES ON INSECT PARASITES OF PHYLLOPHAGA ANXIA IN THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC By C. E. PetcH AnD G. H. HAmMonp, DoMINION ENTOMOLOGICAL LABORATORY, HEMMINGFORD, QUE. For the past ten years or more white grubs have caused serious losses to various field and garden crops in the Province of Quebec. In Southern Quebec- during the summer of 1923, areas of 100 square feet were found upon which no vegetation survived, and from such areas 50 white grubs per square foot of surface were collected. During the past summer a study was made of the insect parasites of Phyillo- phaga anxia to determine the species which were important as white grub con- trol factors and to what extent they were effective. As investigational work was started toward the end of June it was impossible to secure adult parasites. We are hoping, however, to secure a plentiful supply of these following the heavy flight of adults expected to appear during the spring and early summer of 1925. Tiphia inornata Say. Few adults of this species were on the wing this season and from collections made at Hemmingford and Ste. Anne’s, no other species of 77phia was obtained. Parasitism ranged between 3 and 49 per cent. in local areas, being determined by collections of infested grubs and Tiphia cocoons. From muck soil collections, parasitism averaged 4.4 per cent.; in loose well drained gravel soil containing considerable sand, 20.8 per cent., and in sandy loam soil seeded to timothy and not ploughed for three years, 16.6 per cent. The average control from all types of soil, determined from 13,480 Phyllophaga larvae in various stages, was 13:2. per cent; Although many cocoons. of Tiphia were collected during the summer, few adults emerged and only a few were noted on the wing. Hence only a few larvae were found attached to the white grubs. They were found always in a transverse feeding position near the mid-dorsal line of the prothoracic seg- ment of the grub, which is closely related to the position occupied by the eggs 7 Besa’ ms athe a ve eee eae Oe Pods * <> a ig os ~ , > “a at Pe = ve Rie - ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 25 of T. punctata Rob. (1). This position was unaltered until the parasitic larvae were almost full grown, when the host became flabby and distorted as a result of the feeding of the parasite. The above statements differ from those of _ J. J. Davis (1) in reference to T. inornaia, which are as follows:—‘‘the eggs are ‘laid on the underside of the thoracic or first abdominal segments, usually be- tween the second and third thoracic segments and to one side of the median line, not infrequently relatively distant from the median line and between the legs.” Markings from T7phia stings and larvae were located on the dorso-median area of the prothorax of the grub, except in two cases where they were attached - to the mid-dorsal area of the metathorax. Usually the egg was deposited in the depression of a fold. The larvae hatched from eggs did not reach maturity, but from partially grown larvae collected in the field it was noted that an in- crease in length of 5 mm. commonly took place in twelve days. In the field larvae were noted in various stages of development between July 25th and October. 28th. Cocoon construction was noted between July 28th and September 19th. There is a distinct prepupal stage within the cocoon before the pupa is formed in which the larva assumes a compact form. Hibernation occurs mainly in this prepupal stage within the cocoon. Ina series of 500 cocoons collected in the fall, 85.8 per cent. were over-wintering in this stage, .6 per cent. in the pupal stage, and 13.6 per cent. of the same series hibernated in the adult stage. From our present knowledge it is difficult to state the duration of the life cycle in the Province of Quebec, but there is a possibility that it occupies more than one year. _There were no hyperparasites reared from this species. Pelecinus polyturator Drury This species is not uncommon in the Hemmingford district and at Aylmer, Que. Two females were dug out of soil heavily infested with white grubs on August 25th at a depth of six inches but no trace of immature stages could be found. Microphthalma phyllophagae Curran During 1924 large white maggots with prominent black posterior spiracles were reared in considerable numbers from parasitized white grubs. In two cases three were present in a single host but in all other cases a single larva was found-in one white grub. Adults of these parasites were assumed to be M. disjuncta Wied., but Mr. C. H. Curran indentified them as an undescribed species of which a few specimens were present in the Canadian National Col- ~ lection from Ottawa district and Covey Hill, Que. This species has since been described by Mr. Curran as Microphthalma phyllophagae. Evidently M. disjuncta is absent, because, out of a large series examined, all flies were M/. phyllophagae. Additional distributional points from material in the Canadian National Col- lection are Aylmer, Que.; Teulon, Man.; and Fredericton, N.B. No hyper- parasites were reared from this species, but the spider, Aglaope trifasciata, a common species in meadows in the Hemmingford district, was found to be predaceous on the adults. The comparative abundance of VW. phyllophagae this season has probably resulted from a moderate degree of parasitism of white grubs during the season of 1923 when the latter were in their second year, with the exception of a small overlapping series. White grubs were so abundant in the soil that the per- centage of Microphthalma larvae which survived and managed to reach a white - * 26 THE. REPORT OF rine grub was relatively high. Hence the abundance of flies on the wing during the year 1924. Doubtless the number of flies on the wing during 1925 will be smaller because of the decrease in the number of hosts in the soil due to pupation and adult formation during the larviposition period. The eggs hatch within the fly and the living maggots presumably are deposited on the surface of the soil or in crevices. In a series of 295 white grubs collected in the last week of June from gravelly and sandy loam soil 11.8 per cent. were parasitized. In sandy loam soil which was planted to timothy for the past four years a collection of 155 white grubs obtained October 23rd were parasitized to the extent of 9.8 per cent. The highest percentage of infestation was found among grubs collected from loose muck soil. Collections of 181 grubs from this area were 15.4 per cent. parasitized. The above type of soil is believed to be ideal for the successful establishment of the parasite within the host. Pupation began July 6th and was at its height on July 13th but puparia were found until July 24th. There were little external signs of parasitism in the colour or shape of the grub. The caudal extremity of the parasitic maggot projected through a large opening in the ventral side of the grub, which allowed the escape of much of the body fluid remaining in the host. Puparia were formed either within the body of the grub or at a short distance from it and they were frequently found in empty white grub cells in the field with the larval skin of the host attached. Adult emergence commenced in the laboratory on July 26th and was at its height on August 16th but continued until August 25th. The rapid short flights of the species in the field, accompanied by a low, voluminous, droning sound, was first noted in the field on August 8th but as the flies were present in considerable numbers they were probably on the wing from the first of the month or slightly earlier. Late captures were made on October 2nd but it was common to find specimens with badly frayed wings during~ the early part of September. Females kept in vials in the laboratory deposited living larvae and a certain number of eggs from which larvae emerged almost immediately throughout the period August 13th to October 1st. Larviposition is believed to be normal under field conditions, although J. J. Davis (1), in referring to JZ. disjuncta Wied. speaks of oviposition as the normal method of reproduction. Beaver meadows and pastures were favorite habitats for the flies but they did not seem to be attracted to flowers. Although difficult to see in their rapid flight their dark colouration renders them easily visible on green foliage. Collections made during mid-day contained a considerably greater pro- portion of males than females but in evening collections and in a series of speci- mens reared in the laboratory the proportion of sexes was about equal. Hiber- nation occurs within the host when the young larvae are from 1 to 3 mm. long, development proceeding slowly during the latter part of the season. The adult is a stout fly approximately 13 mm. in length with long legs furnished with large tarsal claws. Long black bristles occur over the abdomen and thorax and the legs are armed with short bristles. The female can usually be distinguished from the male by her darker colouration and by the short pseudo-ovipositor. The vagina contains mature eggs and young larvae to the number of from 350 to 550. Under artificial conditions never more than 225 eggs and larvae were deposited by a single female but under field conditions, however, it is probable a greater number are commonly deposited. Both eggs and young larvae are tightly packed in the vagina at right angles to itslength. The egg is .8 mm. long, curved to each extremity. The anterior /~ * ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY i extremity is sharply pointed while the posterior extremity is usually bluntly pointed. A semi-transparent almost circular area occurs just beneath either extremity. Young larvae just out of the chorion are light yellow in colour, from .8 mm. to .9 mm. long, slender, tapering from the anterior to the posterior extremity. They progress rapidly with a partial looping movement and at regular intervals throw the head end violently into the air and wave the body back and forth while maintaining the equilibrium with the extreme caudal part of the body. Actual entrance of the young parasite into the grub host has not been observed but the young larvae have frequently been observed beneath the white grub cuticle.. Their progress through the host tissues is typically marked by an elongated dark brown streak which generally originates on the lateral area near the centre of the grub and continues after some sinuations across the dorsal area. Usually the young parasite is found near the end of the brownish streak, but in a number of cases cannot be found at all. Some of these brownish areas are rounded but the brownish colouration is usually streaky and it may appear granular because of the presence of many small brownish spots. It is usually irregular in form and in most cases the larvae can be seen. On the other hand, lesions of Micrococcus nigrofasciens (2), a bacterial disease with which it might be confused, are rounded, black to dark brown in colour. It is very probable that in many cases the young parasite introduces the disease into the white grub host when becoming established, but this point has not been definitely determined. The mature larva is approximately 16 mm. long and 4.5 mm. wide. The head extremity, which is bluntly pointed, bears the anterior spiracles with their multiple, rounded openings. The caudal extremity is truncate and some- what oblique. Near the central area of the caudal extremity are the two large, black, prominent spiracles, each of which has three raised, rounded ridges. The three openings are narrow, elongate and almost parallel. The anterior half of the six forward segments are armed with numerous rows of short, stout, pointed spinulae which decrease in size toward the caudal extremity and cover the greater part of the surface of the posterior segments. The puparium is rounded and cylindrical, approximately 12 mm. long and 4 mm. in diameter. The anterior extremity is roundly pointed and the posterior is bluntly pointed. The spiracles differ considerably in form from those figured for J/. disjuncta Wied. by J. J. Davis (1): A silidae Asilid larvae were noted in several instances to feed on white grubs in rearing tins. They were moderately common in a number of fields, which were badly infested with white grubs. Timothy sod, which had not been ploughed for several years, seemed to be the favorite habitat. A total of 325 larvae were picked up behind the plough over the same area from which 13,655 white grubs and June beetles were collected. No adults have yet been reared, but in the laboratory collection Asilus paropus Walk., Cyrtopogon falto Walk., Asilus novaescotiae Macq., and A silus erythrocnemius Hine are the most numerous. Other species not so numerous, but which are liable to be predaceous in the larval stage, are Asilus notatus, Asilus snowi Hine and Asilus sadyates Walk. Mites Although not properly classified as insects, mites may be included here, because of the occurrence of one species which has been found on 100 per cent. of the grubs in Hemmingford district. 28 THE REPORT- OF THE All the grubs were infested with the hypopial nymphs of a species of f yro- } glyphus. These nymphs are.3 mm. in length, broadly oval in outline, and— shaped like a flattened scale. Two anterior pairs of legs are slender and taper to the tarsi. The beak is moderately distinct and pointed. The posterior pairs of legs project backwards and are smaller than the anterior pairs. In the living mite the colour is uniformly straw-colour or white, but in specimens boiled in caustic potash a round, deep brown spot may be seen on either side of the body near the median area, which apparently is not present in the more immature specimens. In the case of moderately infested white grubs the greater number of the nymphs are grouped around the legs. In badly infested specimens hundreds of mites may be found distributed over the host, closely attached to the cuticle by both the beak and legs. Asilid larvae are infested in rare cases by this species, which prefers the living host but does not abandon the host when it is dead. They do not feed in this stage, according to Dr. Banks, but are carried about by the insects until they reach a suitable breeding place, and further, they feed upon fungus and decaying vegetable matter and are never predaceous. _ A species of mite which is not very numerous is Rhizoglyphus phylloxerae Riley. It is 1 mm. in length, broadly oval in body outline, white and without markings of any kind. The legs are long, stout, with moderately long claws. The sucking beak is prominent, fairly broad at the base, and tapers to the apex. It is seldom found attacking live white grubs and occurs in small numbers, seldom more than a dozen being found on a single grub, pupa or beetle. Fre- quently, decaying vegetable matter is taken as food. White Grub Saprophytes Ophyra leucostoma Wd. and Muscina stabulans Fallen were found in large numbers in dead white grubs which were exposed, but neither species was observed to be parasitic, even under exceptional conditions. Literature Cited (1) Davis, J. J., Sta. of Illinois, Dep. Reg. and Education Div. of Nat. Bast. Sarv.:;-Vol. XI Arey. (2) Northrup, Zae, Mich. Agr. Exp. Sta., Tech. Bul. 188. NOTE ON PTINUS FUR L. AND.VILLIGER. REIT. AS STORED PRODUCT PESTS IN CANADA C. HowarRp CURRAN, OTTAWA, ONT. During the past summer reports of injury to stored flour in the Prairie Provinces by a beetle not previously recorded as causing serious damage have come to hand. Unfortunately living specimens were not secured in sufficient: time to conduct experiments tending to the formulation of control measures or to work out the life history of the insect, which proved to be Péinus villiger Reit., so that it is intended here to give notes regarding the occurrence and the products attached. Ptinus fur L., has also been reported as attacking flour and other stored products and, according to Mr. Wm. Downes of the Dominion Entomological Laboratory, Victoria, B.C., the beetles were troublesome in his house, infesting 3 ae 3 ’ ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 29 _ ; such stored products as bran, shorts and grain. They also proved to be a _ pest to Museum specimens, having attacked insect specimens and stuffed birds. : Ptinus fur has been recorded from time to time as a household pest attacking _ various stored products and is commonly known as the “Spider Beetle’ on account of its appearance. ~ Ptinus villiger Reit. appears to be responsible for the damage to stored flour, etc., in the Prairie Provinces, no specimen of P. fur having been received during 1924, associated with stored mill products from this region, although it occurs on the prairies (see distributional note below). P. villiger is distin- guished from fur by the presence of much longer, rather bristly hairs on alternate - intervals of the elytra, these hairs being sub-equal in length in fur. -The products attacked by villiger on the prairies are: flour, farina and cornmeal, according to Dr. A. W. Alcock, chemist of the Western Canada Flour Mills, Winnipeg, who has also made observations on the life history. Ac- cording to his observations, which he describes as very casual, he placed a few beetles in a sealer with some cornmeal, and while the beetles died, a new genera- tion emerged in about three and a half months. This gives some idea of the time required to complete the transformation from egg to adult under favorable conditions, a temperature of about 85 degrees Fahr. being maintained. The eggs have not been seen. The larvae are yellowish white, small, robust, curved and very densely covered with erect, soft, whitish hair. The head is mostly brown, and the eyes are covered with dense hair as on the body. The adult varies in colour from reddish brown to deep brownish black, with, normally, a patch of whitish, recumbent scales on each elytron near the base and apex. The damage to flour is rather characteristic: the flour becomes granular or flaky and may even be somewhat “‘stringy’’ when the infestation is unusually severe. The full-grown larvae form a ball of flour in which they pupate, and these may be found in numbers at the proper stage of the development of the insect. Distribution of Ptinus villiger Reit., as shown by specimens in the Canadian National Collection. Estevan, Sask. (material for rearing, etc.); Aweme, Man., and Ottawa, Ont. Leng gives “‘Nfid., Can., Wash.’’ (Since either P. fur or villiger, probably the latter, is proving quite troublesome in Minnesota, it is almost safe to include that State in the list.) Blatchley gives: ‘‘New England, Michigan and westward.”’ Distribution of P. fur. Material before me is from the following localities: Ottawa, Ont.; Aylmer, Que.; Medicine Hat, Alta.; Lillooet, B.C., and Victoria, B.C. Leng gives: “Cosmop., Ind.; Alaska, Eur., Asia.’’ Blatchley gives: - “Hamilton and Posey Counties (Indiana); scarce.” - 39 THE REPORT OF THE WARFARE AGAINST THE INSECTS C. L. MetcaLF, DEPARTMENT OF ENTOMOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS A distinguished chemist recently told me that “‘the corrosion of iron,— ordinary rust—costs the world about $200,000,000 a year.’ I assured him that the corrosion by insects costs the people of this continent alone, at least $1,000,000,000 a year, or five times the loss by iron rust for the entire world. The general run of the American people are very indifferent to this tremen- dous loss. Entomologists have been warning us for years that the insects are our greatest rivals for the control of the natural resources of the world, and constitute a greater menace to future generations than the yellow peril, or the black peril, or any other human peril that has yet been uncovered. Professor Stephen A. Forbes has very aptly pictured the situation in these words. “The struggle between man and insects began long before the dawn of civilization, has continued without cessation to the present time, and will con- tinue, no doubt, as long as the human race endures. It is due to the fact that both men and certain insect species constantly want the same things at the same time. Its intensity is owing to the vital importance to both, of the things they struggle for, and its long continuance is due to the fact that the contestants are so equally matched. We commonly think of ourselves as the lords and conquerors of nature, but insects had thoroughly mastered the world and taken full possession of it long before man began the attempt. They had, consequently, all the advantage of a possession of the field when the contest began, and they have disputed every step of our invasion of their original domain so persistently and so successfully that we can yet scarcely flatter ourselves that we have gained any very important advantage over them. Here and there a truce has been declared, a treaty made, and even a partnership established........ as with the honey bees and silkworms, for example; but wherever their interests and ours are diametrically opposed, the war still goes on and on and neither side can claim a final victory. If they want our crops, they still help themselves to them. If they wish the blood of our domestic animals, they pump it out of the veins of our cattle and our horses at their leisure and under our very eyes. If they choose to take up their abode with us, we cannot even protect our very persons from their annoying and pestiferous attacks. And since the world began we have never yet exterminated—we probably never shall exterminate—so much as a single insect species. They have, in fact, inflicted upon us for ages the most serious evils without our even knowing it. It is the cattle tick which keeps alive and spreads the Texas fever; it is the mosquito which inoculates our blood with yellow fever and malaria; it is the house-fly which carries to our food the germs of typhoid fever; it is the flea of the rat and of other rodents which threatens all America with that dread disease, the bubonic plague—and now that we have begun to discover facts of this order, many other instances of this kind will no doubt presently be brought to light.’’—Forbes.* The opinion has prevailed among economic entomologists for many years that insects eat or otherwise destroy, on the average, about ten per cent. of every crop grown in the United States each year. If we strike a balance sheet between man and insects, on this basis, the debit side of the ledger would read something like this: er ON le Se ee *Forbes, S. A., The Insect, the Farmer, the Teacher, the Citizen, and the State. Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History, 1915. ‘ ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY ai —————————————————— ——__—”k’k’ ew in account with THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DEBIT THE INSECTS OF THE UNITED STATES Most IMPORTANT ITEMS FOR THE YEAR 1924* Damage to 2,436,513,000 bushels, corn crop Damage to 872,673,000 bushels, wheat crop Damage to 1,541,900,000 bushels, oats crop Damage to 292,726,000 bushels, barley, rye, rice crops Damage to 112,450,000 tons, hay crop Damage to 977,000 bushels, cloverseed crop Damage to 105,619,000 bushels, grain sorghums crop Damage to 32,001,000 gallons sorghum syrup crop Damage to 6,893,000 tons, sugar beet crop Damage to 636,462,000 Ibs., peanut crop Damage to 4,476,000 tons, cottonseed crop Damage to 10,081,000 bales, cotton crop Damage to 1,474,786,000 Ibs., tobacco crop Total estimated damage to staple crops by insects Damage to 454,784,000 bushels, potato crop Damage to 71,861,000 bushels, sweet potato crop Damage te 15,740,000 bushels, bean crop Damage to 7,288,000 bushels, pea crop Damage to 16,318,000 bushels, onion crop Damage to 740,000 tons, cabbage crop Damage to 18,845,000 bushels, vegetable seeds crop $240,546,800 113,659,600 73,949,500 24,389,300 146,764,800 1,336,200 *9'935,300 *2'759,500 *4'089,000 +4’ 307,800 *20,553,800 *156,334,700 *29 893,600 $829,419,900 $29,486,100 9,229,000 *5 748.000 *3'678,900 *2'201,100 *1,718,300 *2'500,000 Damage to sweet corn, tomatoes, melons, cucumbers, asparagus, hops, and other truck crops Total estimated damage to vegetable crops by insects... Damage to 179,443,000 bushels, apple crop Damage to 51,679,000 bushels, peach crop Damage to 17,961,000 bushels, pear crop Damage to 16,500,000 boxes, orange crop Damage to 8,000,000 boxes other citrus fruits Total estimated damage to fruit crops by insects Damage to 61,892,000 flowers and flowering plants Damage to 15,487,000 vegetables and vegetable plants grown under glass Total estimated damage to nursery and greenhouse products Injury to 18,263,000 head of horses Injury to 5,436,000 head of mules Injury to 66,801,000 head of milk cows and cattle Injury to 38,361,000 head of sheep Injury to 65,301,000 head of hogs Injury to 654,200,000 head of chickens Total estimated loss in live-stock production by insects Total estimated damage to all products in storage Total estimated damage to forest trees and forest products Injury by transmission of malaria by mosquitoes *10,000,000 $64,894,000 $21,219,300 6,591,400 2,528,700 *8 415,000 *3,750,000 $42,504,400 $6,189,200 1,548,000 $7,737,200 $11,762,000 4,576,000 106,452,000 3,020,000 6,371,000 *8,208,000 $140,389,000 *$300,000,000 *$130,000,000 $50,000,000 Injury by transmission of typhoid fever, tuberculosis, enteritis, diarrhea, etc., by house flies GRAND TOTAL *25,000,000 *100,000 *$75, 100,000 $1,590,044,500 *In the case of the items starred (*), estimates are for the latest year available, mostly for 1923. 32 THE REPORT OF THE : Such are the considerations that have forced entomologists to conclude that unless insects are more efficiently controlled in the future than they are at present, they may eventually assume proportions that will actually threaten the existence of the human race. We see from the above table, for example, that we had in the United States in 1924 a nearly 2,500,000,000 bushel corn crop, more than four-fifths of a billion bushels of wheat, a billion and a half bushel crop of oats and nearly a third of a billion bushels of other cereals. But while growing this enormous crop we had to yield to the hungry insect pests of cereal crops a toll worth nearly $450,000,000. And this was true not only of cereal crops. The gardeners and truck farmers of America fed another group of hungry bugs, more than $60,000,000 worth of vegetables. As carefully as we guard our fruit crops by spraying and dusting, fruit insects despoiled $40,000,000 worth of apples, peaches, pears, and citrus fruits. And so also for the hay crop and the sugar crop and the cotton crop and the tobacco crop and crops grown under glass—in every case the insects take their share first and man gets what he can save from them. Farm animals are injured and their yield of products, such as milk, butter, meat, wool, hides, honey, wax, etc., depreciated to an extent estimated at $140,000,000. After man has harvested his share, other insects break into his storehouses and steal a living that costs us all a total of $300,000,000.. From disease-carrying insects even sanitary America still suffers grievously, from the illness and death of productive workers; from doctors’ bills and hospital bills and druggists’ bills; and from the depreciation of land values in places where disease infested insects are abundant, such as farms in malarial districts or summer resorts where mosquitoes or black flies abound. The principal ways in which these pests attack, annoy and injure us, I have tried to show in this summary of: MeETHODs OF INJURY BY INSECTS A. They destroy our growing crops: By eating them. By laying eggs in them. By using parts of them to build nests or shelters. By carrying to them the organisms of plant diseases. _B. They injure our domestic animals: By flying or crawling about the body. By entering eyes, ears, nostrils. By repulsive odours and bad tastes. By being accidentally ingested. By attempting to lay eggs upon the body. By pinching, biting, stinging, or nettling with their venoms. By living as parasites habitually on or in the body. By sucking the blood for food. By carrying to the body the pathogens of animal diseases. C. They attack the body of man himself: In all of the ways named under B. D. They destroy our stored products and possessions. By devouring our meats, fats, cheese, grains, flour, nuts, confections, fruits, vegetables, drugs, and tobacco as food for themselves. By consuming woollens, furs, paper, books, labels, photographs, museum specimens, furniture, and buildings. By contaminating these and other products with their eggs, their secretions and their excretions. Wuy INSECTS ARE SO INJURIOUS What are the things that make it possible for insects to carry on such a formidable offensive against man, and the rest of the organic world? They seem to me to be these five. fe iN tl a aad al (1) Their SED Taare haben: The class Insecta is the largest natural group of animals on the globe. It is our belief that one million kinds of insects probably maintain an existence year after year on this continent alone. But laying aside all speculation, we know that more than 400,000 kinds have been scientifically named and described. - What this means may be better appreciated by comparison with some other kinds of animals, probably more familiar to us. A careful count shows that insects are about: 100 times as numerous as mammals, 30 times as numerous as birds or fishes, nearly 100 times as numerous as the worms or reptiles, 45 times as numerous as protozoa. and more than twice as numerous as all other kinds put together. ; If we consider numbers of individuals instead of numbers of kinds, insects will still dominate the land animals of the world. We calculate that for each man, woman, and child that now treads the earth, there are at least 1,000,000 insects. I believe that it is safe to say that there are more insects on an average square mile of American farm than there are people in all of North America. Their great numbers therefore is the first explanation we find of their destruc- tiveness. (2) The small average size of insects, instead of being a disadvantage, enables them to fit into cracks and crannies of the plant and animal communities where competition is less keen than that among the larger animals. Many insects are so small that dozens of them could find standing room on the head of an ordinary pin. Often hundreds are found feeding on a single leaf. In a practical way we find that this often enables insects to gain a foothold, or become established, in field, orchard, or garden before they are even seen, much less recognized as enemies. They have adapted themselves to a world already crowded with animals, in much the same way that we might pour many grains of wheat into a bushel already filled with apples or potatoes. (3) If we cut into the body of an insect we do not find any bones. Nervous system, digestive system, excretory organs and muscles we find, but nowhere any trace of bones. Their skin is their skeleton. It is on the owtside of their delicate tissues instead of covered by them. This skeleton is both very light and very strong, composed of a remarkable substance known as chitin, that is extremely resistant to all ordinary chemicals. Strong acids or lyes or caustic oils have no effect on this body at all. Even boiling potassium hydroxide, which would speedily reduce our bodies to soap, does not destroy the skin of the insect. This chemical-proof armour is built up as a hollow cylinder which is the strongest type of construction with a given amount of material. It presents at every side an arched construction that is proof against injury by falling, and enables the insect to be very active and very reckless in its habits. And finally, this armour occurs on the body in rings with flexible couplings between, so that the insect has achieved the virtues of armour plate without sacrificing activity or freedom of movement. Their cylindrical, chitinous exoskeleton may be accounted a big element in the success of insects. : (4) The powers of reproduction and rapidity of multiplication of most insects are astonishing. We may kill ninety-eight per cent. of the present generation and in six months time a new army of equal magnitude has been begotten by the remaining two per cent. that escaped us. This is made possible by both large families and briefness of life cycle. Compared with thirty years 2 ES. 34 THE REPORT OF THE | ana for man, the shortest known life cycles of insects under normal conditions are® about ten days. While the extreme fecundity is well illustrated by the queen-— of the common honey-bee, which can produce 2,000 to 3,000 eggs daily. She may lay “four times her own weight of eggs each day”’ for weeks in succession. (5) The fifth characteristic that has made insects successful I believe is what may be called fixity of purpose. Any one who recalls trying to sleep on a sunny summer afternoon in a room with a single housefly will have an inkling of what is implied in this point, fixity of purpose! That housefly would alight on your nose, and you could not keep him from it. He practises no caution, he knows no fear, he recognizes no reverses. You may occasionally knock him te the far side of tHe room, but he comes back. Even if it eventually costs him his life, he wz// alight on your nose and you can’t scare him away. Your threats and your abuse make no impression upon his boundless impudence, his singleness of purpose, his energetic abandon to what he considers his duty. That housefly is typical of his whole race! Multiply this one insect by millions, make his form as diverse as the herbs of the field and his method of attack as varied as we have shown it to be, and you have a simple, vivid concept of the problem con- fronting the human race in the so-called insect peril. What a field for research! What a challenge to man’s boasted intelligence and supposed dominion over the earth! Match your wits against the blind unreasoning instinct of a billion tiny chinch bugs, intent on reaching the near-by cornfield, and see if you can keep them out. Dispute, if you will, the right to possession of a seaside summer resort with the cohorts of bloodthirsty mosquitoes. Conquer the heart of Africa from the deadly grip of the tsetse fly and its consort, sleeping sickness. Say to the European corn borer, which at present has not penetrated into the great corn growing States of America, “thou shalt not invade our corn belt and despoil the crops of our smiling prairies.’”’ I verily believe that the man who loves a fight can nowhere in the universe find a setting more ideal than that provided by any abundant, destructive and aggressive insect. Our enemy, then, in this great contest is characterized (a) by a size so small that they are often encamped in our midst before we see them; (b) by numbers of soldiers beyond human comprehension; (c) by a coating of armour, at once light, remarkably strong, flexible and acid proof; (d) by powers of reproduction that lead us often to despair of ever reducing their numbers; and (e) by a fearless- ness, an impudence, an absolute abandon to the dual purpose of finding food for themselves and assuring the security of the next generation. What shall we do? Some fundamental, scientific methods of preventing insect breeding and increase must be discovered, if we are going to check their gradual encroachment upon all that is necessary for human life and happiness upon the earth. I have noticed recently that the chemists have perfected an alloy of chronium and iron that bids fair to reduce very greatly the $200,000,000 annual loss by iron rust. I wish to show particularly this evening what entomo- logists are doing to lighten the losses caused by insects. Wuat Doss INSECT CONTROL INCLUDE ? The mention of insect control usually calls up visions of spraying, and spray pumps. That is the phase of insect control that the public hears most about. But spraying comprises only about one-tenth of the vast programme of control being waged continuously against insect pests. Historically, mechanical and physical measures were doubtless the first artificial control measures employed ENTOMOLOGICAL ‘SOCIETY 35 against insects. These consist of destruction by hand, mechanical exclusion, the use of traps, drainage, flooding, heat, cold, etc.; any mechanism or operation with which the insect is killed by the physical or mechanical action of the control measure. These are outlined in the following table: MECHANICAL OR PHYSICAL MEASURES USED FOR THE CONTROL OF INSECTS 2. 1. Destruction by Hand: Collecting, crushing or dislodging the insect from plant or animal _by human labour. a. Hand-picking. b. Jarring off plants; taking advantage of the death-feigning instinct. c. Swatting. d. Worming of trees for borers. e. Scraping of bark under which insects have taken shelter. f. Pruning infested twigs and burning them. Mechanical Exclusion: The interposition of some impassable obstruction between the insect and the object to be protected. a er WO SAD . Screening of houses, storerooms, restaurants, delivery trucks, exposed foods, beds, persons, individual plants, seed beds. . Linear barriers about fields; such as dust furrows, open ditches, straw or fabric or salt saturated with kerosene, fences of cloth or upright sheets of metal. . Tree banding, collars, paper discs, etc., for individual plants. . Bagging of fruits or fruit clusters. . Fly-nets, screen muzzles, nose fringes, etc., to protect animals. . Crushing Machines: Such as brush drags, rollers, etc. . Traps: Any device in which an insect is caught and killed or held until it may be destroyed. . Mechanical stationary traps; such as deep, smooth holes in the soil; flat stones, boards, heaps of refuse, etc., so placed that the insects congregate under them; the use of loose fabrics in which the insects become entangled; tanglefoot and other adhesive materials; the maggot trap; the codling moth band trap; light traps; window traps, etc. . Mechanical moving traps, such as sticky shields, boxes, and wands moved over or among plants or other infested objects to catch the insects that j jump or fly from them; hopper- dozers, aphidozers, hopper catchers; vacuum cleaners and other suction traps. . Baited traps, in which some odorous material is used to entice the insect, such as fly-traps, roach traps, moth traps. . Animals as traps; allowing attractive animals to range over infested buildings or fields in order to concentrate upon them parasites or household insects. . Plants as traps, such as sundew, Venus’ fly-trap, pitcher plants, bladderworts, milk- weed, etc., in which the plant is naturally adapted to destroy insects. Not utilized by man. . Drainage, Dehydration of Breeding Places: . Drainage of swamps and other breeding places of mosquitoes, horseflies, and other aquatic insects. . Scattering of manure promptly and Phat over fields to destroy houseflies. . Flooding and Syringing: . Syringing greenhouse and other plants, for red spider, etc. . Flooding lowlands and irrigated districts to destroy cranberry insects, grape phylloxera, and others. . The Use of Heat: a. The superheating of mills, dwellings, etc. oF . Burning over fields, fencerows, ditch banks; or burning crop remnants, pruned twigs, wheat straw, branches bearing caterpillar nests, etc., or the use of blast torches and ‘iquid fire’ against insects or their eggs. . The Use of Cold: . Cold storage stops feeding and development and so prevents damage from clothes moths, stored-grain pests, and others. . Exposing mills and storerooms to the low temperatures of winter weather may be used to rid them of pests. The Use of Electricity, Roentgen Rays, etc.- This is still in the experimental stage, although some elaborate machines are in use to destroy the insects in stored products by this means. Simple methods of retaliation by hand must have been used against annoying biting insects from the very dawn of human evolution, and for some pests, S05 THE: REPORT OF TIE. destruction by hand is still the best method of control. Some clever barriers have been devised to use against insects. Tanglefoot bands to prevent leaf- eating caterpillars from ascending trees. Barrier muzzles to keep flies from laying eggs on our domestic animals. Collars, paper discs and screens of various ~ kinds for individual plants. But nothing illustrates better the persistence and determination of insects than the relatively low efficiency of these mechanical ~ barriers. Take ordinary household screening. Try our best, we never reach perfection in this seemingly simple undertaking. I have known no house, however carefully screened, that remained entirely free from houseflies during even a single week’s use. Linear barriers are much used against such insects as advance to the attack on foot, like army worms and chinch bugs. However carefully constructed and maintained, you may count upon the resourcefulness or persistence of insects to get some of their number across the line. INSEcT TRAPS The animal trapper matches his wits against the cunning of his prey. But insects often have no cunning; and insect traps are, as a rule, unbelievably simple. One of the saving facts in the fight against insects is their almost total lack of intelligence, or the ability to profit by experience, or to reason. They are creatures of instinct which must follow the stimulus from any combination of intrinsic and extrinsic factors in the same way, time after time in the life of the same individual, and generation after generation of the same species much as any engine would follow the same track of iron rails. They are automatons, that do everything in the same way their ancestors did for millions of generations back. On this account, in economic entomology we can deal with the species as our untt, instead of the countless zmzdividuals as would be necessary did they possess a intelligence of the human kind. The task of the insect trapper then istodiscover some characteristic behaviour on the part of the pest-under investigation. Being able to depend upon this lack of individuality and absence of reasoning power we can make use of some devices of great simplicity. Having devised some mechanism that will intercept and thwart this characteristic behaviour and enmesh or otherwise destroy the insect, we Can count upon practically all individuals following the course that our observations have shown to be typical or instinctive for that species. Flies at a window, or after having fed, crawl upward, repeatedly upward, and will follow in great numbers into a trap properly constructed and placed in a stable window. Busheis of them crawl upward and inward, but probably not one in a bushel ever crawls downward and outward through the small ~ aperature by which it readily entered. Roaches may be enticed by bait into a simple Erlenmeyer flask trap until it is crowded with them, but probably not one in a thousand ever finds its way out. Many more-complicated traps have also been devised, as various catchers for grasshoppers, for cotton moths, or for cucumber beetles. One of the cleverest of insect traps is the so-called ‘‘Maggot Trap’”’ devised by Hutchison for the destruction of housefly larvae. Its essential features are a slatted platform about 10’ x 20’ supported above a shallow cement basin with an adjoining pump and tank. Onto this platform are wheeled each day the accumulation of manure from the horse stable; flies develop in this. material from the eggs to fully-sized larvae. At this point a critical observation comes into service. All of us who ever found houseflies in their several stages had a chance to 8 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY Si observe that eggs and maggots are in the moist material, but the pupa stage - always in driest portions of the medium. It remained, however, for Hutchison to see the significance of this observation and to bring out the fact that the larva when full grown and ready to pupate has a reversion of tropisms (a negative hydrotaxis) causing it to get away at all cost from wet places before the change takes place to the helpless pupa which would be drowned in water. All that is necessary, therefore, is to keep the mass of material wet by pump- ing the drippings back through it once a day, and the larvae, trying to desert the moist habitat, drop through into the tank below and are drowned. One trap collected 110,000 larvae in the two months it was in operation under normal farm conditions. I mention it, because it seems to me to illustrate that point of cleverly taking advantage of observations made under natural conditions, and to emphasize the necessity for living with these insect enemies until we can come to think in insect language and interpret every little instinctive movement that is common to all individuals of the species. CONTROL BY VARIATIONS IN TEMPERATURE One of the noteworthy advances of the last decade was the application of heat to the control of mill insects. Of course it was obvious that any insect could be killed by applying sufficient heat, but I think we were all surprised when acareful investigation showed that all of our pests of stored grains and the house- hold could be killed at temperatures within the limits of safety from fires and without injury to the building or its products. In general it may be said that all of our insect pests of stored products are killed by temperatures between 48 degrees and 55 degrees centigrade (120 to 135 degrees Fahrenheit) continued from ten to thirty minutes. Special steam-heating equipment has been installed in hundreds of mills throughout the Middle West as the most practical and efficient method at present known of controlling, completely, all kinds of mill- infesting insects regardless of the life stage or inaccessibility. It is not at all dangero: us to human life and there is only slight danger of fire. * It is positive in penetration to the interior of the largest bins, given sufficient time. It kills especially surely the egg stage, which is very resistant to fumigation, and has usually made it necessary to repeat a fumigation after about two weeks. One treatment a year is sufficient with heat, and after the initial installation it costs only one-fifth as much to make an application of heat as it does to fumigate. - We can also use subnormal temperatures, or cold, very successfully for certain pests. In the larger cities the department stores accept winter clothing such as furs and woollens for storage during the summer at temperatures slightly freezing; at which temperature the clothes moths and carpet beetles are incapable of moving or feeding to destroy the clothing. THE USE OF INSECTICIDES Chemical warfare against insects. began about fifty years before it was used in human warfare. The modern application of chemicals to plants to destroy their insect parasites began here in the Western Hemisphere sometime between 1860-1867 when someone, whose name has unfortunately been lost to us, dusted his potato vines with Paris green for the first time to check the destructive work of the Colorado potato beetle. General adoption of this method of control was very slow, partly because of fear of poisoning the tubers, partly because the dust applied burned the leaves badly, and partly because there was no suitable machinery for making 38 THE: REPORT ORE E the application. The pioneer entomologist, C. V. Riley, soon grasped the idea that if Paris green would control the potato beetle, it ought also to be effective against other kinds of insects that feed in a similar way. So it was tried against the cotton caterpillar (1872), cankerworms (1873), codling moth (1879) and by the early 80’s this material had come into fairly general use. Paris green has little merit as an insecticide except that it does contain arsenic and will kill insects that devour it. Yet it remained practically the only insecticide in common use up until 1892 when the necessity for a better poison spray (one that was more highly insoluble and would not burn the foliage) to control the gipsy moth in New England led to the trial and adoption of arsenate of lead which then gradually supplanted Paris green. The rising cost and scarcity of arsenate of lead during the war led to improved methods of manufacture of calcium arsenate. This material is more toxic than arsenate of lead, and is now in the ascendancy. It promises to be the weapon of chief dependency in the fight against the cotton boll weevil in the southern States; 31,000,000 pounds of calcium arsenate, 11,000,000 pounds of lead arsenate, and about 3,000,000 pounds of Paris green were used in 1923. A consumption of over 22,000 tons of arsenicals in the fight against the insects in this one country alone, which gives us some idea of what a stupendous and costly fight it is. Insecticides may be considered as of five or six principal groups according to their effect upon the insect and the way in which they are applied. SOME OF THE MorE IMPORTANT INSECTICIDES OR CHEMICALS USED TO CONTROL INSECTS 1, Stomach Poisons: Chemicals applied to plants as sprays or dusts. When swallowed by the insect, along with his usual food, they are dissolved in the stomach and cause death. a. Arsenate of lead, Pbs (AsOs) or PhHAsOs. b. Arsenate of calcium, Cas(AsO,)2. Paris green, 3Cu(AsOz)2 Cu(C2H302)s. . London purple, an impure arsenite of calcium. Arsenic trioxide, As2O3. Sodium fluoride, NaF. Hellebore, the powdered roots of the plant Veratrum album. . Poisoned Baits: One of the stronger stomach poisons, mixed with a substance that is very attractive to insects; if possible, more so than their usual focd. 3. Contact Insecticides: Chemicals applied to insects as sprays or dusts. When they strik€ the body of the insect, they may (a) enter the spiracles, penetrate the tracheae and poison the tissues beyond, or (b) clog up the spiracles or otherwise deprive the insect of oxygen and suffocate it, or (c) corrode the tissues of the insect directly through the body wall, or (d) loosen the insect from the plant, or (e) stick the insect fast to the plant, or in some other way accomplish its de- struction without requiring to be swallowed. a. Nicotine and nicotine sulphate. ‘ b. Lime-sulphur, CaS;-+CaSi+CaS$203+CaSOs. c. Oil emulsions. , d, Pyrethrum, the powdered blossoms of Chrysanthemum coccineum. 4. Fumigants or Gases: Chemicals that attack the insect in the gaseous state. Usually applied in an enclosed space of some kind. They may poison the insect through its tracheal system or, by combining with the oxygen of the air about the insect, suffocate it. a. Hydrocyanic acid gas, HCN. d. Sulphur dioxide, SOs. b. Carbon disulphide, CSze. e. Paradichlorobenzene, CeHsCle. c. Nicotine. 5. Repellents: Chemicals applied to plants, animals or their surroundings, which keep insects from damaging them because of their offensiveness. a. Bordeaux Mixture. c. Naphthalene. b. Creosote. d. Oil of citronella. 6. Parasiticides: Chemicals applied to the bodies of animals to kill their parasites. They may be either stomach poisons or gases, but they are mostly contact insecticides. woe ho Ah a. Nicotine sulphate. : f. Sulphur ointment. b. Lime-sulphur. g. Sodium fluoride. c. Creoline. h. Pyrethrum. d. Raw linseed oil. 1. Ilodoform. e. Mercurial ointment. j. Carbon disulphide. wre te - ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 30 Considering the many poisonous substances known to the pharmacist, the above menu for insects seems pitiably meagre. It is noteworthy that prac- tically all of the stomach poisons used as sprays for plants are compounds of arsenic. These alone of the substances tried meet the rigorous tests of non- toxicity to the plant, palatability to the insect, adhesiveness, spreading qualities and low cost. The margin between chemicals or dosages that will kill the insect and those that will kill the plant is so slight in all these cases that the materials must be manufactured, compounded and applied with the greatest care. Certainly among all the compounds known to the chemists, there must be many others that we ought to be using against insect pects. The chemist and the entomologist must co-operate. Or we must greatly extend the period of training of the entomological-chemist or chemical-entomologist, until he has not only mastered entomological principles but has also learned to know the field of chemistry. In our search for insecticides we must not be limited by the known effect of chemical substances on human beings, rats or guinea pigs. ‘Trying it on the dog” is not a sufficient or reliable guide to its effect on insects. For certain insects may thrive on a diet of substances that would prove fatal to us; and other substances, not or only mildly toxic to man, are highly so to insects. For example, Forel found that ants ate quantities of honey containing arsenic acid without a one of them showing any signs of suffering. He also introduced strychnine into wounds in their bodies without producing the cramps charac- teristic of its effects on man. Quite empirically the substance known as sodium fluoride was discovered about ten years ago to possess remarkably valuable properties for the destruction of lice on poultry, roaches in dwellings, etc.; and paradichlorobenzene as a specific remedy for peach borer has completely revolutionized the control of this pest. It seems almost certain that a numbér of other common chemicals must possess equally valuable merits, and only await discovery. THE APPLICATION OF INSECTICIDES More impressive than the list of spraying materials has been the evolution of the. bewildering array of apparatus for applying these materials to the plant. We have already noted how the early adoption of. Paris green was greatly delayed by lack of adequate machinery (or indeed any machinery) for its application. As recently as 1865 we note the serious recommendation of kerosene to control scale insects on orange trees; the method of application being to pour oil out into a saucer and apply it with a feather! Following this came the whisk broom, used as recently as 1862 in France, the sprinkling can, and the syringe. A recent writer states that a spraying machine built ten years ago compared with the latest model would exhibit more numerous and impressive improve- ments than a similar comparison of automobiles. Various kinds of power have been utilized: (a) That of the human arm as in small atomizers, or bucket pumps, or barrel pumps, or horizontal lever pumps. (b) That of compressed air or other gases. (c) The traction of wheelbarrow or horsedrawn vehicles. (d) And especially the power from a gasoline engine. It is difficult machinery to design and construct. We require an apparatus that will deposit over the entire exposed parts of plants and trees, on all surfaces, above and below and around, an extremely fine film of liquid with a theoretically 40 THE’: REPORT-OF THE absolute uniformity and with great force or pressure. The apparatus must be designed to provide a powerful pump that is easily portable over rough ground and adaptable to treating tall trees, low bushes, row crops and vines. The engines must have a high ratio of horsepower to weight. Materials must be used for the working parts of the pump that are resistant to the corrosive action of the caustic or gritty or oily chemicals used. The nozzles which break the liquid into a fine mist have presented a great problem in applied physics. The requisite points that must be met are a solid cone of mist, of great fineness, absolutely uniform density, and great carrying power, and the fragmentation of the liquid without great loss of pressure. The first spray nozzle was invented in 1858, the Bordeaux in 1878; the Vermorel type in 1884, and the disk nozzle in 1906. All of these have taken on a great variety of nee One of the most significant peste as was made in 1916 when the scarcity of labour and the almost prohibitive cost of spraying led to the develop- ment of the spray gun. This invention has made possible the very rapid covering of trees, with an important saving of labour albeit some waste of materials. In orchard spraying and particularly in spraying forest trees the biggest task has been to reach the higher parts of the trees with a uniform application. In the early days of gipsy moth work in New England, we see men trying to spray tall trees by climbing up into them. The spray gun and a greatly improved type of solid stream nozzle have made it possible to reach the tops of the tallest trees from the ground. So finely adjusted is this apparatus that the distribution of the spray is remarkably uniform and covers the foliage so intimately that scarcely a part of any leaf can be consumed by insect pests without ingesting also some of the poison. DUSTING VS. SPRAYING Anyone who has any considerable amount of spraying need not be told that it is a disagreeable job. [It is not at all surprising, therefore, that many attempts have been made to substitute dry applications for sprays. In this connection, we must bear in mind that dusting was the original method, his- torically. Our first stomach poison, Paris green, was at first applied as a dust. There has been a great revival of interest in dusting, especially since about 1900, with the accompanying development of dusting machinery to a very high degree of efficiency. Dusting is easier, more rapid, and more pleasant work than spraying. Both materials and equipment are much lighter, two pounds of dust having the same covering as ten gallons of spray, weighing eighty pounds. The equipment weighs on the average one-third or one-fourth as much as a sprayer of equal capacity. The dust materials are generally more expensive, but the saving in labour and equipment will usually offset that. The present consensus of opinion, however, is that, on the whole, dusting is less effective than spraying, except for leaf-eating insects. DUSTING FROM THE AIRPLANE In 1921, the first use of the airplane in applying insecticides was made in Ohio. The plane was a Curtis, equipped with a special hopper for distributing the dry powered arsenate of lead in measured quantities, into the powerful air_ current from the propeller of the plane. In this test a six-acre catalpa grove was dusted to destroy the catalpa sphinx. eer | - ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 41 2 The plane flew at a speed of eighty miles an hour at a height of twenty to thirty-five feet, passed the grove six times, distributed 175 pounds of poison with remarkable uniformity to every tree, 7n an actual dusting time of fifty-four seconds! The next summer the U.S. Bureau of Entomology used two planes in an effort to determine the practicability of the airplane in dusting for the control of the cotton boll weevil. Owing to the fact that the air surrounding a mov- ing plane has a strong downward course the dust released from the hopper is immediately converted into a great hollow spiral cloud and forced downward among the plants in spite of strong air currents, with only a very slight amount going off into the air above. Calcium arsenate was laid down in strips of 150 to 200 feet wide, using only two to four pounds of poison to the acre. One machine covered from 240 to 500 acres of cotton an hour, without any more indiscriminate poisoning of adjoining cabins and surrounding pasture lands than results from ground dusting, and at a cost calculated to be less than with other methods. What the future of spraying and dusting shall be, no one can tell. Two extremes of opinion are: (1) That we must look forward to the gradual adoption of a complete spraying programme for all crops that we try to grow. That we shall in future not wait until insects and diseases appear in our crops and then spray, but that we shall expect to spray or dust by the calendar or in synchrony with the develop- ment of the crop just as we now cultivate and harvest the crop. That is one belief; the other school believes: (2) That spraying and dusting cannot be expected to permanently solve our insect troubles. That they are but transient expedients to serve us until such time as we can perfect more fundamental methods of dealing with these scourges. That the adoption of elaborate, complete spraying schedules for all crops must break down of its own financial weight. That eventually we shall have preventive control, instead of regaling our plants with drugs after the damage has begun. THE USE OF POISONED BAITS A method of applying stomach poisons that appears to me to promise much for the future, is in so-called ‘Poisoned Baits.’ Its success depends on finding some substance that is chaemotaxically attractive to the insect, if possible more so than its normal food. This substance is then mixed with a very toxic substance and exposed where the insect may take it. It seems certain that there must be, in every plant, some chemical con- stituent that determines that a given insect shall feed on that and no other kind. If we can determine what that attractive substance is, we should be able to mix it with poison and kill thousands of the unsuspecting insects. Besides baiting the feeding stage of an insect, it seems distinctly possible that we can attract with a proper bait the ovipositing females which must in many cases find the proper host plant or other media for their young by chaemotaxis. The reason this method seems to me to promise so much is that once we have determined and isolated the stimulating substance in any given case, we have in our hands the power to vary its strength and we should be able to make it sufficiently more attractive than the normal natural food that we could collect and destroy an appreciable percentage of the individuals in a given section. The most widely used of poison baits have been the various mixtures of bran, arsenic, water, molasses and other attractive substances such as fruit- 42 THE REPORT OF THE juices, commonly known as poisoned bran mash. - First brought to light about 1865 it was not used in a big way until about 1912. During the last decade this has developed into a sovereign remedy for cut-worms, army worms, and especially for grasshoppers. In 1919, thirty-nine counties in Kansas used 4,565 tons or 183 carloads of bran, eighty-three tons of white arsenic, 83,000 gallons of molasses and 498,000 lemons to make grasshopper bait. In 1920 the Dominion Entomologist directed the treatment of over 1,400,000 acres of wheat in Saskatchewan, with the saving of $20,000,000 worth of grain otherwise doomed to destruction. In Montana in 1922, over 5,500 tons of poisoned bran mash were used in combating the plague of grasshoppers. In 1922 two Canadian entomologists reported upon a method of using liquid poisoned baits for cut-worm moths that challenges one’s admiration. They used a mixture of soluble arsenic in water with some saccharine and amyl acetate. The odorous amyl acetate attracted the moths even away from flowers of goldenrod and Russian thistle upon which they normally feed. They fed upon it freely, but did not die from its effects for from eight to forty hours. During this interval they flew away from the trap and many of the females would lay their eggs before they could be killed by the poison, thus defeating the purpose of the trap. These ingenious Canadians discovered that by adding a trace of quassia to the liquid bait that the quassia paralyzed the moths and prevented them from laying their eggs until the arsenic had had time to kill them. Their method of exposing the bait was as interesting as the bait itself. Since one bait trap must be exposed about every ten rods about the field, the method would be impractical unless it were practically a self-feeder. The moths begin flying at dusk and the bait should be exposed each day shortly before this time, but it would involve too much labour to set the trap daily. To accomplish this purpose they used a bottle (such as a beer bottle) fitting it with a six-inch lamp wick held in place by acork. The filled bottles were inverted and wired to the west side of fence-posts, tree-trunks, etc., where the sun would strike them only in the late afternoon. The heat of the sun caused the liquid to expand sufficiently to force it out and wet the wick enough to attract the moths all night long. One filling was enough to run the bait trap for ten to fourteen-days. FUMIGATION FOR INSECTS For the treatment of infested objects that are, or can be, enclosed in an air- tight container, fumigation or the use of poison gases affords a powerful weapon. It has very many applications, such as greenhouse fumigation, mill fumigation, or the treatment of dwellings, storerooms, nursery stock, citrus trees, infested soil, etc. The gas may be generated by the pot-method in which a bag of sodium cyanide is lowered into an earthenware jar of sulphuric acid and water, resulting in the immediate evolution of a great cloud of hydrocyanic acid gas, one of the most toxic substances known. For nursery stock, seeds, cotton, etc., special fumigating chambers are often used in which the dosage is carefully regulated to kill the insects without injury to the living plants. In California the gas is used to treat the living citrus trees by enveloping them in huge gas-tight bags, and then generating the gas inside the bag. There are many improved methods of generating the gas by means of machines which automatically admit the correct amount of sulphuric acid into a mixture of sodium cyanide and water and conduct the gas so generated to the tent near-by. More recently a liquefied hydrocyanic acid gas is shipped in drums and vaporized as needed by heat supplied by burning the exhaust gas \ oP , ~ ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 43 of the Ford car. In 1915 it was found that by fumigating in a vacuum much _ better penetration of the gas into the interior of bales of cotton and the like could be procured, thus greatly increasing the usefulness of this method of fighting insect pests. THE “PLACE OF FARM PRACTICES IN INSECT CONTROL For the protection of mills, storehouses, orchards, gardens, and greenhouse plants we can afford these physical and chemical methods of control. But for the vast acreages of field crops, of relatively low value per acre, we must depend upon less expensive methods, or methods involving no expense at all. Such measures require more careful research, more searching naturalistic obser- vations, a fuller knowledge of the life-history, behaviour, and biology of the insect than any hitherto discussed. But having been once perfected they can be applied at almost no cost. Here fall such methods as burning chinch bugs in winter quarters, the use of resistant varieties of corn, delayed seeding for Hessian fly and the plowing under of refuse infested with corn borers. In the farm practices certain entomologists see hope of a more fundamental and permanent scheme of control than that by chemicals, in the belief that once carefully worked out and applied these agronomic measures will create a habitat in which obnoxious insects cannot easily develop to the point where they become ascourge. That will not, however, be achieved in our generation nor the next. FARM PRACTICES FOR THE CONTROL OF INSECTS . Crop Rotation: ’ . Variety in succession of crops on a given area. . Shifting acreage of a given crop to distant fields to compel migration. Rotating animals on pasturage to eliminate parasites. Variations in Time or Method of Planting or Harvesting: . To avoid egg-laying time of the insect. . To get the crop mature before its pests become abundant. To get plants well established before the attack comes. . To cut short the development of some stage or generation. Planting a surplus of seeds and thinning. . Stimulating Plant Growth: By careful preparation of seed bed. By proper drainage and conservation of soil moisture. . By timely planting of good seed. By applying carefully selected fertilizers to force infested plants. . Clean Farming: . Destruction of weeds, particularly those closely related to crop being grown. Keeping down volunteer plants. Destruction of crop remnants. . Removal, burning or burying of trash or rubbish. . Thorough cleaning of storage-houses when emptied. Scraping of bark, whitewashing, etc. . Tillage or Cultural Methods: . Deep plowing in late fall or early spring. Fallowing. . Frequent shallow cultivations. Use of Resistant Varieties: . Varieties of the plant on which the particular insect will not feed. . Varieties of the plant which, though attacked by the insect, withstand it and make a crop in spite of it. . Use of Trap Crops: . Asmail area of the same kind of crop so planted as to be in a particularly attractive stage at the time the attack comes on. , ; b. A small area of a different crop that is especially attractive to the insect. STA HAAOTA HA DHADNTA FP ADNSTA WHAKDTA NY ATA aon ca THE REPORT,OE THE . Improved Methods of Storage: . Storage in well-built storerooms. Storage in large bulk. Air-tight storage. . Screening, covering, sealing, to prevent infestation. AVA se od THE UTILIZATION OF THE INSECT ENEMIES OF INSECTS I wish I had the ability and the time to convey to you a real impression of the complexity of the undertaking of fighting injurious insects with other insects. It is a matter of the commonest observation that some insects eat others, either as predators, catching and devouring their prey much as a cat does mice, or as parasites, in which case the young, wingless stages of the parasitic insect commonly live and feed as maggots inside the body of the host. I cannot tell you the value of the work performed by predaceous and parasitic insects, but it is generally felt by all who study the matter carefully that, without the work of these friends to agriculture, no farmer could save enough of his crops year after year to make a living. Most of our injurious insects vary greatly in numbers from year to year. We have grasshopper years and chinch bug years and Hessian fly years and army worm years, when these destructive pests descend upon us in countless numbers after perhaps a series of years of comparative immunity. This fluctuation seems to be due principally to two causes. One of them is the weather, the other is the attack by insect parasites and predators. We have not yet learned to influence or control the weather, but it has been found possible artificially to encourage the entomophagous insects, to increase their numbers, ° to extend their distribution and otherwise enhance their usefulness. The following methods have been used: (1) Concentrating them at points where their activities will do the most good. Ladybird beetles are thus collected in waste land, kept in cold storage over winter and liberated in the spring among truck crops where their prey has appeared. The California State Commission of Horticulture collected in_ 1910 over a ton of the convergent lady-bird beetle about the bases of plants in mountain valleys. These were kept over winter and in the spring boxed in 60,000 separate lots and redistributed to truckers and melon growers to devour the plant lice on their crops. (2) Besides collecting the predators that have grown naturally out-of-doors, these insects may be cultivated or propagated in tremendous numbers in the- laboratory and thus return to the combat in the spring an army whose numbers have been multiplied many times during the winter. (3) There are many parasites that are not widely distributed that occur and perform their beneficial work only in restricted states, or provinces, or continents. Especially for the recently introduced foreign pests that are brought to our country from the ends of the earth on nursery stock and other importations, ~_we often find in the country from which they came the insect warriors that will enable us to overcome their ravages, but which were left behind when their hosts were imported. Our problem then becomes one of finding out what these parasites are, of assuring ourselves that, if brought in our country, they may not do more harm than good; and, when so assured, of shipping them successfully to America and getting them established in the new environment. A type of work that promises more and at the same time involves greater difficulties and risks could hardly be imagined. The experience of Australia with her introduced jack rabbits, and that of America with the English sparrow, warns us that we are in great danger of doing vastly more harm than good unless a a ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 45 any importation of foreign species is preceded by the most searching scrutiny of its natural habits, and careful experimentation with it, under varted con- ditions, until we can say with assurance what its behaviour will be. It is a source of much comfort that among the hundreds of thousands of such insects that have been brought to America in the last twenty-five years, no blunder like that of the English sparrow or of the jack rabbit introduction has yet been committed by entomologists. Once reasonably assured that the parasite is a desirable one, the painstaking work of trained operators is required to successfully collect a sufficient number to ship; to hit upon a successful method of packing for shipping. Shall they be sent in the egg stage, or as crawling larvae, in the quiescent pupa stage or as the active adults? If sent as larvae or adults how shall we assure an abundant supply of fresh food of a suitable kind during the long voyage of days or weeks on the ocean? If as dormant eggs or pupae how shall we make sure that they do not hatch or emerge in transit with resultant death from lack of attention? If coming from a different latitude, when shall we start them to make sure they will arrive, not in the middle of the winter or at a time when the host they attack is not available but at the proper season to begin activities with the most hope of success? Once successfully across the seas, they must be sub- mitted to a second searching test under the new environment and if they possess. any traitorous characteristics these must be discovered before they are passed out beyond human control. Then they are ready to be turned out to the great silent battle of bug against bug. So great have been the difficulties, so tre- mendous the risks involved and so frequent the disappointments that I imagine none would have the courage to undertake this type of biological control were it not that we now have a number of cases of pronounced success to reinforce our courage. = LEGISLATION FOR INSECT CONTROL The final phase of insect control to which I must refer briefly is control by means of legislation. Most of our worst pests are introduced ones, at least -100 major plant pests having been brought to America from other countries, to say nothing of those of minor importance. There is little chance for an insect pest to spread from one continent to another except as aided by man’s commerce, especially the traffic in living plants. If we had had an efficient system of inspection and quarantine in time, we would not now be spending millions of dollars fighting the San Jose Scale, the Cotton Boll Weevil, the Japanese Beetle, - the Brown-tail Moth, thé Oriental Fruit Moth, and many others. The leading European nations restricted the entry of plants and plant products to their countries more than fifty years ago. But it was not until 1912 that the United States had legal authority to defend its people against the dumping onto our soil of the diseased and defective plant refuse from all other countries. As Forbes has so pertinently said: ‘‘Insects are generally less refractory to the control of man than man himself.’ “‘It is less difficult to perfect methods of preventing insect damage than it is to induce the threatened victims to make effective use of them.” It took four years of effort to get the U.S. Plant Quaran- tine Act of 1912 enacted into law, because of the opposition to it of plant im- porters. Dr. C. L. Marlatt has pointed out that during these four years, four insect pests of the gravest nature became established on American soil: The European Corn Borer, The Japanese Beetle, The Oriental Fruit Moth and The Camphor Scale, besides two serious plant diseases—Potato Wart and Citrus Canker. _ Six major pests in four years previous to the enactment of the Plant Quaran- / 46 THE REPORT OF THE tine Act! In more than ten years since its enactment only one pest, the Pink Boll-worm of cotton has become established and that came in from Mexico before we knew it was present there and before the Mexican border control, which now causes the inspection of all railroad and other traffic from Mexico, was perfected. About fifteen domestic and twenty-two foreign quarantines are now in force, prohibiting the importation or inter-state movement of nursery stock, trees, cotton, corn, fruits, cereals, potatoes, or other vegetables dangerously likely to bring in or carry plant pests or diseases. This work involves an annual expenditure of more than $2,000,000 by the U.S. government. But during the past ten years it has caused the interception and destruction of many thousands of shipments of destructive pests, including more than 100 new pests that do not now occur in America. Granting that even one of these pests would have become established in the absence of the inspection work, there is no doubt that the work has much more than paid for itself. This work is accomplished in three principal ways: (a) Inspection at the port of entry; (b) fumigation of suspected materials; (c) quarantines which make it illegal to bring into the country materials dangerously likely to introduce pests. Besides the $2,000,000 spent by the federal government about an equal amount is expended by the several states. The state work is concerned primarily with nursery inspection and certification to see that places where plants are grown for sale shall not be hotbeds for the distribution of all kinds of plant pests, and with the detection and suppressicn of all kinds of pests wherever found, which by their ravages have approached the point of becoming a public nuisance. This then is the programme of insect warfare :— (a) The use of chemicals or insecticides. (6) The use of mechanical or physical measures or devices. (c) The use of certain farm practices that check insect multiplication. (d) The encouraging and utilizing of natural enemies. (e) By legislation to control those human practices which endanger our success. It contains much of which entomologists are justly proud—but at the same time is bristling with suggestions of multitudes of problems as yet unsolved and fields for research as yet untrodden. In CONCLUSION There can scarcely be any doubt that there is a real insect peril; probably more significant to the human race than any possible danger from human hands. — Our greatest need is for an awakened public interest in insect control; an informed populace that knows at least the fundamentals of the many methods of fighting insects outlined above. It is believed that enough is known about insects now to prevent half of the injury they do, if farmers and others could be brought to put the known remedies into operation. The other great need is for a vastly greater study of the insects themselves. Only about one-fifth of the kinds of insects that probably inhabit the earth have so much as been named. It is only a mere fraction of them about which we have an adequate idea of their life habits. A much larger body of entomologists is needed to study the habits, the structure, the life-histories and the behaviour of insects; to discover more effective traps and baits; farm practices, sprays, dusts and fumigants; to keep away from our shores the many destructive foreign pests that do not now inhabit this continent; and to study the beneficial insects of the countries of the world, in order that we may make the widest possible use of these tireless and inexpensive allies. ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY AT THE SPREAD AND DEGREE OF INFESTATION OF THE EUROPEAN CORN BORER IN 1924 W.N. KEENAN, DIVISION OF FOREIGN PESTS SUPPRESSION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, OTTAWA The season of 1924 has proven to be unexpectedly favourable for the development of the European Corn Borer. The spread to new townships on the north and east indicates that the pest is not going to confine itself to troubling growers in the extreme southern portion of the province and emphasizes the necessity for preventive measures in retarding further spread as much as possible. In the majority of the infested areas, the degree of infestation increased con- siderably this year and in the chief corn growing counties on the west it has increased far beyond all expectations. The pest is believed to have been established in the St. Thomas district about ten years previous to its discovery in 1920. Scouting carried on that year showed that thirty-five townships were infested, covering an area of 2,780 square miles. In 1921, seventy-one additional townships were added to the quarantine; in 1922, forty-five more were infested and eleven were included in the quarantine on account of their situation. The area under quarantine, as a-result of the spread in 1922, comprised practically all territory south of a line drawn from Toronto to Goderich, as well as others north of this in Huron, Perth and Peel counties, all shore townships east of Toronto as far as Clarke and the township of Brighton, Northumberland county. In 1923 only eight additional townships were found infested, four of which were in Bruce and Huron counties, but no collections were taken east of the previous year’s discovery in Brighton township. The most northern record that year was taken in the township of Saugeen, Bruce county. The situation, as brought out in the 1923 border scouting, and the fact that the greater portion of the uninfested town- ships in the counties of Huron, Bruce, Grey, Dufferin and Wellington counties were not important in corn growing, as well as their geographical position, suggested the advisability of concentrating future spread preventive measures on the eastern border, and in April, 1924 the quarantine line was extended to include the above mentioned counties complete, also two border townships in York county and Hope township in Durham county. The total area under quarantine in 1924 comprised 216 townships, covering an area of approximately 17,860 square miles. This season, 1924, scouting in the border area north of Toronto and all corn growing townships eastward along Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence_ River, as far as Cornwall, was again carried on. No new infestations were found in the area north of Toronto but collections were taken in the three western shore townships in Northumberiand county and in the townships of Ameliasburg and Hillier in Prince Edward county. On account of the small staff available and the necessity for inspecting the St. Lawrence townships to the east, the remaining townships in Prince Edward county were not examined. The Division of Field Crop and Garden Insects examined certain portions of the counties of Huron, Bruce, Grey and Wellington, which were uninfested in 1923, with the result that three new townships were found infested in Huron county, five in Bruce county, one in Grey county and two in Wellington county. During this work the most northern record of the pest to date was collected in Arran township, Bruce county. _ - a . — — 48 THE REPORT OF THE ~ DEGREES OF INFESTATION IN INFESTED TERRITORY The rapidity with which the corn borer increases under the varied crop conditions occurring throughout all older infested areas first received attention in 1922, when accurate records were taken chiefly in the counties of Elgin and Middlesex; but on account of the advanced season the system adopted for obtaining these records was not suitable for annual comparison purposes. In- 1923 a standard and more or less satisfactory system was adopted and definite points for annual record purposes were established. As the 1922 records referred to above, as well as the records obtained by the control investigational staff during the three seasons of 1920, 1921 and 1922 were compiled in an article prepared for this Society last year, it would appear sufficient to review here only the increase in the degree of intensity from the comparisons of systematically obtained records taken in 1923 and 1924. The records procured last year have been of great assistance in bringing about the realization of the prolific nature of the corn borer in areas where the food plant is abundant and control measures unpractised. Records were taken from the same points in the three concentric circles radiating from the original centre of the infestation and at — each other permanent point with the exception of one in Perth county. Also, many new observations points have been added to our list this year, records of which, although not accurately comparable with any previous records, are very significant on account of known conditions occurring previously. The following is a summary of the conditions noted during the past two seasons: Highest Lowest Average Total No. per cent. per cent. per cent. Fields fe Infestation Infestation Infestation Examined rea - — : 1923 1924 | 1923 1924 | 1923- 1924 | 1923 1924 | | | Gircle-No:A1e(6=semiles))-| +. 2 4 seeee 68.0 | 99.0 4.33) 456-130 1614595 /2)\sao 55 GirclesNos2 (15 miles) Ses c=. sat: ALTOS 2 0.0 3.6-1° 16.97) 232 52a 80 GicleiNons (30 miles)Pa eee = 7266|-28-3 | 0:0 0.0 1,293] ~/ 3 (Zieess 135 Essex County (80-110 miles)........| 13.66] 82.33] 0.0 ORF 1.31) 13.53} 48 85 Hatdimand): esse ee | eal 2° Gis] arte. 0 SOs ree 114) 255 10 Eruran=(50=/0 mtles in Se sete aie [feeds sere 3520) = GN () 0.0 0:37) W236 10 ISS Ne Se ho es ee ete a eee ede, mee 1 SAPS a Noe ee OMA Saeco ZA TO ees 40 WanehtOnec snc eee eee ne ee We ceed | PLS Sis Ae ee Onste css 321 25 ernmGoltie sees tc, Sheu eos 0.6 1G 0.0 020+)..022 0.4 15 15 Nortolk "East (45 uniles)) 5 22 esos 2 eel 4.6 0.0 0.9 0232)|-2260 5 5 Middlesex (Northwest)............. eesteey 2 IBLSAS ES: Orbe lie Ke G=40| eee 10 OxfordH40=45" miles) <2 anes 28 ed 2 6 0.0 0.0 0. 93)-. 361i 1S 15 Berrie o0200snaiiles) re -es en er ete ER Me Pe se 2 tale |e a ee OLS File) ae 1O >See Welland (95-115, miles)....7.20.=..2. 4.4} 11.0 0.0 0.0 1.06} 2.92] 45 45 2 Note.—Mileage stated represents the distance from Union village, the original centre of the infestation. Welland county first found infested in 1920, and apparently a separate outbreak. The above records show an increase at each observation point. For the comparative increase the average per cent. of infestation in each circle and county may be used to advantage; thus we find that the area represented by Circle No. 1 increased at the rate of 100 per cent. in one season; Circle No. 2 increased about 100 per cent.; Circle No. 3 increased 300 per cent. Records in Essex county shows an increase of about 900 per cent., Huron county, 350 per cent., Lincoln county, 100 per cent., Norfolk county, 700 per cent.; Oxford county, 280 per cent.; and Welland county, 170 per cent. In addition the records from Haldimand county undoubtedly represent an increase. This applies also ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 49 ; - to northwestern Middlesex and Lambton county although standard records were not obtained there in 1923. Without doubt Kent county has suffered an increase of several hundred per cent. in 1924 over the previous season, but records are not available for comparison. Although the area covered by Circle No. 1 and situated within districts -where control practices have been advised shows an increase of 100 per cent., it should be pointed out that all border territory surrounding the control demon- stration area was left practically undisturbed by the growers, which naturally reduced the results of control efforts in this area on account of reinfestation by adult flight. Also, the increase, even indicating the presence of two larvae to one of the previous season, may be very favourably compared with conditions in other sections, on account of the fact that the district has all the essentials for encouraging an increase of the pest and the other favourable districts show an increase ranging from 250 to 900 per cent. In the territory which has been infested for some seasons the county of Lincoln may be regarded as the least favourable for the development of the corn borer, as the increase there was only one hundred per cent., or two to one, and as far as we are aware, control operations were not practised to any extent. The increase is sufficient, however, to signify the importance of conditions which may be expected within a few years. Welland county has also experienced a considerable increase, although the degree of infestation is still small, con- sidering the number of years it has been infested. As a summary of the above, it may be stated that lake shore conditions continue to favour both spread and increase, and the degree of infestation through- out naturally coincides with the length of the presence of the pest in a community. Various conditions existing in Essex county, the large corn acreage and the methods of handling the crops naturally afford the most suitable factors for increase, and this year’s results show what may be expected if control measures are not adopted on a county wide scale. The corn canning industry has also experienced greater difficulties this year than ever before. The Aylmer plant is the only one that has been seriously affected as yet, although several others are becoming -extremely anxious. A review of the development of the outbreak, since 1920, in areas where corn was obtained for the Aylmer plant, was included in a similar paper presented last year and it will therefore be sufficient at this time to refer to this season’s situation only, which may be summarized as follows: Contractors were re- quired to cull as many infested ears as possible in the field. The mechanical huskers at the plant had to be abandoned and an extra staff engaged for hand husking and separating the infested ears from the uninfested. It was then carefully inspected after husking and any infested portions were cut off. Even with field culling approximately 25 per cent. of the corn was refused on arrival at the plant, without unloading. The officials of the corn canning plants have given their greatest co-operation _in bringing about control measures. Many valuable suggestions have been received from them, and both financial and labour assistance have been placed at the disposal of control campaigns. In 1923, although twelve thousand square miles were infested by the Euro-. pean corn borer, it was only in approximately one thousand square miles that the degree of infestation was of sufficient intensity as to cause serious losses to the corn crop. In 1924 the heavily infested area has increased so that it now covers four thousand square miles. It is impossible to foretell what the ultimate range of the European corn borer on this continent will be, or to what extent it 50 THE REPORT OF THE will continue as a serious pest, but we do know from the experiments which have been carried out on the various experimental farms that corn can be grown as a profitable fodder crop over a much larger area than was previously an- ticipated. Is it therefore unreasonable to assume, judging from the known European habits of this insect, that its ultimate range may include all those areas in which corn is grown, and if this is the case, should not every precaution be taken to prevent the artificial spread of the insect, by quarantine or other means, into other districts far removed from the known infested area? MORTALITY OF THE LARVAE OF THE EUROPEAN CORN BORER (Pyrausta nubitlalis Hubn.) IN THE EARLY INSTARS IN 1924 Pror. L. CAESAR, ONTARIO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, GUELPH When we keep in mind that the females of the European corn borer are capable of laying an average of at least 400 eggs each, almost all of which hatch, and when we know that the mortality of the larvae from the effects of winter, disease and parasites combined is small—not more than about 10 per cent.— we ask ourselves why the increase of the borer has not been even much more rapid than it has been. One reason is that birds, especially the woodpeckers, in fall, winter and spring remove many borers from the stubble, stalks and weeds left exposed in the fields. Another reason is that ants and other predaceous insects both in fall and spring destroy many borers either in their burrows or when moving around from one plant to another or when, after the corn field has been plowed, they come up to the surface. Another reason, and in most counties a very important one, is that much of the corn crop is either put into the silo or run through the shredder or cutting box or fed whole to live stock and most of the borers present - thus destroyed. Moreover, many of the corn fields are plowed either in the fall or spring, thus burying infested stubble and debris and accounting for the death of many borers. All these things-have done much and some of them can be made to do a great deal more in retarding the rate of increase of the insect. But in addition to all of them there is another great factor at work which helps us much more than we had anticipated in preventing the more rapid increase of the insect, namely: the fact that after the larvae hatch from the eggs and while they are still very small a large percentage of them perish. To determine how great this mortality in the early instars of the borer was this year the following experi- ment was conducted. PLAN OF THE EXiPERIMENT Two blocks of corn growing side by side were chosen, each block having been planted by ourselves and consisting of about one-quarter acre. The blocks were each divided into three equal portions. In one block one portion had been planted with Golden Bantam corn, another with dent (Wisconsin No. 7) and the other with flint (Longfellow); in the other block one portion had dent (Wisconsin No. 7), another flint (Longfellow) and the other a late, sweet variety (Stowell’s Evergreen). The first block was planted on May 19th and the other, two weeks later but owing to the backward spring the late planted one had almost caught up to the other at the time of the experiment and as the results in each block were practically the same no attention need be paid to the difference in time of planting. On July 29th, eighteen squares consisting of four hills each, that is, three ’ ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 51 squares in each of the six subdivisions or portions mentioned above, were chosen fot the experiment. All of the hills in these squares at the date just mentioned were free from both eggs and larvae and all eggs laid on them later were removed before they could hatch. Moreover, to prevent larvae from the surrounding corn moving into them all adjacent hills on every side of each square were removed to a distance of seven feet and the outer leaves on the plants just beyond these were pulled off to increase still further the isolation of the squares. On August 2nd and 4th, when the corn averaged nearly three feet high, 150 eggs were artificially fastened on the under side of the leaves on each hill in each of the squares of the early planted block; and on August 7th and 8th, seventy-five eggs (it was too difficult to secure 150 for this block) were similarly placed on every hill in all the squares in the late planted block. At the expiration of twelve days from the time the eggs were placed on each square two of the hills in each were pulled, cut up, the larvae counted, removed and preserved in vials. At this date the larvae averaged a little less than one-quarter of an inch in length and varied in age from seven to eleven days. Twelve days later the remaining hills on each square were pulled and the larvae removed and preserved as above. The larvae in this case averaged one-half inch in length, none of them being full grown. They varied in age from nineteen to twenty-three days. So far as we could determine, all the eggs in the experiment hatched. , SUMMARY OF RESULTS From the hills pulled and examined twelve days after inoculating them with eggs, that is from half the hills of each square in each block, 961 living larvae out of a total possible of 4,050 were recovered or 23.72 per cent., thus showing a mortality of 76.28 per cent. in what was approximately the first two instars, or while the larvae were not more than from seven to eleven days old. 2. From the remaining half of the squares pulled and examined twelve days later, or twenty-four days after inoculation, 845 living larvae were recovered out of a total possible of 4,050, or 20.81 per cent., thus showing a mortality of 79.19 per cent. up to the time when the larvae were from nineteen to twenty- three days old. From these two results it will be seen that there was a large mortality of the larvae and that nearly all of it—all but 12.91 per cent—occurred while the larvae were still very small, probably while almost all of them were in the first instar and before they had been able to establish themselves in the plant, at any rate before they were more than one-quarter inch long. 3. The mortality by varieties for both blocks combined was :— Golden Bantam, 79.1 per cent. Stowell’s Evergreen, 80.92 per cent. Dent (Wisconsin No. 7), 76.54 per cent. Flint (Longfellow), 76.66 per cent. From these figures it will be seen that there was not much difference in the mortality on one variety compared with that on another, though it was a little higher on the two sweet varieties than on either the dent or flint. 4. The average mortality in the earlier inoculated plot compared with the later inoculated one was—early plot, 78.00 per cent.; late plot, 77.49 per cent. Hence there was practically no difference between these. This was to be ex- pected because the interval between the dates of inoculation was short, averaging only four days, and because there was not much variation in the weather conditions. \ 52° THE REPORT OF THE on - DaTA ON MorTALITY OBTAINED FROM THE INSPECTION OF VERY LIGHTLY INFESTED FIELDS In 1923 after inspecting many fields in the county of Norfolk, where there were only a very few borers.in any field examined, it occurred to me that it~ might be possible in future to get some data on the mortality of the larvae from the time of hatching of the eggs up to the time the borers reached maturity by examining in September a considerable number of infested hills and finding. the average number of surviving larvae per hill in these isolated cases of infestation; because there is very little doubt that in almost every case the larvae present would have come from a single egg mass. Accordingly in 1924 Mr. J. A. Flock and I, when inspecting the Norfolk county in September, examined carefully twenty-nine such hills in about a dozen fields. The adjacent hills in each case were also examined lest larvae might have migrated to these. Wherever two or more hills together appeared to have had egg masses laid on each of them we did not examine these, because this would have confused the results and led to inaccuracies. The fact however was that there were very few such instances. In the twenty-nine hills examined a total of 133 larvae or an average of 4.66 per hill were recovered. Seven of the hills had from seven to eleven borers, the remainder had from 0 to 6. If we assume that each hill had only one egg mass laid upon it and that the egg masses averaged 15.6 eggs each (which was the average found by Mr. G. J. Spencer this year in a field in Elgin county, after counting fifty-seven masses) this would give us approximately 30 per cent. of surviving larvae or a mortality of 70 percent. It is quite probable, however, that on one or two of the hills there may have been two egg masses instead of one or that 15.6 was rather too low an average for the number of eggs per mass for these fields, so if we suppose the average to have been eighteen eggs per mass, which would probably be more nearly correct, this would give us a mortality of 74.12 per cent., which is about 3 per cent. lower than the mortality obtained in the previous experiment. GENERAL REMARKS The above results and also the results of somewhat similar experiments conducted by other investigators both in Canada and the United States show that there was this year a large mortality of the larvae up to the time of their maturity. All agree that this mortality took place almost entirely in the early instars. The causes, however, have not been fully worked out. We know that a heavy rain will wash recently hatched larvae off the plants and that most of them will not get back. Heavy winds will do the same. Mr. Spencer has observed recently hatched larvae remain on the leaves and die from no visible cause. It is probable that the number of young larvae which perishes one year will sometimes be much greater than that which perishes another and that the difference will be found to be due to the difference in weather conditions— temperature, moisture and sunlight—one year compared with another. We know that insects are remarkably sensitive to these factors and I cannot help hoping that in a normal season the mortality of the larvae would have been much greater than it was this season; and also that the weather conditions this year by being more favourable either to the larvae or to the moths them- selves by causing the latter to live longer and lay more eggs or by being favourable to both larvae and moths accounted for a good deal of the enormous increase which the borer made in Ontario in 1924. If I am correct a study of the effect of variations of temperature, moisture and light upon both the adults and larvae will give some very valuable data which will help us greatly to determine what to expect under different climatic conditions wherever corn may be grown. = ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 53 A FIELD STUDY OF THE REDUCTION OF EUROPEAN CORN BORER LARVAE IN STANDING CORN R. H. PatnTER AND G. A. Ficut, ENTOMOLOGICAL BRANCH, OTTAWA In order to obtain some definite information on the seasonal mortality of the larvae of the European Corn Borer (Pyrausta nubilalis Hubn.) the follow- ing work was carried on at Port Stanley throughout the season of 1924. So as to make this paper more comprehensible, a general idea of the methods used in the studies should be given. Blocks of corn in three fields—one of each type, dent, flint and sweet corn, were staked off and within these blocks larval counts were made. These counts were taken upon twenty-five stalks made every three days, starting from the time the first eggs were found in the field and continuing up to the middle of November. These stalks were carefully worked over and the live and dead larvae recorded. It must be remembered that these stalks had not been artificially infested, and that the larvae recovered are those which had started the season from eggs laid on the plants under normal field conditions. In order to have some estimate of the number of larvae to expect per plant, egg-laying observations were made throughout the entire period of oviposition on fifty plants of each type of corn, twenty-five at each end of the blocks from which the stalks were cut. The eggs recovered from these check stalks were averaged and serve as the number to be expected on the stalks within the block. In the late season there is a certain amount of migration in the field, but as the blocks from which these counts were made were in the centre of the field, this migration would be of little significance as the movement would be expected to be equal in all directions. For the sake of brevity the field studies have been grouped under four headings, each, in general, representing a period in the development of the larvae in the field. These headings are as follows:— 1. Mortality during the time of oviposition when only small larvae are encountered. 2. Mortality after the time of oviposition but when the majority of the larvae are still small. ; 3. Mortality when practically all the larvae have become established. 4. Mortality when all the larvae have become full grown. It is during the first period when the larvae are all very small that we have the highest death rate. This occurs during the period when they are attempting to establish themselves. This period is of great importance. The young larvae on hatching make their way into the curled leaves in the throat of the plant and many are drowned in the water which collects there. Observations have shown that the young larvae are quite helpless when sur- rounded by a film of water. Another way in which they appear to be killed is by being pinched between the surfaces of unfolding leaves, as many flattened ones were found between the leaves in the throat of the plants examined. The mortality among those recovered for this period is as follows: In dent, 18.22 per cent., flint, 25.8 per cent., and sweet, 10.25 per cent. During the second period the mortality is only about one-half that of the former, being, in dent, 8.36 per cent., flint, 16.89 per cent., and in sweet, 5.64 per cent., thus showing that as the numbers of small larvae, first instar especially, became less, there is a marked decrease in the death rate. It would seem that ah 54 THE REPORT OF THE / / the critical period in the life of the larvae is during the first and second instar, as analysis of the dead ones recovered shows them to be practically all in these two stages. It must not be taken for granted that these figures represent the total mortality for the period. On comparing the number expected from the egg- laying studies with those actually recovered, it was found that there was a large percentage of those starting which could not be accurately accounted for. Some idea of this loss may be gathered from the following figures. In the dent corn. of the expected number only 13.34 per cent. had been recovered, in the flint, 19.10 per cent., and in the sweet, 27.93 per cent. The explanation offered as to what became of these larvae is that in all probability shortly after hatching, and before they had reached the throat of the plant, and while they were still on the exposed surface of the leaves, they were either blown or brushed off and perished on the ground, being too small to travel in loose soil. Thus we have in the first instar estimated reduction from this source of, in dent, 86.66 per cent.; flint, 80.90 per cent.; and in sweet, 72.06 per cent. During the third period the mortality was very low, owing no doubt to the fact that by this time practically all the larvae had become established. The mortality for the period being, in dent, 3.64 per cent.; flint, 3.98 per cent.; sweet, 2.55 per cent., the cause of death not being attributed to any one factor. The mortality during the last period when all the larvae had become full grown and which deals with the late season, after the corn would normally have been cut, is practically nothing, especially in flint and the sweet corn, being, in flint, .31 per cent.; in sweet, .79 per cent., the dent corn being slightly higher, 2.76 per cent. Those dying during this period are mostly those that become pinched by the breaking over of the stalks, the breaks occurring in most cases where the stalks have been weakened by the borers. The records did not show any diseased or parasitized larvae. The mortality for the season in the larvae recovered up until the time of corn cutting in each of the three types was, in dent, 8.98 per cent.; flint, 9.44 per cent.; and in sweet, 3.44 per cent. However, to have a true estimate of the percentage reduction from those hatching, there must be added to this the number unaccounted for and presumed dead. Thus we have a reduction in the dent, of 90.30 per cent., flint, 86.79 per cent., and in the sweet, 63.16 per cent. With the exceptions of the sweet corn this tallies very closely with the results obtained at Harrow in the summer of 1923, where there was a seasonal reduction in dent of 83.67 per cent., flint, 82.01 per cent., and in sweet of 87.83 per cent. From the results it was shown that approximately 75 per cent. of those failing to survive are eliminated during the first and second instars, and that the death rate decreases abruptly as the larvae increase in size. THE INTRODUCTION AND COLONIZATION IN ONTARIO OF TWO HYMENOPTEROUS PARASITES OF THE EUROPEAN CORN BORER A. B. Bairp, ENTOMOLOGICAL LABORATORY, ST. THOMAS, ONTARIO The history of the European Corn Borer on this continent has been rehearsed on several occasions and I need not repeat it here other than to mention that it was first reported from the United States in 1917 and was discovered ; ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY | 55 in Ontario in 1920, being then confined to two small areas in the vicinity of Welland _and St. Thomas. It has increased and spread with amazing rapidity and in Ontario it now covers practically all of the western peninsula, and the damage done in 1924 was conservatively estimated at considerably more than a million dollars. In view of this very rapid increase and the many difficulties in the way of its control by artificial means the Dominion Entomological Branch decided to follow the lead of the United States and endeavour to assist in the natural - control of the pest by the introduction of insect enemies, or parasites, from its native home. Knowing the value of parasites in the control of insects generally, the United States Bureau of Entomology sent one of its entomologists to Europe in 1920 to study the corn borer in its native home, and as a result of his findings some eight species of parasites which attack the corn borer larvae in Europe have been colonized in the United States. . Through the courtesy and kind co-operation of the U. S. Bureau of Ento- mology we have received breeding stock and full instructions regarding the technique of handling the parasites from their parasite laboratory at Arlington, Mass., and we are greatly indebted to those in charge of the laboratory operations for the very cordial assistance we have received. The parasite laboratory at St. Thomas was opened up by the Branch in the middle of May, 1923, and the breeding of parasites was commenced about two weeks later. Up to the present only two species have been introduced, viz.: Habrobracon brevicornts Wesm. and Exeristes roborator Fab., both of which lend themselves rather readily to laboratory breeding on account of the fact that their larvae feed externally on the full grown corn borer larvae. Habrobracon brevicornis is a small hymenopterous fly measuring about 3 mm. in length. The female is provided with a comparatively short, sharp Ovipositor and has normally much shorter antennae than the male. When attacking borers in the field the female locates the entrance to the tunnel, enters, and follows it until she reaches the borer; she then stings her victim in one or several places and feeds on the juices exuding from the punctures and when it has become somewhat paralyzed deposits her eggs singly over the surface. During warm weather the eggs hatch in 24 to 36 hours and the larvae become full grown in 3 to 5 days; they then spin tough white cocoons, on or near the remains of the dead borer, in which they pupate, and the adults emerge 5 or 6 days later. An average of about twenty-five parasites will develop from each borer and each female is capable of depositing from 500 to 600 eggs. The number of generations a year has not been determined but they are probably 5 or 6 at least and so far as known the species spends the winter only in the adult stage. The breeding stock received yielded 835 female-flies and about twice as many males and from these a total of 595,000 were reared and liberated in the St. Thomas district during the summer and fall of 1923. A small breeding stock was kept going through the winter and our liberations this year totalled 486,500; making a grand total now liberated of 1,081,500 flies. These were all liberated in the St. Thomas district with the exception of 30,000 liberated this fall (1924) in the vicinity of Coatsworth, Kent County. Exertstes roborator is a rather large Ichneumon fly measuring about three- fourths of an inch in length. The female is provided with an ovipositor almost as long as her body and having located a borer in a stalk she drills through and stings it in its tunnel and then deposits her long whitish egg on the surface of its body. The life cycle is about the same as that of Habrobracon, the length 56 THE REPORT OF THE of time spent in each stage varying in both cases with the weather conditions. Only a single Exeristes develops from each corn borer larva and each female fly is capable of depositing about 125 eggs spread over a period of several weeks. The insect winters as a full grown larva in a cocoon which it spins inside the stalk near the remains of its victim. Nature has provided a rather ingenious method for tiding this species over periods of host scarcity in that larvae spinning cocoons on the same day will produce adults over a period of several months. The laboratory breeding of this species was begun in February of this year, (1924) from a shipment of cocoons which gave us ninety-three female and forty-four male flies and from these we were able to breed up and liberate 15,850 flies during the spring and summer. All were liberated in the vicinity of St. Thomas with the exception of 350 at Stoney Point, Essex County, and 400 at Coatsworth, Kent County. In connection with the method of liberating the parasites; in the, case of both species the adults are allowed to emerge in cages at the laboratory. As there is a preoviposition period of two to six days they are fed and held for two or more days during which time mating takes place so that when they are taken to the field and liberated the females are practically all mated and ready to begin egg laying as soon as a suitable host is located. In the case of Habrobracon about forty per cent..of the flies liberated were females and of Exeristes about seventy-five per cent. females. No attempt has been made to recover the parasites in the field as the chances of recovery during the first two or three years after liberation would be very slight and our staff for this work being so small it was felt that the time was being spent to better advantage in breeding up as many parasites as possible for liberation. Our chief limitation in the production of parasites is the procuring of an abundant supply of host material. Upwards of 175,000 corn borers have been used in the work to date and the collection of these has taken up a great deal of our time. A BRIEF NOTE ON FARM CUTTING BOXES AND CORN SHREDDERS AS FACTORS IN THE CONTROL OF THE EUROPEAN CORN BORER (Pyrausta nubilalis Hubn.) G. A. Ficut AND R. H. PAINTER, ENTOMOLOGICAL BRANCH, OTTAWA In order to obtain some definite information on the importance of farm cutting boxes and corn shredders in the control of the European corn borer _ (Pyrausia nubilalis Hubn.) a study was made of these farm products during the fall of 1924, using dent and flint, the two main types of fodder corn. The average farm cutting box is not adjustable to cut more than one length and is usually set to cut about three-quarters of an inch. The actual length of cut, however, varies somewhat according to the rate at which the machine is fed. In the larger types of cutting boxes which are used for silo filling, the cut is adjustable to from four to six different lengths, varying from one-quarter to one and one-quarter inches. Dent corn stalks, which were cut approximately three-quarters of an inch long and examined almost immediately after cutting, showed the mortality of the larvae, which were contained in them, to be 81.48 per cent., while 60 per cent. of the larvae that escaped the knives died within the next ten days, making a total mortality of larvae in dent corn of 92.59 per cent. Further observation on Suh» ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY Son the live larvae, made fifteen days after cutting, showed no further increase in the death rate. The balance of the larvae are being kept under observation. In the flint corn cut at the same length, the mortality of the borers at the time of cutting was 75 per cent., while ten days later the total mortality had reached 77.94 per cent. Another examination five days later showed the total mortality of larvae in flint corn to be 80.70 per cent. The higher mortality in the dent corn was probably due to the fact that the dent corn stalks were much greener at time of cutting than the flint and were crushed more completely ‘by the cutting operations. There are a variety of corn shredders in use throughout the corn area of Ontario. The one under observation has five main outlets for corn cobs, shelled grain or stalks, through which European corn borer larvae may also escape during the shredding process. Thus, in dent corn, 16.79 per cent. of the borers leaving the machine came out underneath with the chaff and dirt directly after the stalks left the knives, and these showed a mortality of 70.58 per cent. With shelled grain and small pieces of cob, there escaped under the blower at the rear end of the machine 19.74 per cent. of the borers, among which there was a mortality of 70 per cent. Of the 54.54 per cent. of the larvae which came out with the shelled grain from the elevator and grain spout 56.84 per cent. had been killed. Only 7.7 per cent. of the larvae went into the mow with the stalks from the blower and these showed a mortality of 66.66 per cent., while the 1 per cent. of the larvae which left the machine in the cobs themselves escaped injury. This makes a total mortality of 61.85 per cent. of the 506 larvae examined soon after the shredding operations had been performed and from the nature of the observations it was reasonable to suppose that at least 90 per cent. of the larvae were under observation. The mortality of larvae in flint corn shredded under practically the same conditions was nearly the same as that of dent, there being only a fraction of a per cent. difference with 1,363 larvae under observation. After an interval of ten days an examination of the live larvae which had passed through the shredder showed a mortality of 62.20 per cent. and five days later a further 11.02 per cent. had died, making a total of 71.53 per cent. of the borer larvae killed directly or indirectly in dent and flint corn during shredding operations. Considering the high death rate of larvae associated with both processes, the small residue of living larvae in the treated material and the fact that this residue is largely killed in the later feeding of the treated stalks, too great emphasis cannot be laid upon the value of the cutting box and the shredder. DISCUSSION ON CORN BORER Mr. Carrrey: After hearing the discussion this morning, I think you men have to contend with the same handicaps that we have to contend with in the United States. The corn borer is not a spectacular insect and to many of the farmers seems insignificant. If it did a lot of spectacular damage it would be much easier to get farmers to deal with it at once. In Hungary some of the cornfields are very severely injured by the borer at times, the damage occurring chiefly to the stalks, yet most of the farmers blame this injury to the character of the season or to poor seed or to any one of a dozen causes rather than to the real cause. Over there, just as here, they do not appreciate what the corn borer is doing. 58 THE ‘REPORT OF ‘THE As to parasitism, European investigators assured us that there was little or no parasitism in Europe and many entomologists are of the opinion that it is hopeless to expect anything from parasites. However, eight species have already been discovered in southern Europe. One of these species parasitized about fifty per cent. of the borers in weeds in the Paris region. In southwestern France parasites accounted for about forty per cent. of the borers and in northern Italy about twenty per cent. In Hungary, Mr. Babcock found that about twenty per cent. of the overwintering larvae in certain fields were parasitized by Habrobracon brevicornis. This encouraged us, so we have started to liberate this species in Ohio, and in addition we have secured material from Hungary which may prove more effective than the material from France. We have had a little better success with Exeristes roborator than with the species just mentioned. There are vast areas in Europe and Asia from which parasites may still be obtained. I had a personal conversation with a man who spent some time in China and who witnessed an outbreak around Shanghai. He reported that there were two species of Tachinas which were doing valuable work there. No one, of course, can forecast at present how important parasites may become ultimately in controlling the corn borer in North America. I was glad that the matter of legislation for the corn borer had been con- sidered. Some of the entomologists in the United States feel that legislation is absolutely necessary for a solution of the problem. It seems to me we must bring some pressure to bear upon people who will not clean up and that they must be forced to do so. In the State of Massachusetts a law has been passed compelling clean-up of corn. This law, we believe, has given valuable results and the destruction of remnants of corn in that district has certainly reduced the number of borers greatly this spring. Moreover, people soon form the habit, once they start, of getting rid of the cornstalks. I hope to see the time when part of every farm’s routine will be to take care of its corn remnants. That will go a long way towards solving the problem. Mr. McLatne: How did the borer get established on Long Island? Mr. CAFrFREY: So far as we can determine, it was from the introduction of broom corn. Pror. CAESAR: Did you find the borer attacking weeds or vegetables not in or close alongside cornfields in the states bordering on Lakes Erie and St. Clair? : Mr. CArrrey: No. Our experience is that in these states it is a rare thing for the borer to be found in any weed or plant any distance from the corn- fields. Of course they sometimes enter large weeds among the corn. Mr. DEARNESS: Are the eggs ever laid on weeds? Mr. CaFFrey: Yes. In the New England States eggs are laid on a great variety of plants. There are two broods in these areas, but in the districts along Lake Erie we have found the same conditions in regard to egg-laying as you have had in Ontario, namely, that eggs are seldom laid anywhere except on corn. Of course we do not know that this condition will always remain true. Pror. CAESAR: Have you any data on whether the moths this year laid more eggs per moth than last year? Mr. CarrrRey: In the Silver Creek and Sandusky areas the number of eggs per moth in confinement was about double what it was last year, so that it does seem as if the season had some effect upon the number of eggs the moths lay. Pror. CAESAR: This year our worst infestation was along the shore of Lake Erie, where it was exceedingly heavy for about fifty miles. As we went ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 59 farther back into the county the infestation became much lighter in most cases. Now the question in my mind is—Had proximity to water any effect upon the amount of infestation? Mr. Carrrey: If we were to judge by what occurs in the Old World I should say that proximity to water is not an important factor, for there is usually a heavy infestation on the dry plains of Hungary. Some have said that the borer will never become a severe pest except near lakes or other large bodies of water, but judging from its behaviour in its native habitat I should not like to depend upon this prophecy. There may be some relation between bodies of water and borer distribution. Dr. DEARNEss: Are some varieties of corn less susceptible than others? Mr. CRAWFORD: So far as we can tell larvae establish themselves with equal ease on any variety of corn. We once thought that they had more difficulty in establishing themselves on dent than on flint, but weno longer think so. I am not much impressed with the idea that the past season has been | specially favourable to the increase of this insect. Experiments were conducted last year at Harrow to determine the percentage of larvae that survived and it was found that sixteen per cent. came through the early instars safely. Figures this year, three weeks after the eggs finished hatching, showed that twenty-two ~ per cent. had come through. The difference between the two years is therefore not very great. Last year there was practically no rain at Harrow, so I am beginning to feel that the increase this year has been due to cropping methods and the tremendous number of worms carried over. The results on our two mile square area tend to show this. Pror. CAESAR: I am afraid I cannot agree with Mr. Crawford on this point. He has taken into consideration only the effect upon larvae. That, however, is only one side of the matter. I, myself, think that the weather this year was more favourable than other years to the larvae, but even though the mortality of larvae both years was the same it may be possible that the season favoured the moths greatly. For instance, the greater amount of moisture this year and the darker and cooler weather may have enabled moths to live - much longer and to lay twice as many eggs as last year and as they would have done under different conditions of: weather this year. Moreover, this year, while hunting for larvae for burial purposes, I was much surprised to find that they were very difficult to discover. There were numerous holes in the stubble but in the great mass of cases the larvae had disappeared. So far as I can judge - it was harder to find larvae this year than it was in the year 1922. We must remember, too, that in 1921 there was a great decrease in the infestation, not only in Mr. Crawford’s two mile area but also in all the area between St. Thomas and Port Stanley. The plowing that year was no better done than in the average year and the clean-up of stalks and refuse was not a bit better than usual, so I cannot help believing that much of the reduction that season was due to unfavourable weather conditions. I should like to hear from Mr. Caffrey on this point, for if the weather was not a great factor this year then I think the situation is exceedingly discouraging. Mr. CAFFREY: At Sandusky, Ohio, there were twice as many eggs laid in confinement as last year, which would suggest more favourable weather conditions for the moths, but I do not know whether the same would hold true in the fields. We know, of course, that heavy cold rains will halt the deposition of eggs. Dr. MetcatF: When infested stubble is plowed under do the borers stay . : ; E 60 THE REPORT. OF THE down? If they do how long do they live?. If they come to the surface, what becomes of them? Mr. Crawrorp: If corn refuse is plowed under as early as the 7th of September in a reasonably warm autumn, eighty-five per cent. of the larvae come to the surface. As the season advances the proportion coming to the surface decreases and in November practically none come up. Soon after growth begins in spring the larvae begin to work their way to the surface and continue to do so until the latter part of May, by which time all the larvae have left the buried material. Those that pass the winter under the soil remain there in perfect health until spring. The mortality from winter both above and below ground is very low. After the larvae come to the surface we do not know what becomes of many of them. All we know is they have not gone back into the soil, also they are not in the grass or rail fences. They simply seem not to exist. We have tried our best to watch where they go and after observing some for five days we found that they had not wandered far away from where they started. Mr. CAFFREY: We too do not know what becomes of the great bulk of the ~ larvae. We have tried numerous devices to settle this point but have not been successful. . Pror. CarEsAR: I should like to encourage Dr. Metcalf by teiling him that we gathered 1,800 larvae last year in stalks and stubble and placed them in furrows six inches deep, covered them with the plow and left the plot untouched until we knew that the moths were coming up. We then put six large cages over the ground and examined daily for moths unti! the season of emergence was past but did not find a single one. We also sifted most of the soil beneath the cages and found no traces of pupae. We had barriers so that we might catch the larvae if they wandered some distance from the plot, but there were none. found in these barriers more than a few feet away from the plot. Mr. Petcu: What is the financial loss caused by the borer? Pror. CarEsaAR: The point is not what it is now, but what it is going to be after the insect has increased tenfold. On the 20th of September I was in a field at Sparta where seventy-five per cent. of the tassels were then broken over and fifty per cent. of the stalks broken down. What would these fields be like if there were ten times as many borers? Dr. DETWILER: Will the presence of larvae in the stalks affect silage? Pror. Cagsar: The silage of course would not be as nice, on account of a certain amount of rot in the burrows, but we have no indication of its injuring: cattle. THE OUTBREAK OF THE GIPSY MOTH IN QUEBEC LEONARD S. McCLAINE, ENTOMOLOGICAL BRANCH, DOMINION DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE There are few insects on the North American continent which have received as much publicity as has the gipsy moth—an insect innocently introduced (1868) into the Boston district by a French scientist in connection with his experiments on the production of silk. The fact that some of his material escaped and that he announced it publicly through the medium of the scientific press caused little comment at the time, and over twenty years elapsed before it was realized that it was a serious pest. Organized effort on the part of the Massachusetts authorities succeeded in bringing the insect under control, and a few more years’ ie Ei * : ; z j ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY ; 61 F- work would most likely have brought about its extermination except for the fact that, in spite of the strenuous objection of experts, all funds were withdrawn in 1900. By 1905 the insect had increased to such an extent that control work could not be further delayed, and having spread over twenty-five hundred square miles, all hope of extermination was abandoned. From that time on the insect has been slowly spreading in all directions, like an encroaching sea, 1n spite of the millions of dollars that have been spent in an endeavour to stem the tide. ~ At the International Conference held in 1922, it was realized by all the officials present that strenuous efforts must be made to confine the insect to its present boundaries, otherwise it would gradually infest all the forest areas on the Atlantic seaboard, and that the appropriation needed.for control work would increase in proportion to the amount of territory involved. It was also appreciated that there would be a limit to the amount of funds that could be made available for this work. To meet this situation it was agreed that a barrier zone should be established, twenty-five miles wide, running approximately from Lake Champlain to Long Island Sound, and every effort was to be made to prevent the gipsy moth crossing or becoming established in this zone. Canada’s part was to prevent the insect from becoming established across the international _ boundary and encircling the barrier zone. ee In 1923, extensive scouting operations were carried on by the United States Bureau of Entomology and the New York State authorities in the ‘‘barrier | zone’ and a numbex of infestations were found. The Canada Department of Agriculture had been carrying on intermittently for a number of years scouting work in southern Quebec north of the Vermont and New Hampshire lines. In the late fall of this year (1923) the largest single gipsy moth infestation ever found in New England was discovered at Alburgh, Vermont, within one-half mile of the Canadian border. The discovery of this infestation emphasized ‘the need of intensive and extensive scouting in Canada to determine whether or not the gipsy moth had invaded the Dominion. Plans were immediately inaugurated to get this work under way. During the summer of 1924 sufficient sums of money to undertake this work were appropriated by the Canada Department of Agriculture and the Quebec Department of Lands and Forests. A total of thirty-six men have been used on this work, which started the early part of July. After receiving some preliminary training both in Canada and at infestations in the United States, the men were assigned to their territory under the supervision of a general foreman and an associate general foreman. The territory, which extended from -Chateauguay County on the west to Compton County on the east and north from the international boundary about thirty miles, contained approximately four thousand linear miles of road. This area was divided into eight districts and a foreman and three scouts were assigned to each district. Each tree examined by a scout was marked with a distinctive sign; expert scouts, or trailers, were employed to re-examine the territory worked to see that no trees were missed. An innovation in handling scouting crews was inaugurated this past summer, in that each crew was provided with two “‘bell’”’ military tents, folding camp beds, chairs, tables, blankets, etc. By the utilization of this camping equipment a considerable amount of money was saved on lodging; the men, however, took their meals at boarding houses, farm houses, etc. Experience in carrying on scouting operations in the United States over a long period of years has revealed the fact that, with very few exceptions, new and recently established infestations have been found on single isolated trees or 62 THE REPORT OF THE / orchards, and woodland infestations occur only after the insect has become _ established in a district. For this reason the scouting in southern Quebec has been confined to roadsides, orchards, isolated trees in fields and hedgerows. On July 29th (1924), A. K. Gibson of the Federal staff established the first record of the gipsy moth in Canada, by finding a single isolated egg cluster near the village of Beebe, Stanstead County, Quebec. The egg cluster was sent to the Gipsy Moth laboratory at Melrose Highlands, Mass., for examination, and the eggs proved to be infertile. Thorough and careful scouting throughout the entire district failed to reveal any further trace of the insect. Five weeks later (September 3rd) a severe isolated infestation was found by A. Magnan of the Provincial staff, on the Belle Vallee Road, Lacolle Township, St. Johns County. From the information available at the present time the infestation is confined to four farms on opposite sides of the road, and includes orchard and shade trees. An old willow tree adjacent to the road and adjoining an old stone wall is the centre of the outbreak. Clean-up operations are now under way and judging from the number of egg masses creosoted to date, it would appear that approximately three thousand egg clusters will be found. Seven hundred are located on the willow tree and over a thousand have been found so far in the stone wall. Orchard trees, fences, old apple trees and the farm buildings are known to be infested and the infestation covers at least six hundred square yards. The ‘“‘clean-up”’ operations now being carried on include the creosoting of all egg masses found, removal of old apple trees, the burning of brush, the filling of cavities in healthy trees, the examination of all buildings, fences, etc., in the vicinity and the thorough re-scouting of the entire district. In the spring, extensive spraying will be carried on, which will include all trees within six hundred feet of the last egg cluster found, the banding and tangle-footing of infested trees, and the burning over of infested stone walls at the time the eggs hatch. By these means it is hoped that the colony may be exterminated. Although an attempt has been made to trace the origin of the outbreak, the results thus far have been unsuccessful. The Alburgh outbreak is approxi- mately ten miles away, but no egg clusters have been found between the two colonies which more or less eliminates the idea of possible windspread. There is no doubt that the Lacolle infestation has been there for some years, judging from the number of egg clusters found and also from the age of some of the old clusters. The owner of the property on which the outbreak occurs recalls the pest being present at least two years, but indications point to the fact that it is older than that. The majority of farmers in the district concerned have relatives in the New England States and there remains the possibility that the pest may have been introduced by infested materials brought by relatives on a visit to Lacolle from the infested area in the United States. The fact is, however, that it was most fortunate that the infestation was found this year, not only from the standpoint of control, but also on account of the outbreak occurring west of the eastern line of the ‘barrier zone’ in New York State. / , ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY , 63 a A STUDY OF THE METHODS USED IN GROWING ENTOMOPH- - THOROUS FUNGI IN CAGES PRIOR TO THEIR ARTIFICIAL DISSEMINATION IN THE ORCHARDS ALAN G. DusTAN, ENTOMOLOGICAL BRANCH, OTTAWA The investigation which led up to the present study was commenced in the summer of 1921 when the first real effort was made to artificially spread in ' the orchards of the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia, two parasitic fungi which were found attacking the European Apple Sucker (Psyllia mali Schmidburger) and the Green Apple Bug (Lygus communis, var. novascotiensis Knight). Previous to 1921 the controlling effect of these diseases had been fully recognized, but it was not until that year that any effort was made to make use of the diseases in checking the ravages of these two most important apple pests of the Annapolis Valley. Shortly after this work was undertaken it became apparent that nature could not always be relied upon to produce outbreaks of disease in the field early enough in the season to allow of their being widely spread before cold weather set in, checking the growth of the fungi. Accordingly, it was seen that, if possible, some means must be devised for starting epidemics earlier in the summer and it was decided to make an effort to rear these fungi ih cages where the temperature and humidity could be regulated to some extent and where the number of host insects could be increased at will. If such a method could be perfected it was hoped by this means to be able to develop epidemics of these diseases each year in cages, in the early part of the summer, and then transfer the fungi into the orchards where outbreaks could be started artificially in seasons when the diseases did not occur naturally in the field. At the commencement of the cage work one fungus only was studied, namely, Entomophthora sphaerosperma which is parasitic on the Apple Sucker, but as the investigation developed and our knowledge increased the Green Apple Bug fungus, a new species of Empusa recently named and described as Empusa erupta, was also grown in cages. It might be mentioned here, before going on to a detailed discussion of our cage methods, that every effort has been made in the past to grow both these fungi in the laboratory on artificial media but without success. Continued efforts will be made, however, to gain this end, for it is realized that if it is possible to culture the diseases a new field of usefulness may be opened up thereby, and in this way much, or all, of the labour in connection with the cage work dispensed with. SMALL CAGE WoRK At the commencement of the work three types of cages were tested out, namely, frame cages covered with plain, untreated factory cotton; similar cages in which the cotton had previously been waxed with common parawax, and cold frame cages, having wooden sides made of matched lumber and a factory ~ cotton top. The last mentioned cages were also supplied with tightly fitting glass tops which could be taken off when the weather was hot and replaced in the evenings or when the temperature dropped below 60 degrees. The first year all types of cages were small, averaging about twenty inches high, fifteen inches wide and thirty inches long, but the next year most of these were increased greatly in size, some of them covering fair sized apple trees and being twenty feet, or more, in height. 64 —. "HHE-REPORT- OF PHE All of the small cages were built over young, low-growing seedlings upon which the insects to be infected lived and fed. In most cases the insects were collected and introduced into the cages in the adult stage the year in which the test was being made, but occasionally the seedlings were infested with eggs the previous fall and enclosed in cages before hatching took place in the spring. As far as could be ascertained one method was just as satisfactory as the other in carrying on adult infection tests, but where it was desired to start an epidemic among the nymphs it was found better to have the seedlings infested in the fall. Resting spore material, which had been collected the previous autumn and wintered over in ground cages, furnished the chief source of infection for our cage work, but occasionally diseased insects discharging summer spores were collected in the field and introduced into the cages. Sometimes such insects belonged to the same species as was being experimented with, but more> often they belonged to another family or order. The diseased material was placed on the ground at the base of the seedlings, pinned to the walls and top of the cages, or else fastened to the leaves of the young plants. As far as could” be learned it mattered little where the infected material was placed, but as the new epidemic usually started low down in the cages and as the disease winters over naturally on the ground, it seems reasonable to suppose that best results would be obtained when the overwintering spores were placed on or near the soil. As has already been mentioned, the object of growing these fungi in cages is to start an epidemic among the insects to be infected earlier in the season than takes place naturally, in order that there might be sufficient material to spread throughout the orchards in the earlier and warmer parts of the summer. Investigations have proved that this unnaturally early development of the diseases in cages takes place as a result of three factors which can be more or less regulated under cage conditions, namely, higher temperature, increased relative humidity, and a greater crowding of the host insects. Our study has shown that these three factors are very closely interrelated, and if any one of them becomes modified, for any reason, the whole balance is upset with the result that fungus growth at once ceases. For instance, should the temperature _ drop below, or rise above, a certain point and the other two factors remain constant, growth is at once interfered with. On the other hand, if the atmosphere should become too dry, notwithstanding the fact that an.optimum temperature prevails and the host insects are to be found in abundance, fungus growth is immediately checked. And similarly, even where the temperature and humidity are favourable no marked growth of the fungus can take place if the insects to be infected are not present in large numbers. There is no doubt that if these three factors are properly regulated, either in cages or in the field, that an epidemic is sure to result. Light is a fourth factor that has its influence on the growth of fungi, but in our work no thought had to be given to its regulation. It was found that fungi always refused to grow in cages where the light was completely excluded, but our experiments showed that they seemed to flourish with equal vigour in strong or weak lights. So in our cage work the chief aim was to increase and regulate the temperature, to produce a higher and more even relative humidity, and to so congest the insects in the cages that an epidemic once started would quickly spread from host to host. The last mentioned was easy of accomplishment, but it was found to be a very difficult task indeed to accurately regulate the temperature and humidity under cage conditions. At the commencement of our study it was found that the temperature varied very considerably with the different types of cages used, and that in all ~ = ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 65 cages the temperature was higher both in the daytime and_at night than it was in the open. This gave us a possible line to develop and a series of experiments were started, in which a hygrothermograph was used, to test out the exact temperature and humidity in different types of cages. After experimenting - with a great variety of cages the three kinds already described were selected as the most suitable and a further test was carried on in order that only the best of these might be used. It was found that the highest temperature was reached in the waxed cages. The cold frame cages came next, and the untreated factory cotton cages showed the least thermal increase of all. To give some idea of the increased temperature obtaining in these cages our records show that when the maximum temperature stood around 80 degrees in the shade outside, the factory cotton cages showed a maximum of 85 degrees, the cold frame cages a maximum of 91 degrees, and the waxed cages a temperature of 101 degrees. The minimum temperatures _ in the different cages did not show as much variation as the maximum tem- peratures, although the minimum in all cages stood about 6 degrees higher than the prevailing temperatures at the same time in the open. It is interesting to note in this regard that the minimum in the cold frame cage never dropped quite as low as it did in either the factory cotton or waxed cages. Due to the extremely high temperature that prevailed in the waxed cages, they had to be discarded since it was found that in the middle of the day many of the insects enclosed in these cages were killed off by the heat. They might, however, have a certain use in the spring when the weather is cold, but even that is questionable. In so far as temperature is concerned then, the cold frame cage is seen to be preferable to both the cotton and to the waxed cages for several reasons, among which only the more important will be enumerated. It has a slightly higher maximum temperature in cold weather, but not high enough to cause any mortality among the insects in midsummer. It has a more even temperature during the day and night, the minimum not being quite so low as that found in the cotton or waxed cages. Due also to the fact that it is fitted with a movable glass top and wooden sides the temperature can be kept up more easily during cold weather which would check the growth of the fungi in the other types of cages. This last feature has the added advanatage of protecting the insects from drenching rains and of preventing the diseased adults from being washed off the leaves to the ground. In studying various methods that might be used for increasing the relative humidity in cages, it was found that here too the type of cage had a great bearing on the result. The three standard types of cages were again experimented with, and in this respect the cold frame type of cage again showed superiority. In the cotton cage the average maximum relative humidity for a certain period stood at 91 degrees, in the waxed cage it stood at 93 degrees, and in the cold frame cage 94 degrees. The minimum average in the cotton cage was 54 degrees, in the waxed 55 degrees and in the cold frame 66 degrees. Averaging the minimums and maximums in each case we find that the mean relative humidity in the case of the cotton cage was 72 degrees, in the waxed cage 74 degrees, while in the cold frame cage it was up over 80 degrees. This must of course be due to the fact that the cold frame cage, on account of its wooden sides, holds the moisture evaporated from the soil and imprisons it for a time before it rises into the air. From this it can be seen that in its ability to produce an increased temperature and a higher relative humidity the cold frame cage is superior to all others. 3 E.S. es 66 THE REPORT OF THE An effort was made to increase the relative humidity in the different cages by the use of warm water. This water was either sprayed in a fine mist on the outside of the cages, sprayed inside the cages, on the walls and seedlings, or else poured on the ground at the base of the enclosed seedlings or trees. As far as could be learned all three methods gave equally good results. Due, however, to the fact that the first two methods drowned and otherwise killed a great number of the insects, the method whereby the water was placed in the soil within the cage was the one most generally adopted. In some cases a very fine mist, with little pressure, was used with good results, but great care had to be exercised in applying the spray. It was found that the relative humidity in a cage could also be increased to an appreciable extent by building it over water- soaked soil as is found along the banks of low streams, or by constructing it directly in the bed of a brook so that the water flowed through it. In either case a more or less saturated atmosphere resulted. By using the cold frame cage and wetting the soil within two or three times each day, preferably morning, noon and night, no difficulty was experienced in keeping up the relative humidity. As would be expected, the weather had a great bearing on the growth of fungi in the cages. When the temperature outside remained low for com- paratively long periods of time the temperature inside the cages dropped a corresponding number of degrees, with the result that the growth of the fungi was greatly checked or ceased altogether. The amount of rainfall also had its effect on the relative humidity of the atmosphere in the cages. Where the precipitation was heavy and continuous the humidity in the cages was regularly and evenly high, while during dry spells the atmospheric moisture in the cages became greatly reduced. This also had a marked effect on the development of the diseases. Adverse weather conditions always caused the fungi to grow atypically. In some cases they would form only resting spores, or else they might give rise to long attenuated mycelial threads, resulting in a loose, fluffy growth quite unlike the tightly compacted mat of mycelium that normally grows out and surrounds the body of the insect. On mycelium of this type it was a very rare thing to find conidia or resting spores. In extremely adverse weather growth of the fungi ceased altogether and the organisms remained dormant until more suitable conditions for growth were encountered. Summing up the data which has been collected in regard to the growth of entomophthorous fungi in cages the following points should be noted: (1) Where possible, arrange to have the seedlings or trees to be used in the cages infested with eggs of the host insect in the fall in order that a large and ready supply of material may be available early in the spring. (2) Always use the cold frame type of cage, fitted with a removable glass top which fits - over a stationary factory cotton covering. This cage is best in practically every respect, giving at all times a higher and more constant temperature and relative humidity. (3) Fungus material (resting spores) should be preserved in ground cages over winter and in the spring placed inside the cages to be infected, either on the ground or around the sides. (4) The temperature can be controlled to a certain extent by proper manipulation of the glass covering with which the cage is fitted. In cold weather this should always be put on in the evening and removed in the morning, especially if the day is warm. -(5) The relative humidity can be increased by dampening the soil in the cages three or four times per day, preferably morning, noon and night, or else by spraying the enclosed seedlings and cage very gently with a fine mist spray. This also should ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 67 _ be done three times each day, or even oftener during very hot, dry weather. | (6) This work should be started as early in the season as the temperature will allow, in order to get a supply of the fungus growing at the first possible moment. LARGE CAGE STUDIES As soon as the fungus appears in the small cages some of the diseased forms : should be immediately transferred to large field cages where a more extensive supply of the fruiting stage of the fungus may be reared for distribution in the field. As the question of warmth is not so important at this time of the year as it was earlier in the season, these field cages can very well be made of factory cotton. The cages should cover fair sized trees and should be at least six or eight feet high. A very convenient size is six feet high by three feet square. Larger cages can be used to advantage, but due to the high cost of the cotton this size will serve the purpose very well. _ The diseased insects in the small cages are collected on the leaves to which they adhere, and these leaves pinned to the foliage of the tree in the large cage, being placed comparatively near the ground and in such a position that the spores, when liberated, will be shot down on the insects below. _ These cages should also be gently sprayed with warm water three or more times daily or else the soil inside the cages dampened several times each day in order to keep the relative humidity as high as possible. When the disease appears in the large cages, collections of healthy adults should be made in the field and introduced to take the place of those that have been killed off. As soon as the fungus becomes epidemic diseased material may be collected and distributed in some low, thickly-planted orchard where the host insect is abundant. This orchard will serve as the first centre of infection -and the fungus spread widely from it into the surrounding country. ACKNOWLEDGMENT During the planning and carrying out of this work the writer was assisted - very greatly by Mr. F. C. Gilliatt whose services it is a pleasure to acknowledge. NOTES FROM A STUDY OF NEPTICULA POMIVORELLA, PACKARD HAROLD Fox, UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO, LONDON These notes are the result of observations made in connection with a study of the animal ecology of the apple tree. Since the work was not started until October 1st, only some of the stages in the life history of the animals could be observed. In the course of this general study, I became particularly interested in the _serpentine leaf miner N. pomuivorella because of the peculiar appearance of the mine and its abundance. The mine (Figure 2E) is generally serpentine and may be seen best from the dorsal surface of the leaf. It is from 2.5 to 5 cm. in length and gradually widens from about 0.1 mm. at the origin to an average width of 2 mm. at the large end. Near the end is a crescent-shaped opening through which the larvae escapes before pupating. Farther back the frass begins. It is first massed along the middle line but soon takes on a peculiar arrangement. It is deposited in small elliptical pellets on the upper epidermis of the leaf. This gives to the mine an 3a ES. 68 . ‘THE REPORT; OF THE appearance unlike that of any other miner observed in the apple leaf. About two-thirds of the distance from the end of the mine the frass becomes massed along the middle line again and continues so to the origin. The egg was found still in position, at the end of the mine, on the ventral side of the leaf (Figure 2A). It is elliptical in shape, the average length of the axis of the ellipse being approximately 0.1 mm. and-that of the shorter axis, 0.08 mm. It is flat along one side and is stuck fast to the lower epidermis of the leaf (Figure 2D). Its position and the fact that some of the eggs were more flattened than others would lead one to believe that the egg, when laid, was soft, sticky, and rounded, and that the flattening was due to surface tension phenomena while drying. - The emerging larva evidently eats its way out of the egg on the side next to the leaf. The hole made can easily be seen by turning the egg over (Figure Ze): Be. THE LArvA. The young larva eats through the lower epidermis and spongy parenchyma of the leaf to the palisade tissue, and so begins the mine. In the short time at my disposal, I was unable to find any remains of the first moult, but in accordance with the general habits of the Nepticulidae, it probably takes place about two or three millimeters from the origin of the mine. Just before the frass takes on the pellet arrangement evidence of the second moult was found in the presence of the head capsule of the second instar. About midway between this point and the end of the frass deposits the head capsule of the third instar was found. When these observations were made all the larvae were in the last stadium. DESCRIPTION OF THE FOURTH INSTAR. The larva ranges from 2.4 to 3 mm. in length, and from 0.7 to 0.9 mm. at its widest point. It is of a bluish-green colour and somewhat flattened dorso-ventrally. The head is very much flattened dorso-ventrally, as may be seen from the lateral aspect (Figure 1C) and extends for a considerable distance into the prothoracic segment. What appears to be a pair of small eyes are situated on the lateral margin just posterior to a pair of very short antennae. At the tip of the head the tiny mandibles may be seen. The prothorax does not bear appendages. On its antero-dorsal surface are two small chitinized areas (Figure 1B c.a.) and on its corresponding ventral surface there is a relatively large V-shaped chitinized area (Figure 1A and C c.a.). The meso- and metathorax each bear a pair of small protuberances which evidently function as legs. The first segment of the abdomen is without appendages but the ventral surface bulges out along the middle line. The second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth abdominal segments each bear a pair of rudimentary prolegs. The last three segments of the abdomen are without appendages and become rapidly smaller. PARASITES ON THE MINER. What was evidently a hymenopterous parasite was observed on the larva. It attached itself to the side of the miner and fed on the body juices. The parasite grew very rapidly and while the host was green it remained green, but when the host turned brown the parasite did also. One of those found was extremely small and it pupated in eight days. I am attempting to rear eight of these parasites and hope to have the adults identified, FEEDING Hapsits. From serial cross-sections of the leaf it is evident that N. pomivorella lives chiefly upon the palisade tissue (Figure 3 lower). The miner avoids crossing a large vein wherever possible and it is probably this tendency that gives to the mine its serpentine appearance. 69 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY “ewAYUaTeOS “JIS “sTwWtepida 1aMO| “37 ‘eurdyouo1ed Asuods “d's ‘sjjao ospesijed “od ‘stutopida soddn “an ‘ursi10 ay} Ieau apeur ‘anssiy jeo| SuIpunoiins puv suru & JO UOTDaS-Ss OII—19MO]T—'¢ “OTT ‘Sutuado Jus0sei9 “doo «‘sseiy “Ay “UTOA ‘A “eyjo1oAtuod eynondoN jo outut “q *‘Oodse [e10jR] ‘380 ‘q ‘Sutuodo yetquoA “do ‘oA ‘880 ‘) “pdAOUIdI S59 YM UTSIIO oullu *q = ‘uIsIIO oUTIN “OW 830 ‘a9 “NYIS UT B89 [[eUIS “W—'Z “DIA "Role paziurzyo ‘e+ ‘yoadse [esoqzer ‘> “Oadse [esiop ‘g “joadse [erqueA ‘VW ‘rejsul YIP ‘eyjotoaruod eynoydanNy jo eAieJT—']T “SIy 70 THE REPORT OF THE | PupaTION. Before pupating the larva escapes from the leaf by cutting a crescent-shaped opening in the upper epidermis. It then migrates to a twig. In acrotch, around the base of a bud, or simply on the side of the twig, it spins a cocoon. The cocoon has the appearance of a reddish-brown scale and is somewhat longer than broad. The average measurement of five specimens was found to be 2.3x 1.6 mm. It is covered with short, yellowish, silken strands, some of which project over the edge and evidently help to attach the | cocoon to the bark of the twig. ABUNDANCE. JV. pomivorella was very abundant in the neighbourhood of London this year. The table following was compiled from observations made over a locality of about three miles radius around the University of Western Ontario. The first ten observations of the table were made on October 10th, the remainder on October 17th. This table shows that about thirteen per cent. of the leaves examined contained miners. These may not have all belonged to N. pomivorella, for at that time I did not distinguish between N. pomavorella and another form, very similar, but which I now believe belongs to a different species. The mine of this form is serpentine and the larva escapes through a ~ crescent-shaped opening as does NV. pomivorella, but the arrangement of the frass is quite different. It is massed along the middle line throughout. I sent Miss Braun, who has made a particular study of nepticulid miners; a leaf containing one of these miners. She was of the opinion that possibly the difference in the lines of frass occurred in thin leaves and was due to the difference in the amount of food material eaten in a given length of mine. How- ever, since that time I have found several leaves which contained both types of miners. Miss Braun also suggested that a Crataegus miner might have transferred itself to the apple. Of course, the only sure way to decide the question is to rear moths from caterpillars of these miners. In this work I am greatly indebted to Dr. Detwiler for his kindly advice and direction. To Miss Braun I am also indebted for help in the identification of species. ; I realize that my work has been very much curtailed as I have been carrying a full quota of classes. It does, perhaps, form a beginning for further studies. TABLE OF INFESTATION No. of No. with Location of Apple Trees leaves No. with No. with more than examined one miner two miners | two miners isondou—bitel de). cee oa eee te ee ee 100 16 3 i Sondons—OLrehacG..se <3 ae ree oie ween = oe 100 29 6 2 London— Orchard... - Mee oases ie 100 11 1 0 London Mreld ieee oa eee ee ede 100 5 0 0 lendon—_rield42 ~~. 2c ee 100 2 0 0 l-ondon—Pield=s .. . eee e 100 2 1 0 isoridon—— Orchard +m bee ee 100 15 0 0 iondGn— Orchards soe ee eee oe 100 6 0 0 Ronudon=Orchard'sn cept ecss meres 100 25 2 1 london—Orcharde oc Ae 2 eee cee 100 8 0 0 Hydepark—Roadside...........--..- 100 6 0 0 fiderton—Roadside.. i .....2..6 ee ee 100 9 0 0 Nderton—Orchard.ss.asac eee eee 100 20 7 2 i dertonus—Orchard:. 30... sec coe eee 100 7 2 0 Se sJodun’s—Orchard .22 202 eee os 100 10 i 2 0 a enn nee en nnn ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 71 NOTES ON THE LIFE HISTORY OF THE LESSER CLOVER WEEVIL (Phytonomus nigrirostis) H. F. Hupson anp A. A. Woop, ENTOMOLOGICAL LABORATORY, STRATHROY The lesser clover weevil Phytonomus nigrirostis is a small curculioid, that feeds on clover, and which during recent years has been slightly on the increase in Western Ontario. Little mention is made of the insect or its work in Canadian literature except possibly a note appearing in the Canadian Entomologist in 1884, by Dr. Fletcher, who found this species doing great damage to clover at Dalhousie, New Brunswick. Because of the general abundance of the insect, -an opportunity was afforded to make some observations on the life history of the insect. Tue Aputt. The beetle is small, averaging 3.7 mm. long, and is not quite half as wide as long. The dorsal surface is green or blue-green, being due to the scales covering the dorsum of the prothorax and elytra. Head black, thorax slightly longer than wide, sides feebly rounded in front of middle, disc coarsely punctate. Hasits oF THE ADULT BEETLES. The beetles hibernate for the winter in clover fields, and are more numerous where clover debris is abundant. From. our observations the beetles abound in red and mammoth clover fields, though a few can always be found where alsike, alfalfa, and sweet clover are growing. Ovieosition. Egg laying starts in the spring, the first eggs appearing in the early part of May. Our earliest record for egg laying is May 7th, and the maximum oviposition period is from May 7th to May 23rd. Frecunpity. The beetles are rather prolific, one pair under observation laid 141 eggs. The largest number of eggs secured in one day from a single female was thirty-seven, thirty-two of which were laid in the sheath, and five in the petiole. The next largest number secured in one day from a single female was twenty-three. The average daily egg laying record was six to seven eggs. Tue Ecc. The egg is elongate oval, length .6 mm. When freshly laid the egg is smooth and glossy. The shell being colourless the contents show through -as a dirty white liquid. The second day a yellowish tinge appears, gradually turning pale greenish. The shell becomes finely sculptured on the fourth or fifth day; this is so fine, it cannot be seen with an ordinary hand lens. The first trace of marking is a delicate etching of the pattern on the smooth shining shell. This soon deepens to the usual hexagonal sculpturing. The egg darkens before hatching, the head of the larva showing plainly. Usually the day previous to hatching the larva can be seen moving within the shell, the black head being very conspicuous. In the spring when the weather is cool, the incubation period is considerably prolonged. For instance, during the week of May 7th-13th, 1923, when forty- nine eggs were under observation, the maximum egg period was twenty-three days, the minimum sixteen days, and the average 18.73 days. From May 14th- 20th with fifty-three eggs under observation the maximum egg period was twenty days, minimum fourteen days, and the average 16.18 days. From May 21ist-27th the maximum egg period was fourteen days, minimum nine days, averaging 12.71 days, while from May 28th-June 4th, the maximum egg period was nine days, minimum five days, with an average of 7.93 days. In the spring of 1924, the weather being much cooler, egg laying started a little later, with the egg stage consequently prolonged. With thirty-seven eggs laid from May 12th- 18th, the maximum duration of the egg stage was twenty-six days, the minimum 72 THE-REPORT-OF,THE twenty-two days, and the average twenty-one days, from May 19th-25th with twenty-eight eggs under observation the maximum egg period was twenty-four days, the minimum twenty days, and the average 21.28 days. From May 26th to June 2nd, with ten eggs under observation the maximum incubation period was twenty-two days, the minimum fourteen days, and the average seventeen days. THE Larva. When first hatched the larva is very small, approximately one millimetre long. The body is whitish in colour and the head black. As it grows it becomes dirty white in colour, and moults three times. There is considerable uniformity in the length of each stadium, ranging from five to seven days for the first; four to five days for the second; three to five for the third, and six to eight days for the fourth. The average larval period in 1923. was seventeen days, and in 1924 twenty-one days. With the last moult the head becomes a light rusty brown instead of remaining black as in the previous moults. PREPUPAL AND PupaAL STAGES. From a study of 115 specimens in the prepupal stage, the maximum length of the period was found to be six days, the minimum two days with an average prepupal stage of 3.39 days, the pupal period from 123 specimens under observation, the maximum pupal period was ten days, with a minimum of three, averaging 5.22 days. With 100 specimens in the cocoon after reaching the adult stage, the maximum period in the cocoon was two days, and the minimum one day. THE Cocoon. The cocoon is a delicate lacy structure. The average length of cocoons spun in clover heads was 4.85 mm., and the average width 2.75 mm. The cocoon is clear and transparent. Cocoons may be spun in the clover head, in the axils of leaves, or on dead leaves at the base of the plant. Tue Pupa. The average length of living pupae is 4.85 mm., and the average width 2.01 mm. The changes in colour during the early part of the pupal period are very marked. These observations were made in the third week of June, earlier in the season these stages are much drawn out sometimes lasting as long as ten days. First day—Dorsal surface of prothorax, head and antennae pale olive green, with a pale stripe lengthwise through the centre. Legs and wing tips dusky yellow, abdomen light greenish yellow, eyes not showing. Second and third days—Eyes showing, colouration slightly deeper. Fourth day—Wing tips dusky, eyes very distinct. Fifth day—Emerged. THE NEWLY TRANSFORMED BEETLE. The newly transformed - beetle is light in colour, but soon takes on a brownish shade. It remains within the cocoon from from one to two days, frequently eating part of the cocoon. When it emerges it is brown, but in from five to six days is usually of a pronounced green colour. SEASONAL History. There is only one brood a year. On several occasions we have collected the beetles in August and early fall, but have never been able to secure any eggs. Foop PLANTS AND FEEDING Hasits. The adults and larvae seem to prefer red and mammoth clover. We have occasionally taken the adults in alfalfa and sweet clover fields, but never larvae. The larvae attack the newly forming buds, and such heads do not develop. The adults feed on the leaves riddling them. ABUNDANCE AND InjuRY. Although the insect has been on the increase for the past two years, it cannot be said that the clover crop has in any way been ; ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 73 endangered. In certain fields quite a percentage of clover heads were destroyed but from a fodder standpoint the crop was hardly injured. As there is no second brood to destroy the seed crop, the lesser clover weevil need not be considered an important pest at the present time. ENTOMOLOGY IN THE RURAL SCHOOLS IN THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC Pror. GEORGES MAHEUX, PROVINCIAL ENTOMOLOGIST, QUEBEC I do not intend to discuss in this paper the whole question of the teaching of natural sciences in rural schools. Though it might be interesting to point out the importance of some elementary lessons, for instance, of botany and zoology, to be given to farmers’ children, such a discussion would take too much time and be perhaps rather outside the scope for this society. Therefore my remarks will be confined to applied entomology. The necessity of some knowledge of entomology for the boys and girls who attend the rural schools is obvious. Too many injurious insects are established in the province, the injuries that they cause are much too great, the possibility of facing each year some new invaders, prove this necessity. In fact, the -teaching in rural schools should aim to prepare the future farmer or farmer’s wife to the task he will be called upon to perform within a comparatively few years. Itis useless to teach them things that would not facilitate the work on the farm; moreover, it might easily be injurious for the community. I do not mean that the teaching should be entirely confined to agricultural matters, but the directing spirit of all rural teaching should always aim to give the farmers’ children a real and well equipped farmer’s mind. As far as entomology is concerned, the fight against insect pests is something very far from the routine system still in effect on many farms. To the man who never had any idea of the injuries caused by noxious insects it requires a good deal of reading before he feels convinced of the importance of these pests and before he has gathered the necessary information about the value of spraying and insecticides. If, while at school, the boy or girl has an opportunity to know the chief injurious insects, to see them in a small but well prepared collection, to learn the means of control, such information will enable the pupil to help the parents which later on will prevent the loss of crops valued at many hundred dollars. But the young pupil, however anxious to learn he may be, will not increase his entomological knowledge unless the teacher is interested in the subject. Therefore the first steps must be made towards the formation of the school teacher. Various methods have been tried which bear unequal results. The value of Normal Schools for the formation of rural teachers is still a question open to discussion. It is true that regular normal school courses include some elementary knowledge about applied natural sciences or nature study; but it is -generally a much neglected field. We have thought that it would be possible to interest school teachers in the matter and help them to give more attention to agricultural questions in general and especially to entomology. In the spring of 1923, the Entomological Bureau of the Province of Quebec announced, through the agricultural press, a competition for insect and plant collections open to all rural school teachers. The Department of Agriculture 74 THE-REPORTSOF THE liberally offered $100 in cash prizes for the ten best ‘collections in each class and supplied to each competitor all necessary material for collecting purpose. Over forty teachers enlisted in each class but nearly half of them failed to submit the collections up to the autumn of 1923. We received ultimately — twenty-three collections of insects and eighteen collections of plants. The collections of insects included a total of 2,232 specimens, representing an average of seven orders and forty-one families per collection. Thus each collection had an average of ninety-seven specimens, all with locality labels, and well arranged in duplicate boxes. In the spring of 1924, the same competitions and prizes were offered again to the rural teachers, with a new section for minerals. Up to the present (No- vember, 1924) thirty-eight collections of insects have been recéived with a total of 6,612 specimens with an average of 174 specimens, eight orders and fifty-three families per competitor. The number and size of plant collections has increased in the same proportions (27). As to minerals, thirteen teachers have sent in specimens. The work of judging collections is not the most important, nor is the prize money the most satisfactory and lasting result for the competitors. If we want teachers to keep interested in natural science, or nature study, the col- lections properly arranged must be sent back to them. The plan we use for the arrangement of insect collections is the following. The purely systematic side is of secondary interest to the average school teacher and of still less importance to the school children. Thus only collections of particular value belonging to serious amateurs are grouped according to families, genera, and, whenever possible, to species. What we are aiming at is this: give to each competitor something that will help him interest the school children from a practical point of view, the viewpoint of applied entomology. In dust proof wooden boxes with glass covers the specimens are grouped according to the following sections: 1. Section illustrating the principal orders. 2. Section giving the metamorphosis of a certain species. . Section grouping injurious insects, each clearly labelled as to kind of damage and means of control. 4. Section of beneficial insects, each with details as to usefulness. 5. Section showing the near relatives of insects or Arthropodes. Ww Next year we propose to add a new section giving samples of the most important insecticides. Of course, not very many specimens can be included in such collections; but quantity is not necessary nor desirable. The choice of the representative forms and clear labelling is much more important. The ensemble must attract the attention of the young folks as the box is obviously destined to occupy a place in the class room. As a matter of fact nearly all the 1923 competitors have answered, to our questionnaire, that their collection forms now part of their teaching material and that their pupils quickly pick up information from it. A booklet of explanations for the use of teachers is in course of preparation and will help them materially. = We feel sure this method of procedure will eventually bring good results. As a matter of fact we could ourselves have prepared collections of the same type and sent then to the school teachers. But apart from the fact that a lot of material would have been required entailing much collecting, I am con- vinced the school teachers would have felt rather indifferent towards them. — Now they are interested in entomology because they themselves enjoyed Mihi ~ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 35 collecting; they are pleased to show such collections because it is their own work; besides, if a label indicates that such a collection was awarded a prize there is a little tinge of pride that helps a great deal. Year after year we intend to go deeper into this matter. For instance, the 1923 and 1924 competitors will not _ be admitted for general collections in the future. Second year competitors 3 will be entitled to present collections of injurious insects, preference being _ given to insects injurious to only one group of cultivated plants, such as _ vegetables, fruit trees, cereals, shade trees, ornamentals, flowering plants, etc. PS Third year competitors will only be admitted for collections showing the : metamorphoses of the most important pests of the province: cutworms, white _ grubs, cabbage worm, cabbage maggot, onion maggot, potato beetle, grass- ~ hoppers, tent caterpillars, codling moth, plum and apple curculio. Collections of this sort may require a full year to be completed, but will bring the teachers exactly to the point where we want them, and their interest in entomology will be increased very materially. The work of teachers in entomology will be supplemented in due time by _ pamphlets of information as to insects in general and the control of injurious forms in particular. It will be in fact a short course by correspondence in elementary entomology. Through the efforts of the Elementary Agricultural Education Branch -with whom we-co-operate in this work, the school children will have every opportunity to apply the information received at school. Inspectors will call their attention to the control of insects in the school gardens and the home gardens and give demonstration as to the use of insecticides. ; We feel confident that this form of extension will bring about good results, - if not immediately at least within the next ten years. It is surely not an invest- -~ment for a short period but the possible results are certainly worth the amount __of work we are willingly imposing upon ourselves. OBSERVATIONS ON THE HOST-SELECTION HABITS OF PIERIS: RAPAE: -E- C. R. Twinn, ENTOMOLOGICAL BRANCH, OTTAWA _ The necessity for investigation to establish a better understanding of the principles of host selection was recognized by Walsh (1864-5) sixty years ago when he wrote his memorable treatises on ‘“‘Phytophagic Varieties and Phyto- phagic Species,’ and has been stressed more recently by Brues (1920) who stated that, “the instinctive behaviour of phytophagous insects in the selection of their food-plants is . . . one of the fundamental principles underlying the application of entomology to agriculture, horticulture and forestry.”’ A study _of the food habits of insects is of importance in that it yields data that should prove of value in indicating the probable behaviour of introduced species, or indigenous species normally feeding on wild vegetation, when subjected to an entirely new set of environmental conditions. Man’s disturbing effect in nature as exemplified by his agricultural practices is frequently calculated to cause insects to turn from their original food plants to others. As an instance of this it may be noted that before the advent of the cultivated potato, Solanum tuberosum Linn., in the western United States, the Colorado potato beetle was confined to the wild plant, Solanum rostratum Dunal. - According to Walsh (1867) the potato beetle was discovered in 1859, about 100 76 THD REPORT? Or tHe miles west of Omaha city, and was known for some years in Colorado feeding in great numbers on the latter plant. As this wild species of Solanum was ~ more or less restricted in its range, the beetle had little opportunity to infest new territory, but after the introduction of the cultivated potato into its native habitat, it acquired a preference for this plant and rapidly extended its range across the American continent with results that are now history. Gibson (1915), states that prior to 1911 the pale western cutworm, Porosa- grotis orthogonia Morr., was not known as a pest in Western Canada, but in that year extensive damage to cultivated crops, including several kinds of grain, flax, alfalfa and beets, was reported from Alberta. Since 1911 the pale western cutworm has been a crop pest of first importance, and yet before the introduction of farm cultural practices it was doubtless confined to wild plants. In this respect many injurious species of cutworms were indigenous and fed upon wild plants before the advent of our Aryan civilization. Many of the insects now attacking fruit trees are known to have been originally confined to wild plants, and in this connection it may be of interest to note that Mr. Norman Criddle, of Treesbank, Manitoba, during the past summer (1924) found that a species of borer closely allied to Saperda candida Fab., which normally occurred on saskatoon (Amelanchier sp.) in Manitoba had spread from the latter to cultivated fruit trees and was attacking apple trees at Pilot Mound. Certain important aspects of the relation of phytophagous insects to their food plants have been surprisingly neglected in the past. Craighead (1921), states that ‘‘very few references to the adaptation of insects to their host plants or the variation in their selection of host plants can be found.” Brues (1923) © writing on the ‘‘Choice of Food and Numerical Abundance among Insects,” noted that, ‘‘In spite of its basic importance in determining the economic status of phytophagous insects, the remarkable instincts associated with the choice of food plants has been largely neglected as a field for investigation by economic entomologists.” Craighead, after carrying out a considerable series of host selection experi- ments with cerambycid beetles over a number of years, concluded that: “Tn practically all the species experimented with the adults show a marked predilection for the host in which they fed as larvae, provided they are not deterred by other factors, such as the unfavourable condition or the small quantity of the host.’’ He further concluded that ‘“‘continued breeding in a given host intensifies the preference for that host.”’ At the instigation of the late Mr. R. C. Treherne* a study in the host- selection habits of the cabbage butterfly, Pieris rapae L., was incepted by the writer at Ottawa in 1923 and continued in 1924. The cabbage butterfly, which is an oligophagous species, feeds upon cultivated and wild plants belonging to four families, namely, Cruciferae, Resedaceae, Capparidaceae and Tropaeolaceae, among which it exhibits decided preferences. Of the cultivated plants cabbage is the most preferred, and this plant owing to its peculiar properties, abundance and wide distribution is pre-eminently the most suitable food for this ubiquitous species. In the early spring, however, owing to the absence of favoured culti- vated plants it is necessary for the insect to search for other sources of food, and as the spring imagos are few in number the needs of their progeny are amply supplied by several species of common and widely distributed cruciferous weeds. This adaptability of the species to different, but related food plants, from season to season, assures the race a continuous and abundant food supply * Obit., June 7, 1924. caer?) < ‘ ; ee , S52 , - - ! ee - . SAN Josk ScaLe (Aspidiotus perniciosus).. Throughout the Niagara district and, also so far as observed, in other parts of the province wherever the scale occurs, there has been a decided reduction in numbers this year. The ree on causes of this have not been determined. There is no doubt the exceptionally cool, wet season was one cause, possibly ice storms in the winter another, and in some places parasites played a considerable part. “AppLE Macoor (Rhagoletis pomonella). Specimens of apples infested by the maggots of this fruit fly were sent in from Lindsay, Greenwood, Norwich, _ Port Perry and Picton. At Greenwood the owner of the orchard stated he had not had an apple fit to eat for the last three years because of this insect. ROUND-HEADED APPLE-TREE BORER (Saperda candida). It is only seldom that we have reports of severe injury from this borer in Ontario, hence it seems - worth recording that several orchards in the southern part of Norfolk were much injured by it this year. ~ ReD BuG (Lygidea mendax) and OTHER LEAF BuGs. As usual there was some injury this year in a number of orchards from one or other of these Mirids, but the injury seemed to have been less common and less severe than during the last few years. YELLOW oR Dusky Tussock Motu (Halisidota tesselaris). It will be remembered that last year there was a very unusual outbreak of the larvae of this species which did a great deal of damage in the latter part of the season to apple orchards over much of western Ontario. This year so many moths were taken at nights from near the end of June to the 8th or 9th of July that we were much afraid of a repetition of last year’s outbreak. We were pleasantly surprised therefore to find only a moderate number of caterpillars this fall. BARK MINER OF APPLE (Marmara elotella). The serpentine mines of this interesting insect were unusually conspicuous on the young wood of apple trees along the shore of Lake Ontario from Toronto to the Niagara River. The larvae mine in the epidermal layer of the bark but apparently do not in any way affect the health of the tree. It may be of interest to state here that a closely related species, M. pomonella Busck, is occasionally found in Ontario making serpentine or blotched mines in the skin of apples. The larvae work between the epidermal and cuticular layers of the fruit. EUROPEAN RED MITE (Paratetranychus pilosus). In the early part of the season this mite was not much in evidence but in August and September European plum foliage became heavily infested and at the present time the red eggs of the mite are to be seen in great numbers on the branches of plums and in some cases of apples. PEAR PsyLLaA (Psyllia pyricola). This insect was again very abundant and injurious in the Niagara and Burlington districts. CHERRY FRuIT-FLIES (Rhagoletis cingulata and R. fausta). Owing to many growers having neglected to spray for the fruit-flies in recent years these insects have once more come into prominence in sour cherry orchards, especially in the Niagara and Burlington districts. In Waterford very severely infested cherry trees were found. This is apparently the first record of the occurrence of fruit-flies of cherry in that part of Norfolk county. PEAR SLUG (Caliroa cerast). The only part of the province where this insect was much in evidence was in Essex and Kent where many cherry trees were partially or completely defoliated by it. BLack CHERRY APHIS (Myzus cerast). Unsprayed or poorly sprayed sweet cherry trees in the Niagara district were heavily infested with this plant louse. It was also sufficiently abundant on sour cherries not only in Niagara but in many other places to cause some alarm to fruit growers. PLantT Bucs INJuRIOUS TO PEACHES. Peaches grown in the immediate 86 THE-REPORT OF THE vicinity of oak and hickory trees were again seriously injured by the three species of plant bugs to which we have referred in previous reports. This year the hickory species (Lygus caryae) was more prevalent and destructive than the oak species. GRAPE AND SMALL FRuiIT INSECTS RosE CHAFER (Macrodactylus subspinosus). This beetle again appeared in alarming numbers in many sandy sections of southern Ontario and attacked grapes, fruit trees and ornamentals. - GRAPE LEAF Hoppers (Erythroneura comes and E. tricincta). The outbreak of leaf hoppers in the Niagara Peninsula appears to be over, this year there being little or no severe hopper injury. GRAPE BERRY Morn (Polychrosits viteana). This grape insect has come into prominence as a serious pest in several vineyards between St. Catharines and Virgil. | GRAPE BLossom MInGE (Contarinia johnsont). Blossom buds infested with the whitish or yellowish larvae of this midge were observed in many vine- yards this spring between the Niagara River and Fruitland. In no case, how- ever, did we find the injury serious. Infested blossom buds are two or three times normal size and are either yellowish green in colour or sometimes partly reddish. ; GRAPEVINE FLEA-BEETLE (Altica chalybea). During June and July the grubs of this beetle were unusually abundant in Niagara vineyards. In many cases they skeletonized the leaves to a sufficient extent to attract attention. It seems probable that there will be an outbreak of this flea beetle next spring, particularly in vineyards along the foot of the escarpment or bordering upon woods. BLACKBERRY LEAF MINER (WMetallus bethunet). This troublesome insect has been brought under control by natural factors and did but little damage this year. STRAWBERRY WEEVIL (Anthonomus signatus). Generally speaking this weevil was of little importance in Ontario this year. Among the few places where it did noticeable damage was Gravenhurst. CuRRANT APHIDS (Myzus ribis and Amphorophora lactucae). Like the apple and some other species of aphids the currant aphids were exceptionally abundant this year. © 2 CuRRANT Fruit FLy (Epochra canadensis). It is so rarely that this insect is reported from any part of Ontario that it seems worth while recording that specimens were received this year from Dryden near the centre of the Kenora district. The plot was reported to be badly infested. INSECTS ATTACKING VEGETABLES CaBpaGE Maccort (Phorbia brassicae). Very few complaints of injury by the maggot were received. Onton Maccor (Hylemyia antiqua). Though injuries from the onion maggot were reported from East York, Aylmer, Severn Bridge and Peterboro the insect was, as far as can be judged, not so abundant as usual. Cutworms. At Barrie, Alliston, Timmins, Severn Bridge, New Liskeard, Franklin, Birch Cliff and Listowel cutworms did considerably damage. ~All the species were not determined but one of the troublesome forms was the black army cutworm (Agrotis fennica) and another the white cutworm (Lycophotia scandens). < ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 87 _ STALK Borer (Papaipema nitela). In many parts of southwestern Ontario this borer was quite common and attacked many kinds of stock plants. It was often mistaken by the growers for the European corn borer. _ — Spinach Lear MINER (Pegomyia hyoscyami). Spinach, beets, mangels | and lamb’s quarters were severely attacked by this miner in many parts of the province. STRIPED CUCUMBER BEETLE (Diabrotica vittata). In southwestern Ontario this beetle occurred in larger numbers than last year but there was no con- - spicuous outbreak. Porato Lear Hoprer (Empoasca mali). This leaf hopper was of little or no importance in southern Ontario potato fields. _~ SLucs (Agriolimax agrestis). As one would expect in such a wet season _ slugs were very numerous and did considerable damage. InsEcTs ATTACKING FIELD CROPS AND GRASSES WIREWORM (Agriotes mancus). What appeared to be this species was moderately common this year and specimens were received from the locality of Guelph, Port Arthur, Mitchell, Scarboro Junction and Exeter. At Vineland ~- tomato plants were attacked by a stem boring species. Waite Gruss (Phyllophaga spp.). There was about the usual number of complaints of damage from white grubs. MISCELLANEOUS INSECTS WALNUT CATERPILLAR (Datana integerrima). This caterpillar has appeared in great numbers for several years past. This year a large part of the walnut and butternut trees in the southwestern part of Ontario were either entirely or to a large extent defoliated by it. Spiny OAKWORM (Anzisota senatoria). Like the walnut caterpillar this oak pest which was abundant last fall was again abundant this year. Lirac LEAF MINER (Gracilaria syringella). Last year we reported the presence of what appeared to be this species in several parts of Ontario. This year again it has been sent in from a number of places. In Guelph a lilac hedge ~.about forty feet long was so severely infested that approximately 90 per cent. of the leaves had all the green surface devoured. The larvae seem to begin at _ the apex and gradually roll the leaf down, feeding under the cover of the roll. Anywhere from one to thirty larvae were to be found on a leaf. Most infested leaves sent in from other places showed injury only in the form of large blotched mines and there was no indication of the rolling which took place in Guelph. -It would not be surprising if we were to havea good deal of trouble from this pest during the next few years. At Guelph the larvae were mature and had entered the soil in large numbers for pupation by June 28th and by July 21st the majority of the moths had emerged. BALTIMORE BUTTERFLY (Euphydryas phaeton). Numerous larvae of this butterfly were found on Turtle-head (Chelone glabra). Nearly all the adults from these had emerged by July 21st. In the collections of the summer school teachers this butterfly was quite common, this showing that it was far more abundant this year than usual. COSMOPOLITE BUTTERFLY (Vanessa cardut). Throughout the southwestern part of Ontario the larvae were very common and farmers reported them as feeding on Canada Thistle greedily. There was some alarm felt by them in a few instances lest the larvae might attack grain crops. 88 THE REPORT OF THE. SPRUCE MITE (Paratetranychus ununguis). In a nursery at Winona blue spruce and balsam fir were injured by this mite. TERRAPIN SCALE (Eulecanium nigrofasciatum). According to a report received last spring from the superintendent of parks, St. Catharines, many of the soft maples in that city were heavily infested with this scale. Wuite FLies (Trialeurodes vaporariorum). Each year this troublesome in- sect seems to be growing more and more abundant, especially in private homes. Carpet BEETLES (Anthrenus scrophulariae and Attagenus piceus). A very large number of housewives requested information on how to combat this household insect. CLotues Morn (Tinea biselliella). Requests for information on control measures were received from every side. es HousEFLy (Musca domestica). In southern Ontario the housefly was less _ abundant this fall than usual. cae eee mee: i / ~ 4 . ~ ENTOMOLOGICAL- SOCIETY 89 THE ENTOMOLOGICAL RECORD, 1924 NORMAN CRIDDLE, ENTOMOLOGICAL BRANCH, DOMINION DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE ‘The amount of material available for inclusion in the ‘‘Record”’ is now so great that we are obliged to make some alterations in the usual procedure. _As a beginning, in order to utilize space to the best advantage, we are taking it for granted that every working entomologist reads the ‘‘Canadian Ento- mologist’’ and in consequence new species published in that journal will no longer be listed. We have also been obliged to reduce zonal records to one or two for each province. One of the objects in preparing an ‘Entomological Record’’ has been to gradually map out the distribution of Canadian insects, an accomplishment which would be of marked value both to the economic and systematic worker. Much progress has been recently made towards this object and we are now ina position to provide fairly complete lists in certain families. As an alternative to publishing all promiscuous records, we have thought, therefore, that our readers might be more interested in complete group lists, and with that idea ‘in view, we are providing annotated lists of the Canadian Eucosminae and Ephemeridae. This will bring the known distribution up-to-date and thus provide a simple means of detecting new records after the species have been determined. We are again indebted to specialists in the United States and Great Britain for assistance in determining certain species. 7 NOTES OF CAPTURES = Species preceded by an asterisk (*) described since the last Record was prepared. LEPIDOPTERA (Arranged according to Barnes and McDunnough’s Check List of the Lepidoptera.) Lycaenidae 413 Heodes rubidus Behr. Milk River, Alta., (R. D. Bird). Sphingidae 733 Haemorrhagia gracilis Grt. Victoria Beach, Man., (H. Brodie). Noctuide Porosogrotis vetusta mutata B. & Benj. Kaslo, Arrowhead Lake, and Vernon, B.C. Anarta poca B. & Benj. Pocahontas, Alta., (Mrs. Mitchall). Anarta lagganata B. & Benj. Laggan, Alta., (F. H. Wolley-Dod). Lasionycta alberta B. & Benj. Nordegg, Alta., (J. McDunnough). Perigrapha praeses stigmata B. & Benj. Duncan and Wellington, B.C., (W. H. Hanham). Oncocnemis mackiei B. & Benj. Edmonton, Alta., (D. Mackie and K. Bowman). The above six insects described in Cont. Nat. Hist. Lep., Vol. V, Nos. 2 and 3. 2135 Graptolitha oriunda Grt. Lobo, Ont., (A. E. Wood). 2206 Epiglaea decliva Grt. Lobo, Ont., (Wood). 2332 Oligia violacea Grt. Penticton, B. C., (Paul Vroom). Eremobia hanhami B. & Benj. Duncan, B.C., (A. W. Hanham). A patela fragilis fragiloides B. & Benj. Duncan and Guamichan Lake, B. ce (Hanham), Gortyna columbia B. & Benj. Saanich, B.C., (Downes); Duncan, B.C., (Hanham). Gortyna intermedia B. & Benj. Ft. Calgary, 'N.W. B.C. The above described in Cont. Nat. Hist. Lep., Vol. V, No. 3, 1924. 2171 Stibadium spumosum Grt. Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans). 2769 Plagiomimicus expallidus Grt. Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans), * Bellura obliquus pallida B. & Benj. Edmonton, Alta., (D. Mackie). Cont. Nat. Hist. Lep., Vol. V, 1924. 2667 Papaipema furcata Sm. Aweme, Man., (N. Criddle). %* ee * * * * * * 90 THE REPORT OF THE ~ 2844 Annaphila danistica Grt. Oliver, B.C., (Garrett). 3105 Catocala mira Grt. Strathroy, Ont., (W. H. Hudson). 3365 Strenoloma lunilinea Grt. Lobo, Ont., (Woods). - Notodontidae 3611 Odontosia elegans Stkr. Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans). 3625 Dasylophia anguina A. & S. Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans). 3671a Cerura cinerea cinereoidea Dyar. Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans). Pyralidae 4997 Evergestis vinctalis B. & McD. Oliver, B.C., (Garrett). 4999 Evergestis obscuralis B.& McD. Watertown Lake, Alta., (McDunnough); (Cockle). Aegeriidae 6655 Synanthedon exitiosa Say. Douglas Lake, Man., (R. D. Bird). Kaslo, B.C., The following species were collected by Dr. Me woneh at Waterton Lake, Alta, and determined by Miss Braun. Cosmopterygidae 5990 Cyphophora tricristatella Cham. 6004 Mompha albopalpelia Cham. Gelechiidae 6044 Aristotelia rubidella Clem. Telphusa praefixa Braun. 6110 Gnorimoschema triocellella Cham. 6112 Gnorimoschema radiatella Busck. 6191 Anacampsis niveopulvella Cham. Gelechia metallica Braun. Gelechia abradescens Braun. Gelechia conspersa Braun. Gelechia clandestina Meyr. 6211 Gelechia continuella Zell. 6362 Trichotaphe purpureofusca Walsingham. 6368 Trichotaphe levisella Fyles. Oecophoridae ® 6503 Borkhausenia haydenella Cham. 6493 Schiffermuelleria dimidiella W\sm. Schiffermuelleria rostrigera Meyr. Glyphipterygidae Allononyma fabriciana var. alpinella Busck. 7618 Choreutis onustana Wk. 7619 Choreutis balsamorrhizella Busck. 7621 Choreutis occidentella Dyar. Plutellidae 7675 Plutella porrectella Linn. Yponomeutidae Argyresthia monochromella Busck. 7694 Argyresthia pygmaeella Hbn. 7695 Argyresthia oreasella Clem. 7703. Argyresthia conjugella Zell. Coleophoridae Coleophora crinita Braun. 7798 Coleophora tenuis Wl|sm. Elachistidae Elachista aurocristata Braun. Tinagma gigantea Braun. Tinagma pulverilinea Braun. Gracilariidae 8051 Gracilaria murtfeldtella Busck. Scythridae 8082 Scythris ochristriata Wlsm. Tineidae t ; - 8198 Myrmecozela (Amydria) coloradella Dietz. 8235 Dietzia martinella WIk. ~ a -ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 91 Incurvariidae 8438 Chalceopla cockerelli Busck. Greya subalba Braun. a Lampronia piperatella Busck. 8431 Lampronia aenescens Wlsm. 8432 Lampronia politella Wism. Lampronia obscuromaculata Braun. Lampronia variata Braun. = OLETHREUTIDAE Eucosminae (prepared by J. McDunnough) The following list of Canadian Eucosminae has been made as complete as possible, and is - the result of work carried on during the past two years, based on Heinrich’s Monograph of this subfamily (Bull. 123, U.S.N.M.) and the material in the Canadian National Collection. Pseudogalleria inimicella Zell. Aweme, Man. (N. Criddle). Petrova albicapitana Bsk. Prince Albert, Sask. Petrova picicolana Dyar. Massett, B.C. Petrova burkeana Kit. Nordegg, Alta., (J. McDunnough). Barbara colfaxiana var. taxifoliella Bsk. Waterton Park, Alta. (C. H. Young; Agassiz, B.C., (R. Glendenning). Spilonota ocellana D. & S. Annapolis, N.S.; Ottawa, Trenton, Ont., (J. Evans); Vernon, B.C., (E. P. Venables). Thiodia radiatana W\shm. Digby, N.S., (J. Russell); Montreal, Que. Thiodia albertana McD. Lethbridge, Alta., (H. L. Seamans). Thiodia essexana Kft. Montreal, Que.; Trenton, Ont., (Evans). Thiodia awemeana Kft. Aylmer, Que., (McDunnough); Ottawa, Ont., (Young), Aweme, Man., (Criddle). Thiodia indeterminana McD. Aylmer, Que., (McDunnough); Ottawa, Ont., (Young); Edmonton, Wabamun, Waterton Park, Rocky Mt. House, Alta; Cranbrook, Be. te Garrett): Salmon Arm, Be Gay CW: R. Buckell). Thiodia umbrastriana Kft. Aylmer, Que., (Curran and McDunnough); Meach Lake, Que., (Young). Thiodia roseoterminana Kft. Meach Lake, Que., (Young); Aweme, Man., (Criddle). Saskatoon, Sask., (K.M. King). Thiodia ferruginana Fern. Ottawa, Ont., (Young and McDunnough). Thiodia formosana Clem. Digby, N.S. , (Russell) : Chelsea, Meach Lake, Aylmer, Que; (Young and McDunnough); Ottawa, Trenton, Ont., (Young, Ev ans); Calgary, Edmonton, Alta., (Bowman); Salmon Arm, B. (ee (Buckell). Thiodia ochroterminana Kft. St. Johns, Que., (G Chagnon): Ottawa, Trenton, Ont.; Aweme, Man. Thiodia perfuscana Heinr. Ottawa, (J. Fletcher); Trenton, Ont., (Evans). Thiodia corculana Zell. Regina, Saskatoon, Sask., (King); Waterton Lakes, Alta., (McDunnough); Keremeos, B.C., (E. R. Buckell). Thiodia amphorana Wlshm. Calgary, Alta., (Wolley-Dod). ~ Thiodia refusana Wlk. Aweme, Man.; Hedley, B.C., (Garrett). Thiodia annetteana Kft. Reported by Kearfoot in the Ent. Record for 1907 from Cart- wright, Man. : Thiodia columbiana Wlishm. Nicola, B.C., (Buckell). Thiodia crispana Clem. Trenton, Ont., (Evans). Thiodia marmontana Kearf. Aweme, Man., (Criddle); Saskatoon, Sask., (King); Nordegg, Waterton Park, Alta., (McDunnough). Thiodia alternana Heinr. Aweme, Man., (Criddle). Thiodia oregonensis Heinr. Waterton Park, Alta., (McDunnough). Thiodia modernana McD, Aylmer, Que., (McDunnough) ; Cranbrook, Salmon Arm, B.C., (Garrett, Buckell). Thiodia convergana McD. Aweme, Man., (Criddle). Thiodia apacheana Wlshm. Reported from Kaslo, B.C., (Cockle) in the Kootenai list (Proc. U.S.N.M., X XVII, 926). Thiodia influana Heinr. Aweme, Man., (Criddle); Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans); Windermere, B.C., (Dod.) Thiodia kokana Kearf. (sororiana Heinr.). Aweme, Man., (Criddle). Thiodia complicana McD. Osoyoos, B.C., (Garrett). Thiodia ornatula Heinr. Aweme, Man., (Criddle). Thiodia elongana Wlshm. Kaslo, B.C., (Cockle). Thiodia transversa Wishm. Kaslo, B.C., (Cockle). . Thiodia apetene McD. Calgary, Nordegg, Laggan, Alta., (Dod, McDunnough, Bean). Thiodia misturana Heinr. Aweme, Man., (Criddle); Regina, Sask.; Vernon, Hedley, C., (Buckell, Garrett). Thiodia fertoriana Heinr. Aweme, Man., (Criddle); Regina, Lethbridge, Alta.; Nicola, B.C., (Buckell). 92 * THE REPORT OF THE Thiodia indagatricana Heinr. Aweme, Man., (Criddle); Waterton Park, Alta., (Mc- Dunnough). Thiodia spiculana Zell. Aweme, Man., (Criddle). Thiodia striatana Clem. Meach Lake, Que.; Ottawa, Trenton, Ont., (Young, ines Aweme, Man., (Criddle); Moraine Lake, Alta., (McDunnough). Thiodia dorsiatomana Kit. ‘Westburn, Man., (Criddle); Saskatoon, Sask., (King); Lethbridge, Hillcrest, Alta., (Seamans, Bowman). Thiodia kiscana Kft. Ottawa, Trenton, Ont., (Young, Evans). Thiodia perangustana Wlishm. Keremos, B. er (Garrett). Thiodia pallidicostana Wishm. Aweme, Man. ’ (Criddle); Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans). | Thiodia modicellana Heinr. Aweme, Man. a '(Criddle); Lethbridge, Waterton Park, (Seamans, McDunnough). Thiodia infimbriana Dyar. Kaslo, Salmon Arm, Hedley, Vancouver, B.C. Thiodia infimbriana var. candidula Heinr. Aweme, Man.; Nordegg, Alta., (Mc- Dunnough). Thiodia octopunctana W\shm. Treesbank, Man., (Criddle). Thiodia youngi McD. Waterton Park, Alta., (Young). Thiodia festivana Heinr. Aweme, Man., (Criddle). T hiodia camdenana McD. Camden Bay, Alaska. Thiodia montanana Wlshm. Aweme, Man., (Criddle). Thiodia imbridana Fern. Aweme, Rownthwaite, Man., epee Marmont); Sisharsaae Sask., (King). Eucosma fandana Kft. Aweme, Man., (Criddle). } . ° : Se ae, Sek \ Ls 1a. ee Tes » 4 Awe s Eucosma ridingsana Rob. Aweme, Row nthwaite, Man., (Criddle, Marmont); Calgary, 5 Banff, Alta.; Lillooet, B.C. ATA Phair). x Eucosma fernaldana Grt. Aweme, Man., (Criddle). : Eucosma argenteana Wlishm. Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans). : Eucosma serpentana Wishm. Lethbridge, Alta., (Strickland, Seamans). ~g Eucosma ophionana McD. Lethbridge, Waterton, Nordegg, Alta., (Seamans, Mie , Dunnough). § “ge Eucosma morrisoni Wishm. Aweme, Man., (Criddle); Last Mt. Lake, Sask. , (Young); Lethbridge, Waterton, Nordegg, Alta.; ’ Chilcotin, Keremeos, B.C. Eucosma heathiana Kit. Aw eme, Man. Eucosma argentialbana Wlshm. Aweme, Man.; Lethbridge, Waterton, Nordegg, Alta. Eucosma pergandeana Fern, Trenton, Ont., (Evans); Aweme, Man.; Regina, Last Mt. ; Lake, Sask.; Lethbridge, Waterton, Nordegg, Hillcrest, Alta.; Kaslo, Osoyoos, Keremeos, BG: ; Eucosma agricolana Wlshm. Reported by Dyar from Kaslo, B.C. (1. ¢. 925). S Eucosma comatulana Zell. Aweme, Man., (Criddle). j Eucosma galenapunctana Kft. Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans). Eucosma serapicana Heinr. Lethbridge, Alta. Eucosma scintillana Clem. Aweme, Rounthwaite, Man. Eucosma scintillana var. randana Kit. Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans). Eucosma subflavana Wishm. Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans); Chilcotin, B.C., (Buckell). Eucosma glomerana Wishm. Aweme, Man.; Saskatoon, Sask. Eucosma sandana Kft. Aweme, Man. ; Eucosma vagana McD. Aweme, Man.; Saskatoon, Sask. iq Eucosma tocullionana Heinr. Ottawa, Ont., (Young). , : Eucosma grotiana Kft. Aweme, Man.; Saskatoon, Sask. A Eucosma lolana Kft. Waterton Park, Moraine Lake, Alta., (McDunnough) Keremeos » (Garrett), Aspen Grove, B.C., (P. Vroom). s. . Eucosma palabundana Heinr. Aweme, Man. , x Eucosma occipitana Zell. Saskatoon, Sask., (King); Lethbridge, Nordegg, Alta., ¢ (Seamans, McDunnough). Eucosma heinricht McD. Aweme, Man. b Eucosma bilineana Kft. Aweme, Man.; Lethbridge, Alta. : Eucosma mediostriata Wishm. Lethbridge, Alta. - Eucosma nandana Kft. Described from Rounthwaite, Man. No specimens examined. Eucosma landana Kft. Aweme, Man.; Craven, Sask., (Young); Calgary, Alta., (Dod.) gq Eucosma simplex McD. Calgary 3 Alta., (Dod). ; Eucosma dorsisignatana Clem. Aw eme, Man.; Regina, Sask.; Edmonton, Alta. / (Bowman); Kaslo, B.C., (Cockle). Eucosma similana Clem. Ottawa, Trenton, Ont.; Aweme, Man. Eucosma graduatana Wlishm. Listed by Heinrich from Aweme, Man. : Eucosma juncticiliana Wlshm. Meach Lake, Que.; Ottawa, Trenton, Ont.; Aweme, Man.; Victoria, B.C., (W. Downes). 3 Eucosma excusabilis Heinr. Waterton Park, Alta., (J. McDunnough). Eucosma sombreana Kft. Aweme, Man. Eucosma fuscana Kft. Not yet ‘determined. One of the type localities was Roun- thwaite, Man. Eucosma corosana Wishm. Aweme, Man.; Saskatoon, Sask.; Calgary, Alta. Eucosma hohana Kft. Moraine Lake, Alta., (McDunnough); Kaslo, B.C., (Geka, ao Ee ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 93 Eucosma pulveratana Wishm. Aweme, Man. Eucosma suadana Heinr. Aweme, Man.; Lethbridge, Alta. Eucosma metariana Heinr. One of the type localities was Victoria, B.C., (Blackmore). Eucosma rorana Kft. Aweme, Man.; Hedley, B.C., (Garrett). Eucosma cataclystiana Wik. Fredericton, N.B.; Kingsmere, Que.; Trenton, Ont.; Aweme, Man.; Regina, Sask.; Lethbridge, Waterton, Alta. Eucosma resumptana Wik. Described from Nova Scotia; not yet recognized. Epiblema strenuana Wik. Trenton, Ont., (Evans). Epiblema scudderiana Clem. Meach Lake, Que., (Young); Ottawa, Trenton, Ont. Epiblema benignata McD. Aweme, Man. Epiblema obfuscana Dyar. Montreal, Cascades, Que. Epiblema_carolinana Wlshm. Port Stanley, Ont., (Crawford); Cartwright, Man., (a/c Kearfott). Epiblema hirsutana Kft. Reported by Kearfott (Ent. Rec. 1906), from Aweme, Man. Needs verification. Epiblema periculosana Heinr. Waterton Park, Moraine Lake, Banff, Nordegg, Alta.: Salmon Arm, (Buckell); Keremeos, B.C., (Garrett). Epiblema purpurissatana Heinr. Barrington Passage, N.S., (Young); Vernon, Victoria, B.C., (W. Downes). om) Epiblema walsinghami Kft. Ottawa, Ont., (A. Gibson). Epiblema suffusana Zell. Reported by Kearfott (Ent. Rec. 1906), from Regina, Sask. Epiblema illotana Wlshm. Barrington Passage, N.S., (Young); Ottawa, Trenton; Aweme, Man.; Lethbridge, Waterton, Alta. Epiblema culminana Wlishm. Waterton, Edmonton, Alta., (Bowman); Oliver, Vernon, Victoria, B.C. Epiblema otiosana Clem. St. Johns, Que.; Trenton, Port Stanley, Ont., (Crawford). Epiblema tandana Kft. Aweme, Man. Epiblema abbreviatana Wishm. Aylmer, Que., (McDunnough); Ottawa, Ont.; Aweme, Man.; Salmon Arm, B.C., (Buckell). Gypsonoma fasciolana Clem. Barrington Passage, N.S.; Ottawa, Algonquin Park, Ont.; Aweme, Man.; Calgary, Nordegg, Alta.; Kaslo, B.C. Gypsonoma nebulosana Pack. Hopedale, Labr. Gypsonoma parryana Curtis. Barter Is., Camden Bay, Alaska. Gypsonoma haimbachiana Kft. Trenton, Ont. Gypsonoma substitutionis Heinr. Ottawa, Ont.; Aweme, Man. Gypsonoma salicicolana Clem. Ottawa, Trenton, Ont. Gypsonoma adjuncta Heinr. Trenton, Ont.; Aweme, Man.; Edmonton, Alta. Proteoteras aesculana Riley. Trenton, Ont. Proteoteras willingana Kft. Aweme, Man.; Saskatoon, Regina, Sask. Proteoteras crescentana Kft. Regina, Sask. - Proteoteras moffatiiana Fern. Meach Lake, Que.; Ottawa, Ont. Proteoteras obnigrana Heinr. Ottawa, Ont., (Young). Zeiraphera ratzeburgiana Sax. Chatham, Youghall, N.B.; Meach Lake, Que.; Ottawa, Ont.; Ucluelet, B.C., (Young). 2 Zeiraphera diniana Gn. Ottawa, Trenton, Ont.; Nordegg, Alta. Zeiraphera fortunana Kft. Ottawa, Ont. Zewaphera vancouverana McD. Ucluelet, B.C. Exentera improbana Wik. Meach Lake, Aylmer, Que.; Ottawa, Ont. Exentera oregonana Wishm. Aweme, Man.; Edmonton, Calgary, Alta.; Kaslo, B.C. Exentera maracana Kft. (?) Ottawa, Ont. Our specimens may prove to belong to perstructana WIlk., a species unidentified by Heinrich; they match Walsingham’s figure closely. Exentera spoliana Clem. Aylmer, Que.; Ottawa, Ont. Exentera senatrix Heinr. Cranbrook, B.C., (Garrett). Gretchena watchungana Kft. Digby, N.S., (Russell); Aylmer, Que.; Ottawa, Ont. Gretchena deludana Clem. Aylmer, Que., (McDunnough). Gretchena amatana Heinr. Aylmer, Que.; Ottawa, Ont. Griselda radicana Wlshm. Nordegg, Banff, Alta.; Duncan, B.C., (Day). Norma dietziana Kft. Reported by Kearfott (Ent. Rec. 1912), from St. Johns, Que. Kundrya finitima Heinr. Barrington Passage, N.S.; Ottawa, Ont., (Young). Hendecaneura shawiana Kft. Ottawa, Ont., (Young). Rhopobota geminana Steph. Ucluelet, B.C., (Young). Rhopobota naevana Hbn. Victoria, B.C., (Downes). : Epinotia similana Hbn. Bridgetown, N.S.; Meach Lake, Que.; Ottawa, Trenton, Ont.; Aweme, Man.; Nordegg, Alta.; Nicola, B.C., (Vroom). “ Epinotia solandriana Linn. Meach Lake, Que.; Ottawa, Ont.; Waterton Park, Alta..,. (McDunnough); Victoria, B.C., (Downes). Epinotia pulsatillana Dyar. Kaslo, B.C., (Cockle). Epinotia medioviridana Kft. Ottawa, Ont., (Young). ce castaneana Wlshm. Moraine Lake, Alta., (McDunnough); Kaslo, B.C., Cockle). Epinotia johnsonana Kft. Victoria, (Blackmore); Departure Bay, B.C., (Young). 94 _ i - \ THE REPORT OF THE Epinotia madderana Kft. Trenton, Ont.; Rounthwaite, Man., (Marmont). Epinotia laracana Kft. Otatwa, Ont., (Young). Epinotia hopkinsana Kft. Victoria, B.C., (Blackmore). Epinotia solicitana Wik. Barrington Passage, N.S.; Montreal, Megantic, Aylmer, Que:; - Z Ottawa, Ont.; Kaslo, Vancouver, B.C. Epinotia corylana McD. Ottawa, Ont. Epinotia rectiplicana Wlshm. Barrington Passage, N.S.; Gaspé, St. Johns, Que.; Agassiz, Hedley, Victoria, B.C. Epinotia misella Cl. Ottawa, Ont.; Aweme, Man. (as criddleana Kft.); Banff, Edmonton, Red Deer, Nordegg, Alta., (Bowman); Oliver, B.C., (Garrett). Epinotia albangulana Wlshm. Wellington, Vancouver, B.C. pee momonana Kft. Bridgetown, N.S.; Meach Lake, Que.; Ottawa, Ont.; Aweme, an. Epinotia transmissana Wlk. Ottawa, Trenton, Ont.; Salmon Arm, B.C., (Buckell). Epinotia silvertoniensis Heinr. Waterton Park, Moraine Lake, Alta., (McDunnough). Epinotia digitana Heinr. Banff, Moraine Lake, Alta.; Ucluelet, B.C. Epinotia nigralbana Wishm. Waterton Park, Moraine Lake, Alta. Epinotia sagittana McD. Departure Bay, B.C. Epinotia emarginana Wlshm. Victoria, B.@, Epinotia crenana Hbn. Nordegg, Alta.; Kaslo, Vancouver, B.C. Epinotia bicordana Heinr. Aweme, Man. a Epinotia arctostaphylana Kft. Nordegg, Alta., (Bowman). Epinotia timidella Clem. Aweme, Man. Epinotia aceriella Clem. Aylmer, Que.; Trenton, Ont. Epinotia nonana Kft. Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans). Epinotia normanana Kft. Aweme, Man. Epinotia nanana Tr. Vancouver, B.C., (Glendenning). Epinotia meritana Heinr. Victoria, B.C., (Carter); one of the type localities. : Epinotia medioplagata Wlshm. Ottawa, Trenton, Ont.; Waterton Park, Moraine Lake, Nordegg, Alta. Epinotia plumbolineana Kft. Victoria, B.C., (Downes). Epinotia lomonana Kft. Aweme, Man.; Edmonton, Alta., (Bowman); Salmon Arm, — Victoria, B.C. Epinotia cruciana Linn. Meach Lake, Que.; Ottawa, Ont.; Nordegg, Banff, Moraine Lake, Alta.; Kaslo, Salmon Arm, B.C. Epinotia cruciana var. alaskae Heinr. Fort Wrigley, N.W.T., (Crickmay). Epinotia cruciana var. russata Heinr. Described from Victoria, B.C. + Epinotia seorsa Heinr. Salmon Arm, Victoria, B.C. Epinotia vagana Heinr. Kaslo, Victoria, Departure Bay, Be: Epinotia lindana Fern. Meach Lake, Que.; Ottawa,.Ont.; Aweme, Man. Epinotia kasloana McD. Kaslo, B.C. Pi Epinotia signiferana Heinr. Kaslo, B.C. Epinotia trossulana Wishm. Reported by Heinrich from Victoria, BAS ; Anchylopera nubeculana Clem. Digby, N.S.; Meach Lake, Que.; Ottawa, Trenton, Ont.; Aweme, Man.; Red Deer, Waterton Park, Alta. Anchylopera subaequana Zell. Barrington Passage, N.S.; Ottawa, Ont. Anchylopera subaequana var. kincaidana Fern. Nordegg, Alta.; Ucluelet, B.C. Anchylopera discigerana Wlk. Kaslo, Salmon Arm, B.C. Anchylopera spireaefoliana Clem. Montreal, Que., (Winn); Ottawa, Ont.; Aweme, Man. : Anchylopera angulifasciana Zell. Ottawa, Trenton, Ont.; Nordegg, Alta. Anchylopera burgessiana Zell. Ottawa, Ont.; Aweme, Rounthwaite, Man. Anchylopera platanana Clem. Aylmer, Que.; Ottawa, Ont. Anchylopera laciniana Zell. Ottawa, Ont. Anchylopera fuscociliana Clem. Ottawa, Ont. Ancylis comptana Froel. Barrington. Passage, N.S.; Aylmer, Meach Lake, Que.; Ottawa, Ont.; Aweme, Man.; Lethbridge, Waterton Park, Alta.; Kaslo, BE: Ancylis cometana Wishm. Aweme, Man.; Nordegg, Alta. Ancylis divisana Wik. Digby, N.S.; Ottawa, Ont. Ancylis apicana Wik. Barrington Passage, N.S.; Ottawa, Ont. Ancylis muricana Wlshm. Aylmer, Que., (McDunnough); Grimsby, Ont. Ancylis carbonana Heinr. Barrington Passage, N.S.; Ottawa, Ont.; Gaspé, Que. Ancylis diminutana Haw. Ottawa, Trenton, Ont.; Aweme, Man.; Nordegg, Alta.; Vancouver, B.C. Ancylis goodelliana Fern. Ottawa, Ont.; Nordegg, Alta. - Ancylis plagosana Clem. Aweme, Man.; Waterton Park, Nordegg, Alta.; Kaslo, Cran- brook, Saanich Dist., B.C. Ancylis pacificana Wlshm. Kaslo, B.C. Ancylis mediofasciana Clem. Digby, N.S.; Gaspé, Que.; Ottawa, Ont.; Aweme, Man.; Waterton Park, Alta. : - Ancylis torontana Kft. Only known from the type from Toronto, Ont. Ancylis tineana Hbn. Barrington Passage, N.S.; Aweme, Man. Fidennaeinna ita ~ = \ ees! uh nsnenly yp eenras okaes er hier Neti reed td ea \ while CoE { Si ee Rear se agian haat st Raab bhi GAS isd $ ahs 100) bn Me wie a ws ed ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 95 Ancylis albacostana Kft. Ottawa, Ont.; Aweme, Man. Hystricophora stygiana Dyar. Lethbridge, Calgary, Alta.; Mt. Arrowsmith (Fletcher), Vancouver, B.C. ea ada asphodelana Kft. Calgary, Lethbridge, Waterton Park, Alta.; Keremeos, ernon, Hystricophora ochreicostana Wlshm. Aweme, Treesbank, Man.; Lethbridge, Alta. Hystricophora taleana Grt. Aweme, Man. Hystricophora vestaliana Zell. Aweme, Man.; Last Mt. Lake, Sask. Species marked with an asterisk were described in the Can. Ent., 1925, LVII, pp. 12-23. E: COLEOPTERA (Arranged according to Leng’s Catalogue of Coleoptera, 1920). Cicindelidae : 41 Cicindela limbata Say.” Orion, Alta., (Seamans and Criddle). Approaching var. nympha E xf Csy. ¢ * Cicindela osleri terracensis Csy. Terrace, B.C., (Mrs. W. Hippisley). Cicindela ostenta columbiana Csy. B.C. ~ 108 Cuicindela cuprescens Lec. -Aweme East, Man., (R. D. Bird). Carabidae Elaphrus divinctus Csy. Medicine Hat and Cypress Hills, Alta., (F. S. Carr). Elaphrus bituberosus Csy. Terrace, B.C., (Hippisley). 237 Blethisia multipunctata L. Cypress Hills, Alta., (Carr). * Blethisia hudsonica Csy. Edmonton, Alta., (Carr). 241 Loricera caerulescens L. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). * Nebria curtulata Csy. West St. Modest, Labrador, (Sherman). = * Nebria hippisleyi Csy. Terrace, B.C., (Mrs. Hippisley). ; . 329 Dyschirius aeneolus Lec. Baldur, Man., (J. B. Wallis). 348a Dyschirius montanus Lec. Baldur, Man., (Wallis). Not typical. 3 * Bembidion carrianum Csy. Edmonton, Alta., (Carr). Bembidion exiguiceps Csy. ‘Terrace, B.C., (Hippisley). Bembidion oblectans Csy. Edmonton, Alta., (Carr). Bembidion fortunatum Csy. Edmonton, Alta., (Carr). Bembidion edmontonensis Csy. Edmonton, Alta., (Carr), Bembidion subexiguum Csy. Terrace, B.C., (Hippisley). Bembidion accuratum Csy. Edmonton, Alta., (Carr). Bembidion albertanum Csy. Edmonton, Alta., (Carr). Bembidion terracens Csy. ‘Terrace, B.C. , (Hippisley). Bembidion canadianum Csy. Edmonton, Nliiaten (Gari). Bembidion henshawi Hayd. Saskatoon, Sask., (N. J. Atkinson). Patrobus canadensis Csy. Edmonton, Alta., (Carr). Hypherpes terracensis Csy. Terrace, B.C., (Hippisley). Hypherpes stoecus Csy._ Inverness, B.C. Poecilus elucens Csy. Edmonton, Alta., (Carr). Poecilus occidentalis Dej. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). Curtonotus subtilis Csy. Stupart Bay, N.W.T. Curtonotus albertinus Csy. Edmonton, Alta., (Carr).! Curtonotus giluipes Csy. Manitoba. Curtonotus brevipennis Csy. West Hudson Bay. Curtonotus manitobensis Csy. Manitoba. Curtonotus durus Csy. Edmonton, Alta., (Carr). Curtonotus biarcuatus Csy. Edmonton, Alta., (Carr). Celia vancouveri Csy. B.C. Celia marginatellus Csy. Manitoba. Celia parallela Csy. Alberta, (Carr). Celia albertas Csy. Alberta, (Carr). Celia funebris Csy. Manitoba. Celia winnipegensis Csy. Winnipeg, Man. Celia fragilis Csy. ; Celia frugalis Csy. Manitoba. Celia explanatula Csy. B.C. Celia cervicalis Csy. Canada, (‘‘probably Alta.’’). Amara viridula Csy. Alberta. Amara obligua Csy. B.C. Amara infiaticollis Csy. Manitoba. Amara subarctica Csy. Saskatchewan. Amara carriana Csy. Edmonton, Alta., (Carr). Anchomenus albertanus Csy. Edmonton, Alta., (Carr). Agonum invalidum Csy. Edmonton, Alta., (Carr). Agonum terracens Csy. ‘Terrace, B.C., (Hippisley). Europhilus (Platynus) carri Csy. Edmonton, Alta., (Carr). * EE eB eee KK HK HR KEKE HK KE KH KEK KH HH KE HHH HK HEN KH HK HCO KH HK KK KE HE KH HK / 7 ite gees THE REPORT OF THE x eK HK HK * All the above new carabidae described in ‘‘Memoirs on the Coleoptera,” Vol. XI, 1924. Platynus subcordatus Lec. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). Lebia atriceps Lec. Aweme, Man., (E. Criddle); Kelwood, Man., (J. May). | : Lebia pulchilla Dej. Winnipeg, Man., (Wallis). Not typical. Lebia divisa Lec. Saskatoon, Sask., (K. King). Lebia montana Horn. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). Cymindis kirbyi Csy. Caribou, B.C. Cymindis obliqua Csy. Edmonton, Alta., (Carr). Chlaenius albertanus Csy. Edmonton, Alta., (Carr). Chlaenius tomentosus Say. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). Chlaenius nebraskensis Lec. Medicine Hat and Cypress Hills, Alta., (Carr). Piosoma setosa Lec. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). Harpalus columbianus Csy. Goldstream, B.C. Harpalus instructus Csy. Edmonton, Alta., (Carr). Harpalus blanditus Csy. Terrace, B.C., (Hippisley). Harpalus nivalis Csy. Saskatchewan. . Harpalus ferviculus Csy. B.C. Harpalus ventricosus Csy. Spencer, B.C. Harpalus durescans Csy. Ft. Coulonge, Que. Harpalus modulatus Csy. Ft. Coulonge, Que. Harpalus electus Csy. Edmonton, Alta., (Carr). Acupalpus canadensis Csy. Mt. Royal, Que. - - = Haliplidae 3 2305 Haliplus cribarius Lec. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 4 Dytiscidae aa: 5) Coelambus compar Full. Aweme and Winnipeg, Man., (J. B. Wallis). ee 2405 Coelambus farctus Lec. Winnipeg, Man., (Wallis). 7 Coelambus hudsonicus Fall. Barnard Harbour, N.W.T.; erroneously recorded in report of Can. Arctic Exp. as unguicvlaris (Wallis). ; 2 2415 Coelambus punctilineatus Fall. Medicine Hat and Cypress Hills, Alta., (Carr). & 2482 Hydroporus 12-lineatus Lec. Cawstone, B.C., (W. Metcalf). | 2487 Hydroporus occidentalis Shp. Winnipeg, Man., (Wallis). i 2495 Hydroporus despectus Shp. Aweme, Man., (Wallis). | Hydroporus pervicinus Fall. Onah and Aweme, Man., (Wallis); Transcona, Man., } (G. S. Brooks). cm Hydroporus labradorensis Fall. Stupart Bay, N.W.T. i 2551 Agabus Eee Aube. Saskatoon, Sask., (N. J. Atkinson); Cypress Hills, Alta., 4 (Carr). 5 2561 Agabus nigrifalpis Sahlb. Panguirtuny Fiord, Baffin Land, (J. P. Saper). < 2563 Agabus confinis Gyll. Thornhill, Man., (Wallis). 3 Agabus ontarionis Fall. Charleswood, Man., (Wallis); Aweme, Man., (R. M. White 3 and Wallis). ; Agabus ajax Fall. Tofield, Alta., (Carr). 2582 Agabus tristis Aube. Panguirtuny Fiord, Baffin Land, (J. P. Saper). 2612 Scatopterus angustus Lec. Aweme, Man., (White). 2613 Scatopterus horni Cr. Aweme, Man., (Wallis). : 2627 Colymbetes longulus Lec. Kelwood, Man., (J. May). = 2631 Colymbetes strigatus Lec. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 7 Gyrinidae * Gyrinus pleuralis Fall. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). : 2686 Gyrinus aeneolus Lec. Black Rapids and Ottawa, Ont., (R. Ozburn). % Hydrophilidae 3 * Cymbiodyta vindicata Fall. Terrace, B.C., (Hippisley). : Jour. N.Y. Ent. Soc., XXX, 1924. ; Scydmaenidae < i 3169 Scydmaenus badius Csy. Aweme, Man., (White). 3 Colydiidae ‘me 3248 Synchita fuliginosa Melsh. Aweme, Man., (Criddle). Bred in oak. La Histeridae * Hister albertanus Csy. Edmonton, Alta., (Carr). :¥ 6623 Hister bimaculatus L. ‘Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). < ( * Culistex deficiens Csy. Alberta, (Carr). - 2 6691 Margarinotus guttifer Horn. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). j 6893 Saprinus estriatus Lec. Waterton Lakes, Alta., (J. McDunnough). 0 Melyridae 7208 Collops bipunctatus Say. Lethbridge, Alta., (W. Carter). ‘ 7437 Listrus senilis Lec. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). -ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 97 , g : Cleriidae a 7545 Cymaiodera inornata Say. Treesbank, Man., (White). 4 Meloidae f 8017 Epicauta maculata Say. Dallard, Sask., (King). i Elateridae ae 8228a Cryptohypnus lucidulus Mann. Calgary, Alta., (Tams). “ 8971 Ectamenogonus melsheimeri Leng. Victoria Beach, Man., (Wallis). Melasidae 9142 Dromaeolus harringtoni Horn. Victoria Beach, Man., (L. Roberts). Buprestidae 9372a Buprestis nuttalli consularis Gory. Wawanesa, Man., (White). ; eg 9436 Chrysobothris blanchardi Horn. Victoria Beach, Man., (Brooks, Roberts, Wallis). . 9448 Chrysobothris pusilla Cast. Victoria Beach, Man., (Brooks and Wallis). Agrilus frosti Knull. Stonewall, Man., on oak, (Wallis). : 9498 Agrilus acutipennis Mann. Douglas Lake, Man., (E. Criddle). 9523a Agrilus arcuatus torquatus Lec. Victoria Beach, Man., (Roberts). 9548 Agrilus vittaticollis Rand. Treesbank, Man., (White). Ostomidae * Ostoma columbiana Csy. Terrace, B.C., (Hippisley). ~ Nitidulidae . 10042 Corpophilus hemipterus L. Winnipeg, Man., (Roberts). Erotylidae * Triplax carri Csy. Edmonton, Alta., (Carr). Cryptophagidae , * Cryptophagus keeni Csy. Matlakatla, B.C., (J. H. Keen). * Macrodea antennalis Csy. Edmonton, Alta., (Carr). Mycetophagidae * Lendomus politus Csy. St. Lawrence Valley, Que. Coccinelidae 2 10905 Hyperaspis disoluta Cr. Aweme East, Man., (White). - 10954 Hyperaspidus vittigera Lec. Medicine Hat and Cypress Hills, Alta., (Carr); Bow Slope, Alta., (Carter). 11165 Hippodamia sinuata Muls. Penticton, B.C., (B. Farmer); Calgray, Alta., (Bird). * Hippodamia uteana quadraria Csy. Edmonton, Alta., (Carr). * _Hippodamia sinuata albertana Csy. Edmonton, Alta., (Carr). 11194a Adalia humeralis Say. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). * Anisocalvia vancouveri Csy. B.C. 11204 Anatis lecontei Csy. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). Tenebrionidae 12008 Embaphion muricatum Say. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 12297 Eleates depressus Rand. Victoria Beach, Man., (Wallis); Aweme, Man., (Criddle and Bird). Coelocnemis columbiana Csy. B.C. (Kemp). * Iphthinus salebrosus Csy. Matlakatla, B.C., (Keen). * Melandryidae 12568 Serropalpus barbatus Schl. Onah, Man., (White). Plinidae 12621 Ptinus californicus Lec. Peachland, B.C., (Metcalf). Anobiidae 12689 Sitodrepa panicea L. Transcona, Man., (Mrs. G. S. Brooks). Bostrichidae 12902 Bostrichus bicornis Web. Aweme, Man., (Criddle). Scarabaeidae 13112 Aphodius denticulatus Hald. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 13620 Polyphylla decemlineata Say. Cabra, Sask., (King). 13652 Dichelonyx diluta Fall. Annapolis Royal N.S., (R. P. Gorham). 13671 Dichelonyx decolorata Fall. Vernon, B.C., (E. P. Venables). 13694 Hoplia trifasciata Say. Victoria Beach, Man., (Brocks and Wallis). 13978 Cremastochilus incisus Csy. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). ) 4 t | 4 | , on VRASEe * 98 THE REPORT OF THE j % gee Cerambycidae 3 * Strangalia apicata Csy. B.C. i: 4 14615 Anacomis litigiosa Csy. Saskatoon, Sask., (N. J. Atkinson). ts : * Anacomis terracensis Csy. Terrace, B.C., '(Hippisley). 5 * Anacomis basalis Csy. ‘Terrace, B. & (Hippisley). 4 14694 © Xylotrechus nauticus Mann. Waterton Lakes, Alta., (McDunnough). : 14961 Astylopsis guttata Say. Victoria Beach, Man., (Wallis and Roberts). a 15056 es mixtus Hald. Victoria Beach, Man. , (Wallis); Aweme, Man., (Wallis and =e riddle). . 15111 Saperda horni Joutl. Winnipeg, Man., (A. V. Mitchener). =e 15148 Oberea bimaculata Oliv. Aweme, Man., (Wallis and White). ; 15168 Tetraopes canescens Lec. Pelican Lake, Man., (Chaplin); Baldur, Man. - (White). 4 15182 Tetraopes femoratus Lec. Pelican Lake, Man., (Chaplin). 15183 Tetraopes collaris Horn. Winnipeg, Man., (Wallis). % Chrysomelidae re : 15211 Donacia distincta Lec. Aweme, Man., (E. Criddle). — a 15220 Syneta carinata Mann. Victoria Beach, Man., (G. S. Brooks); Waterton Lakes, Alta., f (Seamans). ; All new species by Casey are from ‘‘Memoirs on the Coleoptera,” Vol. XI, 1924. q 15267 Coscinoptera dominicana Fab. Baldur, Man., (White). : 15287 Saxinis saucia Lec. Aspen Grove, B.C., (Paul Vroom). 4 15299 Chlamys cribripennis Lec. Winnipeg, Man., (Wallis). = 15534d Bassareus sellatus Suffr. Waugh, Man., and Victoria Beach, Man., “ (Wallis): ROE: ee 15549 Nodonota puncticollis Say. Medicine Hat, Alta.,' (Carr). A 15566 Graphops varians Lec. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). te 15617 Glyptoscelis albida Lec. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 4 * Phytodecta americana Schaef. Man. to Alta.; previously identified as pallida. Jour. : N.Y. Ent. Soc., XXXII, 1924. ‘ 15703 Gastrodea cyanea Melsh. Cy press Hills, Alta., (Carr). ar * Galerucella kalmiae Fall. N.B., (Gorham); Halifax, N.S., (Harrington); Megantic, 3 Que., (Curran); Ottawa, Ont., (Harrington); Mer Bleue, Ont., (Ozburn and Richard- 2 son); Sudbury, Ont., (Evans). Feeds on kalmia. A * Galerucella spiraeae Fall. St. Thomas, Ont., (H. G. Dustan). — The above two species described in Bull. 319, Maine Agr. Sta., 1924. a 15821 Luperodes torquaius Lec. Victoria, B.C., (Buckell). ¢ 15861 Hypolampsis pilosa Ill. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). 4 15868a Oedionychts scripticollis Say. Medicine Hat, ’Alta., (Carn). . * * Disonycha asteris Schaef. Winnipeg, Man. , (Willis): Aweme, Man., (Criddle); Estevan, Sask., (Criddle); Moose Jaw, ’Sask., (Macoun): Lethbridge, Alta., (Seamans); Edmonton, Alta., (Carr). Disonycha davisi Schaef. New Brunswick, Vineland, Ont., (Curran); Onah, Man., | (Wallis). =] Jour. N.Y. Ent. Soc., XXXII, 1924. 15922 Haltica corni Woods. Hillier and Sudbury, Ont., (Evans). oe * Chaetocnema protensa splendida Gent. Aweme, Man., (Criddle); Rosthern, Sask. ~~ (King); Edmonton, Alta., (Carr). Ent. News, Vol. XX XV, No. 5, 1924. * Longitarsus pallescens Blat. Prince Edward Co., Ont., (Evans). Jour. N.Y. Ent. Soc., Vol. XXXII, 1924. ie 16120 Brachycoryna montana Horn. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). Curculionidae 16364 Rhynchites macrophthalmus Schf. Stonewall, Man., (Wallis). 16626 Evotus naso Lec. St. Mary’ s River, Alta., (Bird). 16765 Phytonomus nigrirostris Fab. Victoria, Bee , (W. Downes). 16863 Pissodes rotundatus Lec. Grand Marais, Man. , (Wallis); Onah, Man., (White). 17010 Promecotarsus fumatus Csy. Aweme, Man., (White). j 17299 Pseudoanthonomus crataegi Walsh. Stonewall, Man., (Wallis); Aweme, Man., (Criddle). 17341 Orchestes illinoisensis Fall. Stonewall, Man., (Wallis). 17360 Miarus hispidulus Payk. Aweme, Man., (W ‘hite). 2 17735 Acanthoscelis curtus Say. Medicine Hat, "Alta., (Carr). 17760 Coeliodes flavicaudis Boh. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Garr): ; 17835 Mecopeltus fuliginosus Dietz. Aweme, Man., (White) ; Peachland, B.C., (Wallis). 18002 Thecesternus humeralis Say. Milk River, Alta., (Bird). ; - 18090 Sphenophorus mormon Chitt. Stonewall,, Man., (Wallis); Victoria Beach, Man., * (Brooks). Sphenophorus serratipes Chitt. Medicine Hat, Alta., (Carr). Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash., XX VI, No. 6, 1924. ~ ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 99 DIPTERA Prepared by C. H. Curran. (The numbers at the left refer to the page in Aldrich’s catalogue on which the name of the genus appears.) Tipulidae Rhabdomastix (Sacandaga) borealis Alexander. Hurricane, Alaska. ultima alaskana Alexander. Healy, Alaska. Skagway, Alaska. Skagway, Alaska. 89* Limnophila (Neolimnophila) _- 84* + Erioptera aldrichit Alexander. Valdez, Alaska. * Erioptera alaskensis Alexander. Alaska. * Ormosia curvata Alexander. * Ormosia decussata Alexander. Ketchikan, Alaska. * Ormosia proxima Alexander. ; The above described in Proc. U.S.N.M., LXIV, Article 10. 88* Trichocera bituberculata Alexander. Alaska. Ins. Insc. Men, XII, 81. ae cides : 142* Boletina anticus Garrett. Michel, B.C. ) bam ee i ie ed eo a A Boletina antomus Garrett. Boletina differens Garrett. Michel, B.C. - Boletina astacus Garrett. Caulfields, B.C. Fernie, B.C. Boletina jocunda Garrett. B.C. Boletina montanus Garrett. Boletina shermani Garrett. Fernie, B.C. Bae Mycomya ampla Garrett. Banff, Alta. Mycomya armata Garrett. Caulfields, B.C. Mycomya atus Garrett. B.C. Mycomya autumnalis Garrett. Michel, B.C. Mycomya caufieldi Garrett. Caulfields, B.C. Mycomya cranbrooki Garrett. Cranbrook, B.C. Mycomya difficilis Garrett. Cranbrook, B.C. Mycomya durus Garrett. Vancouver, B.C. Mycomya echinata Garrett. Mycomya humidus Garrett. Michel, B.C. Michel, B.C. Mycomya magna Garrett. Fernie, B.C. ‘Mycomya oviducta Garrett. Michel, B.C. Mycomya pollenit Garrett. Cranbrook, B.C. Mycomya shermani Garrett. Mycomya terminata Garrett. Mycomya vulgaris Garrett. The above described in Ins. Stratiomyidae 184 Odontomyia pilimana Loew. Odontomyia vertebrata Say. July 29, (N. Criddle). Tabanidae 195 Chrysops aestuans V. d. Wulp. Penticton, Oliver and Vernon, B.C., (Buckell, Vroom, Gillespie); Dunedin, Sask. Chrysops hilaris O.S. Truro, N.S., July 21, (Whitehead). Asilidae Michel, B.C. BG Fernie, B.C. Insc. Men., XII, 63. Douglas, Man., July 29, (R. D. Bird; E. Criddle). Douglas Lake, Man., July 30, (E. Criddle) ; Stockton, Man., 255 Ospriocerus ventralis Coq. Oliver, B.C., July 17, (Buckell). Eucertopogon albibarbis Curran. Medicine Hat, ‘Alta., April, (F. S. Carr). Bestville, Sask., July 5: (King). Covey Hill, Que., July 17, (G. S. Walley). Asilus nitidifacies Hine. Hopedale, Labrador, Aug. 19, 1923, (Pervitt): Seven Islands, Platypalpus hians var. fuscohalteratus Melander. Sudbury, Ont. Platypalpus holosericus Melander. Megantic Que.; St. John, N.B. Platypalpus pectinator Melander. Banff, Alta., (Garrett). Pap. Boston Soc. N.H., V. 85. 261 Holopogon seniculus Loew. Holopogon tibialis Curran. 282 Que., July 9, (F. W. Waugh). Empididae Silt * * The above described in Occ. Dolichopodidae : 293* _ 290* * Nothosympycnus cilifemoratus Van Duzee. Alaska. Campsicnemus calacaratusWan Duzee. Alaska. Hydrophorus minimus Van Duzee. Alaska. The above described in Proc. U.S.N.M., LXIII, Art. 21. Hydrophorus algens Wheeler. Aweme, Man., Oct. 7, 1924, (N. Criddle). Paraphrosylus nigripennis Van Duzee. Alaska. 305* 306 Syrphidae 406* 344* * 376 349* 394 THE, REPORT. OF WHE Panseacs bnitents Argyra ciliata Van Duzee. Alaska. Proc. U.S.N.M., LXIII, Art. 21. Rhaphium subarmatum Curran. Oromocto, N.B. Psyche, XX XI, 228. Diaphorus brevinervis Van Duzee. Alaska. Porphyrops albibarba Van Duzee. Alaska. Porphyrops borealis Van Duzee. Alaska. Porphyrops terminalis Van Duzee. Alaska. The above described in Proc. U.S.N.M., LXIII, Art 21. Medeterus halteralis Van Duzee. Aylmer, Que., July 31, 1924, (Curran). Medeterus vittatus Van Duzee. Aylmer, Que., July 31, (Curran). Dolichopus barbicauda Van Duzee. Stockton, Man., July 29, (Criddle). Dolichopus detersus Loew. Stockton, Man., July 29, (Criddle). Dolichopus longimanus Loew. Slave Lake, Alta., July, Aug., (Owen Bryant). Dolichopus luteipennis Loew. Aylmer, Que., Aug. 8, (Curran). Dolichopus nubifer Van Duzee. Stockton, Man., July 29, (Criddle). Dolichopus quadrilamellatus Loew. Strathroy, Ont., July, (H. F. Hudson). Dolichopus remipes Wahl. Stockton, Man., July 29, (J. B. Wallis). Gymnopternus nigricoxa Van Duzee. Joliette, Que. Occ. Pap. Bos. Soc. Nat. Hist., V. 103. Gymnopternus subulatus Loew. Aylmer, Que., Aug. 1, 2, (Curran). Gymnopternus fimbriatus Loew. Hemmingford, Que., June 29, 1923, (Curran). Hercostomus ornatipes V.D. Ottawa, July, August, (Curran); Hull, Que., July 5, 1923, (Curran); very local. Hercostomus unicolor Loew. Aylmer, Que., Aug. 2, (Curran). Cerioides proxima Curran. Guelph, Ont. Psyche, XX XI, 228. Microdon manitobensis Curran. Megantic, Que. Psyche, XX XI, 227. Microdon pseudoglobosus Curran. Aweme, Man. Psyche, XX XI, 226. Volucella satur O.S. Medicine Hat, Alta., Aug. 20, (F. S. Carr). Volucella avida O. S. Victoria, B.C., (A. W. Hanham). Epistrophe genualis Williston. Kentville, N.S., May, (Gorham). Cnemodon auripleura Curran. Calgary, Alta., June, 1923, (G. Salb); Lethbridge, Alta., July 28, 1923, (Strickland). : Cnemodon rita Curran. Waterton, Alta., July 14, 1923, (Strickland). Pipiza nigrotibiata Curran. Bathurst, N.B. x Occ. Pap. Bos. Soc. Nat. Hist., V. 81. Cynorhina nigra Williston. Kentville, N.S., (R. P. Gorham). Asemosyrphus willingi Smith. Elk Island Alta., August 4 to i2, 1923; Tofield, Alta., May 22, 1923, (E. H. Strickland). Platypezidae 341 Platypeza flavicornis Loew. Kings Co., Nova Scotia, Sept. 14, 1920, (reared from wormy mushroom); 7 Tachinidae 438 Pseudapinops nigra Coq. Macdiarmid, Ont., (L. Nipigon), July 11, 1923, (Bigelow). Mericia bicarina Tothill. Hedley, B.C., Aug., (Garrett). Mericia nigropalpis Tothill. Macdiarmid, Ont., June, (Bigelow). Ernestia fasciata Curran. Cranbrook, B.C. Ent. News, XX XV, No. 7,246. Mericia campestris Curran. Aweme, Man. Ent. News, XX XV, 249. ie Mericia fasciventris Curran. Aylmer, Que. Ent. News, XX XV, 248. Mericia triangularis Curran. Aweme, Man. Ent. News, XX XV, 247. Phorocera setifrons Ald and Webber. Sask. Proc. U.S.N.M., LXIII, Art. 17, 71. Phorocera silvatica Ald. and Webber. B.C. Proc: UsSsNr Vite bexXaiile Ants lua 2 Phorocera tenuiseta Ald. and Webber. B.C. Proc. ’U:S.N.M:, LXXTil, Atte 177 82: e Sarcophagidae : 476 Hilarella decens Townsend. Osoyoos, B.C., May 16, (Buckell). _ 510 Sarcophaga atlanis Aldrich. Joliette, Que., July 6, (J. Ouellet). Sarcophaga coloradensis Aldrich. Aylmer, Que., May 21, June 24, (Curran). n ‘ F ; a y eS ee eT ae et re ay bests ; ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY ~ 101 Sarcophaga falciformis Aldrich. Saskatoon, Sask., June 6, 29, 1923, (K. M. King). Sarcophaga larga Aldrich. Hemmingford, Que., Aug. 19 and 22, (T. Armstrong). Sarcophaga libera Aldrich. Macdiarmid, Ont., June 29, 1922, (N. K. Bigelow). Sarcophaga planifrons Aldrich. Plato, Sask., Aug. 2, 1923, (King). Sarcophaga uliginosa Kramer. Macdiarmid, Ont., July 12, 1922, (N. K. Bigelow). Calliphoridae Fae * Francilia alaskensis Shannon. Alaska. Ins. Insc. Men., XII, 74. 523* Protocalliphora splendida, var. aenea Shannon and Dobroscky. Ont. \ Journ. Wash. Acad. Sci., XIV, 251. * Protocalliphora splendida var. hesperia Shannon and Dobroscky. B.C. Journ. Wash. Acad. Sci., XIV, 251. Muscidae _ 553 Eustalomyia vittipes Zett. Montreal, Que.; Aylmer, Que., June, (Curran). Eustalomyia festiva Zett. Hemmingford, Que., July, (T. Armstrong); Aylmer, Que., July, (Curran). 551* Hydrophoria packardi Malloch. Labrador. Ann and Mag. Nat. Hist., XIV, 514. 4 Xenophorbia muscaria Mg. Oliver, B.C., April, (C. Garrett); Vancouver, Island, B.C., ae (Hanham). 551 Hylemyia curvipes Malloch. Hull, Que., May, (Curran). Hylemyia fuscohalterata Malloch. Teulon, Man., May, (A. J. Hunter). Hylemyia hinei Malloch. Hardisty Island, Great Slave Lake Region, June, (J. Russell). Hylemyia pluvialis Malloch. Kentville, N.S., July, (Gorham). = Hylemyia marginata Stein. Hedley, B.C., July, (Garrett); Revelstoke Mt., B.C., Aug., (Vroom); Mt. Cheam, B.C., Aug., (Fletcher). Hylemyia setiventris Stein. Hedley, B.C., July, Aug., (Garrett). Hylemyia spiniventris Coq. Hedley, B.C., July, Aug., (Garrett). 558 Pegomyia fuscofasciata Malloch. Aylmer, Que., Aug., (Curran). Pegomyia lipsea Walk. Teulon, Man., August, (A. J. Hunter). 554 Eremomyia humeralis Stein. Aylmer, Que., May, (C. B. Hutchings). Eremomyodes cylindrica Steing Hull, Que., May, (Curran). Eremomyodes fusciceps Malloch. Aylmer, Que., June, (Curran). * Fannia canadensis Malloch. Gold Rock, Ontario, July 21, 1908, (H. H. Newcomb). Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., XIII, 423. Fannia glaucescens Zett. Teulon, Man.,-May, (A. J. Hunter); Kentville, N.S., July, (R. P. Gorham). Fannia incisurata Zett. Teulon, Man., July, (A. J. Hunter). Fannia leucosticta Mg. Saanich Dist., B.C., Sept., (W. Downes). = Fannia manicata Mg. Aylmer, Que., Oct., (Curran). Fannia tibialis Malloch. Teulon, Man., Aug., (Hunter). 539 Coelomyia spathulata Zett. Hedley, B.C., July, (C. Garrett). 534 Hydrotaea dentipes Fabr. Seven Islands, Quebec, June, (F. W. Waugh). Scatophagidae ; 568 Scatophaga rubicunda Malloch. Panguirtung Fiord, Baffinland, July 24, (J. D. Soper). Helomyzidae 573* Leria serrataria Garrett. Mount Apex, B.C. Ins, Insc. Mens., XII, 26. * Amoebaleria perplexus Garrett. Wilson Creek, Michel, B.C. Ins. Insc. Mens., XII, 27. * Lutomyia distincta Garrett. Bentley’s Siding, Rushmere, Windermere, B.C. Ins. Insc. Mens., XII, 30. Borboridae * Leptocera (Collinella) fumipennis Spuler. Nelson, B.C. Annals Ent. Soc. Am., XVII, 110. * Leptocera (Ptermis) parvipennis Spuler. Alaska. Psyche, XX XI, 132. * Leptocera (Opacifrons) pellucida Spuler. Wash. Psyche, XX XI, 127. Ortalidae 594* Psairoptera similis Cresson. Star City, Sask. Trans. Am. Ent. Soc., L. 236. » Piophilidae 620* Piophila privigna Melander. Mass. Psyche, XX XI, 86. + 102 THE REPORT OF THE - HYMENOPTERA (Prepared by H. L. VIERECK) Tenthredinidae Kaliofenusa ulmi Sundewal. Injurious to elms in southern Quebec. Pristophora californicus Marl. Metchosin, B.C., May 18, 1924, (W. Downs). Tenthredella nigricollis Kby. Hemmingford, Que., July 28, 1924, (T.. Armstrong). Cephidae Janus integer Nort. Edmonton, Alta., July 1, 1923, (E. H. Strickland). Vipionidae y Ichneutidea secunda Roh. Jordon, Ont., Aug. 18, 1922, ex Metallus bethunei MacG., Aug. 31, 1922, ex. Sterictiphora(?) zabriskei Ashm. (W. A. Ross). Dolichogenidea crassicornis Prov. Bilby, Alta., Aug. 10, 1924, (O. Bryant). Microgaster alaskensis Ashm. Slave Lake, Alta., Aug. 15, 1924, (O. Bryant). | Microbracon montowesei Vier. Jordan, Ont., Sept. 20, 1917, (W. A. Ross). Habrobracon johannseni Vier. Jordan, Ont., Sept. 8, 1917, (W. A. Ross). Braconidae ee Meteorus fumtpennis Mues. Midday Val., Merritt, B.C., June 23 to July 25, 1923, (R. Hopping). . A scogaster carpocapsae Vier. Vineland, Ont., April 7, 1924, ex Carpocapsa pomonella (W. A. Ross). Bracon montrealensis Morr. Jordan, Ont., Sept. 16, 1914, (W. A. Ross). Aleiodes stigmator Say. Beamsville, Ont., Aug. 27, 1918; Jordan, Ont., June 13, 1917, (W. A. Ross); Aweme, Sept. 4, 1923, (N. Criddle); October 7, 1923, (R. M. White). Ichneumonidae > Campoplex phthorimaeae Cush. Oliver, B.C., May 19, 1923, (C. B. D. Garrett). Campoplex augustus Vier. Aylmer, Que., June 10, July 9, 1924, (C. H. Curran); August 14,1924, (A. R. Graham). a Campoplex annulipes Cress. Hull, Que., May 14, 1924, (C. H. Curran); Aylmer, Que., August 1, 14, 1924, (A. R. Graham); Waterton, Alta., July 10, 1923, (HL. Seamans) ; Sudbury, Ont., 1892, (Evans). Campoplex eureka Ashm. Victoria, B.C., August, 1923, (K. F. Auden). Cymodusa distincta Cress. Cottage Beaulieu, Que., August 16, 1901, (Beaulieu). Neonortonia genuina Nort. Vancouver Island, B.C., (G. W. Taylor); Banff, Alta., June 16, 1922, (C. B. D. Garrett). Pseuderipternoides porrectus Cress. Hull, Que., Sept. 14, 1897, (W. H. Harrington). Sagaritis websteri Vier. Oliver, B.C., May 24, 1923, (C. B. D. Garrett). - : Sagaritis oxylus Cress. Picton, Ont., May 25, (W.-H. Harrington). Sagaritis taeniatus Vier. Ottawa, Ont., July 19, 20, 1918, birch, (C. B. Hutchings). Sagaritis flavicincta Ashm. Grimsby, Ont., May 11, 1894, (Metcalf). Sagaritis conjunctus Cress. Ottawa, Ont., (W. H. Harrington). Sagaritis conjunctiformis Vier. Ottawa, Ont., Sept. 3, 1908, (C.E.F.). Sagaritis californicus Holmg. var. Agassiz, B.C., July 17, 1921, (H. Glendenning) ;~ Oliver, B.C., May 14, 1923, (C. B. Garrett); Royal Oak, June 30, 1917, (W. Downs). Sagaritis aprilis Vier. Macdiarmid, Lake Nipigon, Ont., July 7, 1923, (N. K. Bigelow). _ Campoplegidea villosa Nort. Brule River, Riordan Limits, Que., July 31, 1918; Aylmer, Que., August 9, 1924, (A. R. Graham). Campoplegidea diversa Nort. Trenton, Ont., July 21, 1907, (Evans). Campoplegidea wyomingensis Vier. Saskatoon, Sask., June 22, 1923, (N. J. Atkinson). Campoplegidea laticincta Cress. Sudbury, July 6, 1889, (Evans); Radison, Sask., July ae 1907, (J. Fletcher); Aylmer, Que., July 1, 1924, (C. B. Hutchings); Montreal, ue., July 7. Neopristomerus appalachianus var. dorsocastaneus Vier. Lethbridge, Alta., May, June, September, 1923. Peniscus pallens Cush. Treesbank, Man., July 22, 1910, (J. B. Wallis). Paniscus ocellatus Vier. Alta. Paniscus alaskensis Ashm. Kaslo, B.C. Protarchoides mandibularis Cush. Wellington, B.C. 1924, Proc. U.S.N.M., LXIV, 9. * Cidaphus occidentalis Cush. Revelstoke, B.C. 1924, Proc. U.S.N.M., LXIV, 5. Opheltes glaucopterus L. Aweme, Man., August 25, 1924, (R. D. Bird). Ctenochira leucozonata Ashm. Orillia, Ont., August 2, 1924, (H. L. Viereck). = Glypta evetriae Cush. Agassiz, B.C., May, (R. Glendenning.) . 4 Hymenoepimecis wilti Cress. 8, Aweme, Man., June 28, 1921, (N. Criddle). ~ 2 Thysiotorus smithi Cush. Ottawa, Ont., June 27, K.I.; August 18, 1894; Hull, Que., q August 16, 1894, (W. H. Harrington); Queen’s Park, Aylmer, Que., August 18, 1924, : (A. R. Graham). : Trichocryptus hirtifrons Ashm. Ottawa, Ont., April 29, 1983, (W. H. Harrington). * -Encyrti * Sphecidae _ Belytidae ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 103 dae Anabrolepis setterstedti Westw. Vernon, B.C., ex Lepidosaphes ulmi. Anectata canadensis Fouts. Gull Lake, Ont., June 13, 1921, (H. S. Parish). Didineis peculiaris Fox. Victoria, Vernon, B.C., June 16, July 6, 1923, K. F. Auden; June 19, 1924, (E. A. Rendel). Halictidae 2 Halictus confusus Rob. Jordan, July 28, August 14, 1914, June 27, 29, July 28, 1917,, (W. A. Ross); May 23, September 8, 1915, (C. H. Curran); Vineland, July 25, 1917 (W. A. Ross). Andrenidae Andrena compactiscopa Vier. Agassiz, B.C., June 4, 1923, (R. Glendenning), First Canadian record. ; : Andrena decussata Vier. Waterton, Alta., July 13, 1923, (E. H. Strickland). Andrena marioides Vier. Calgary, April 23, 1915, (F. H. Wolley-Dod), (F. W. L. Sladen); June 12, 1923, (R. D. Bird). Andrena neurona Vier.- Duncan, B.C., April 12, 1921, (W. B. Anderson); Penticton, May 10, 1919, (E. R. Buckell). Andrena parnassiae Ckll. Edmonton, Alta., August 19, 1923, (E. H. Strickland). Nomadidae Nomada cuneata var. quadrisignata Rob. Kentville, N.S., June 22, 1914, (C.A.G.). Euceridae Tetralonia dilecta Cress. St. Mary River, Alta., July 20, 1923, (R. D. Bird). Colletidae , Colletes willistont Rob. Kentville, N.S., June 18, 1914, (C.A.G.). Megachilidae * * * Myridae * ee He % He ee eH HH HH KR KK HH KH HH HH OH Osmia proposita Sandhouse. Nanaimo Biological Sta., B.C., June 24, 1920; 1924, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., XIII, 355. Osmia seclusa Sandhouse. Vancouver, B.C., June 16, 1896, (Livingston). 1924, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., XIII, 352. Osmia sedula Sandhouse. Nanaimo Biological Station, B.C., June 24, 1920. HEMIPTERA Plagiognathus politus pallidicornis Kt. Parry Sound, Ont., (H. S. Parish). - Plagiognathus nigronitens Kt. Parry Sound, Ont., (Parish). Plagiognathus flavicornis Kt. Ottawa, Ont., (G. Beaulieu). Plagiognathus alboradialis Kt. Parry Sound, Ont., (Parish). Plagiognathus flavoscutellatus Kt. Truro, N.S., (W. H. Brittain); Hull, Que., (J. Beaulne), : Plagiognathus brevirostris Kt. Spruce Brook, Newfoundland, (G. P. Englehardt). Plagiognathus albatus vitticutis Kt. Montreal, Que., (G. A. Moore). Plagiognathus laricicola Kt. Nordegg, Alta., (J. McDunnough). Plagiognathus repetitus Kt. Nova Scotia, (Brittain). Microphylellus tumidifrons Kt. Truro, N.S., (Brittain). Microphyleilus nigricornis Kt. Parry Sound, Ont., (Parish). Psallus drakei Kt. Nordegg, Alta., (McDunnough). Psallus alnicenatus Kt. Truro, N.S., (Brittain). Orthotylus basicornis Kt. Hull, Que., and Roberval, Que., (Beaulieu). Orthotylus neglectus Kt. Truro, N.S., (R. Matheson). Orthotylus immaculatus Kt. Ottawa, Ont., (Beaulieu). Pilophorus uhleri Kt. Ottawa, Ont., (Beaulieu). Neoborus glaber Kt. Ottawa, Ont., (McDunnough). Polymerus punctipes Kt. Montreal, Que., (Moore). Polymerus opacus Kt. Parry Sound, Ont., (Parish). Phytocoris junceous Kt. Nordegg, Alta., (McDunnough). Platytylellus fraternus Kt. Aylmer, Que., (C. B. Hutchings and A. R. Grayham). Platytytellus nigroscutellatus Kt. Jordan, Ont., (W. A. Ross). The above described in ‘‘The Hemiptera of Connecticut,’’ Bull. 34, 1923. HOMOPTERA Cyrtolobus funkhousert Woodruf. ‘‘Canada.” Cyrtolobus puritanus Woodrf. ‘White Lake.” Jours NY; Ent. Soc; XX XIE 1924. : ‘ . . Wy < 104 EHE SRE PORT OFULHE. "a at; NEUROPTERA Mantispidae . : Seed Mantispa pulchella Banks. Vernon, B.C., (Rendell). te Limnephilidae * Limnephilus forcipatus Banks. Lobstock Island, Ft. Chippewyan, (F. Harper). Ecclisomyia complicata Banks. Go Home Bay, Ont., (E. M. Walker). . Chilostigma subborealis Banks. Wellington, B.C.; Lake Minnawanka, Alta. Anolopsyche pallida Banks. Winnipeg Lake, Man., (Robt. Kennicott). Apatania canadensis Banks. Winnipeg, Man., (J. B. Wallis). * * * * Leptoceridae * Mystaerides canadensis Banks. Lucalle, Que., Sherbrooke, Que., (P. A. Begin). The above species described in Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., LXV, 1924. 7 EPHEMEROPTERA The following list of Canadian species of this order has been prepared by J. McDunnough and is as complete as our present knowledge permits. The material on which it is based is contained in the Canadian National Collection. Ephemeridae - Polymitarcys albus Say. Aweme, Treesbank, Man. * Hexagenia atrocaudata McD. Ottawa, Ont. * Hexagenia rigida McD. Lanoraie, Laprairie, Que.; Ottawa, Kingston, Orillia, Pt. — Stanley, Ont.; Winnipeg, Man. ~ Hexagenia limbata Guer. Lanoraie, Montreal, Que.; Ottawa, Kingston; Algonquin Park, Orillia, Ont.; Winnipeg, Treesbank, Man.; Penticton, B.C. ghee Ephemera simulans Wlk. Lanoraie, Laprairie, Que.; Ottawa, Kingston, Lake of Bays, Ont.; Aweme, Man.; Waterton Park, Alta.; Oliver, Penticton, B.C. ; Ephemera varia Eaton. Covey Hill, Que. Ephemera guttulata Pict. Covey Hill, Montreal, Deschenes, Que. Pentagenia vittigera Walsh (quadripunctata Walsh). Aweme, Man. Potamanthus diaphanus Needh. The type specimens were taken on the Niagara River. The species is not represented in the collection. Baetidae * Leptophlebia moerens McD. Covey Hill, Hull, Que. * Leptophlebia volitans McD. Lachine, Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Algonquin Park, Seabright, Ont. | * Leptophlebia guttata McD. Covey Hill, Kirk’s Ferry, Que. Leptophlebia mollis Eaton. Covey Hill, Hull, Que. Leptophlebia debilis Walk. (separata Ulm.). Kirk’s Ferry, Hull, Que.; Aweme, Man. * Leptophlebia heteronea McD. Waterton Park, Banff, Nordegg, Alta.; Nicola, B.C. Leptophlebia pallipes Hagen. Oliver, B.C. Leptophlebia johnsoni McD. Covey Hill, Que. Leptophlebia praepedita Eaton. Covey Hill, Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Coldstream, Ont.; Gimli, Man. Blasturus nebulosus Wik. Fredericton, N.B.; Megantic, Hull, Que.; Nordegg, Water- ton Park, Alta.; Aspen Grove, B.C. Blasturus cupidus Say. Annapolis, N.S.; Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Ont.; Aweme, Man.; Waterton Park, Alta. Blasturus gravastellus Eaton. Osoyoos, B.C. Choroterpes basalis Banks. Hull, Aylmer, Que.; Ottawa, Ont. * Choroterpes albiannulata McD. Medicine Hat, Alta. : Pe Habrophlebia vibrans Needh. (jocosa Banks). Covey Hill, Que.; Algonquin Park, Ont. ~ it Agee ie americana Banks (betteni Needh.). Hemmingford, Covey Hill, Hull, ue. tf Ephemerella temporalis McD. Fredericton, N.B.; Covey Hill, Aylmer, Hull, Que.; - Ottawa, Algonquin Park, Ont. : Ephemerella bicolor Clem. Laprairie, Que.; Ottawa, Go Home Bay, Ont. Ephemerella lutulenta Clem. Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Go Home Bay, Ont. Ephemerella lineata Clem. Go Home Bay, Ont. * Ephemerella tibialis McD. Banff, Alta. : * Ephemerella atrescens McD. Covey Hill, Laprairie, Lachine, Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Ont. * Ephemerella sordida McD. Lachine, Hull, Que. - Ephemerella serrata Morg. Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Ont. * Ephemerella simplex McD. Laprairie, Que. * Ephemerella attenuata McD. Hull, Que. : | The four starred preceding species are described in the Can. Ent.,Vol. LVI, February, 1925. ; t eee HH H : ~ 7 7. “< — ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY rp Ephemerella fuscata W1k. (walkeri Eaton). Laprairie, Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Ont. Ephemerella excrucians Walsh. Kingston, Ont. -Ephemerella inermis Eaton. Waterton Park, Alta.; Nicola, B.C. Ephemerella intrequens McD. Waterton Park, Alta. Ephemerella dorothea Needh. Covey Hill, Que. Ephemerella invaria Wik. Covey Hill, Que. Ephemerella norda McD. Nordegg, Alta. Caenis diminuta Wik. (?). Ft. Coulonge, Que. Several species of this genus occur in Canada but as yet they have not been worked Over. Tricorythodes atra McD. Wakefield, Que. Baetis dardanus McD. Lachine, Que.; Ottawa, Ont.; Aweme, Man. Baetis pygmaea Hag. (propinguus McD. nec Walsh). Ottawa, Ont. Baetis intercalaris McD. Wakefield, Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Ont.; Aweme, Man. Baetis phoebus McD. Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Kingston, Ont. Baetis flavistriga McD. Wakefield, Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Ont. Baetis nanus McD. Ottawa, Ont. Baetis parallela Banks (?). Nicola, Oliver, B.C. Baetis intermedius Dodds (?). Waterton Park, Alta. Beatis tricaudatus Dodds. Salmon Arm, B.C. : Baetis moffatti Dodds. Waterton Park, Moraine Lake, Alta. Baetis parvus Dodds. Waterton Park, Alta. Heterocloeon curiosum McD. Wakefield, Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Ont. Pseudocloeon turbidum McD. Wateron Park, Alta. Pseudocloeon carolina Banks. Covey Hill, Que. Pseudocloeon virilis McD. Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Ont. Pseudocloeon chlorops McD. Ottawa, Ont. Pseudocloeon punctiventris McD. Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Ont. Pseudocloeon dubium Walsh. Ottawa, Ont.; Aweme, Man. Centroptilum fragile McD. Aylmer, Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Ont. Centroptilum ozburnt McD: Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Ont. Centroptilum simile McD. Covey Hill, Que. Centroptilum bellum McD. Aylmer, Hull, Que. Centroptilum infrequens McD. Winnipeg, Man. Centroptilum rufostrigatum McD. Aweme, Darlingford, Man. Centroptilum bifurcatum McD. Waterton Park, Alta. Cloeon rubropicta McD. Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Go Home Bay, Lake of Bays, Ont. Cloeon ingens McD. Douglas, Man.; Nordegg, Banff, Alta. Cloeon inanum McD. Waterton Park, Alta. Callibaetis semicostata Banks. Stoney Mt., Teulon, Man. Callibaetis pallidus Banks. Aweme, Man.; Saskatoon, Sask. Callibaetus americanus Banks. Aweme, Man. Callibaetis coloradensis Banks (fusca Dodds). Fredericton, N.B.; Kaslo, B.C. Callibaetis tessellatus Hag. Waterton Park, Banff, Alta.; Kaslo, Revelstoke, Keremeos, Nicola, Oliver, B.C. Baetisca rubescens Prov. Laprairie, Que. Isonychia bicolor Wk. Lachine,. Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Algonquin Park, Ont. Isonychia sicca Walsh. Treesbank, Aweme, Man.; Saskatoon, Sask. Ameletus ludens Needh. Hull, Que. Ameletus subnotatus Eaton. Lethbridge, Alta. Ameletus validus McD. Banff, Alta. Ameletus vernalis McD. Oliver, B.C. Ameletus velox Dodds. Waterton Park, Moraine Lake, Alta. Siphlonuroides croesus McD. Ottawa, Ont. Siphlonuroides midas McD. Ottawa, Ont. Siphlonurus quebecensis Prov. (triangularis Clem). Wakefield, Que.; Ottawa, Ont. Siphlonurus berenice McD. Covey Hill, Cascades, Que. es alternatus Say. Fort Norman, N.W.T.; Wakefield, Hull, Que.; Ottawa, nt. Siphlonurus occidentalis Eaton. Waterton Park, Banff, Moraine Lake, Alta. Siphlonurus phyllis McD. Douglas, Man.: Banff, Alta. Metretopus novegicus Eaton. Slave Lake, Alta. Heptagenidae —s * Siphloplecton basalis Wik. (flexus Clem.). Fredericton, N.B.; Wakefield, Megantic, Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Go Home Bay, Ont. Siphloplecton interlineata Walsh. Aweme, Man. Iron longimanus Eaton. Waterton Park, Nordegg, Alta. Iron pleuralis Banks. Covey Hill, Que. Iron albertae McD. Waterton Park, Alta. Iron grandis McD. Waterton Park, Alta.; Hedley, B.C. ¥ - > ee = ¥ o ‘. S Se 106 THE REPORT OF THE Iron humeralis Morg. Covey Hill, Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Ont. - Iron fragilis Morg. Kentville, N.S. - Cinygma mimus Eaton. Waterton Park, Nordegg, Alta. * Cinygma confusa McD. Waterton Park, Moraine Lake, Alta. Cinygma ramaleyi Dodds. Banff, Alta. . * Cinygma hyalina McD. Waterton, Banff, Moraine Lakes, Alta. Cinygma deceptiva McD. Banff, Alta. * Cinygma atlantica McD. Kentville, N.S. Cinygma bipunctata McD. Covey Hill, Que. Ecdyonurus carolina Banks. Covey Hill, Que. Ecdyonurus frontalis Banks. \ Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Go Home Bay, Ont. Ecdyonurus interpunctatus Say (flaveola Pict.). Ottawa, Ont. 3 Ecdyonurus canadensis Wik. Covey Hill, Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Ont.; Aweme, Man. BEV Sao Banks. Aylmer, Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Kingston, Algonquin Park, Ont. ; ee in fuscus Clem. Covey Hill, Montreal, Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Go Home ay, Ont. Ecdyonurus vicarius Wlk. Covey Hill, Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Caradoc, Ont. Ecdyonurus luteus Clem. Laprairie, Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Go Home Bay, Ont. Ecdyonurus terminatus Walsh. Aweme, Man. : Ecdyonurus rubromaculatus Clem. Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Go Home Bay, Ont. * Ecdyonurus lyriformis McD. Banff, Alta. Heptagenia flavescens Walsh. Aweme, Man. * Heptagenia reversalis McD. Aweme, Man. Heptagenia pullus Clem. Covey Hill, Montreal, Que.; Kingston, Go Home Bay, Ont. Heptagenia lucidipennis Clem. Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Orillia, Go Home Bay, Ont. — * Heptagenia inconspicua McD. Aweme, Treesbank, Wawanesa, Man. : Heptagenia marginalis Banks. — Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Ont. Heptagenia maculipennis Walsh. Aweme, Treesbank, Man. * Heptagenia juno McD. Covey Hill, Que. * Heptagenia minerva McD. Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Lake of Bays, Ont. : * * * Heptagenia hebe McD. Covey Hill, Lachine, Hull, Que.; Ottawa, Lake of Bays, Ont.; Aweme, Husavick, Man. * Heptagenia elegantula Eaton (coxalis Banks, *querula McD.). Aweme, Treesbank, Man.; Osoyoos, Oliver, B.C. * Heptagenia simplicioides McD. Waterton Park, Alta. * Heptagenia solitaria McD. Waterton Park, B.C. * Heptagenia adaequata McD. Saskatoon, Sask.; Cowley, Lethbridge, Alta. Heptagenia jejuna Eaton (fusca Wlk.). Fort Wrigley, N.W.T.; Waterton Park, Nor- degg, Alta. *Species marked thus are descrbed in Can. Ent., Vol. LVI, pp. 90-98, 113-122, 128-133, 221-226, 1924. ORTHOPTERA Labiduridae Labia minor L. Lincoln Co., Ont., (W. G. Garlick). Tryxalinae Man., (White). Oedipodinae Trimerotropis azurescens Brun, » Lethbridge, Alta., (N. Criddle). Trimerotropis salina McN. Orion, Alta., (Criddie and Seamans); Banff, Alta., (C. B. ~ Garrett). Trimerotropis agrestis McN. Orion, Alta., (Criddle and Seamans). Orphalella speciosa Scud. Aweme, Man., (Criddle, White and Bird); Wawanesa, i , x ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 107 / INDEX : PAGE PAGE PUPIODETIGSCLOLG. x. es oe 25 Cyrtopogon falto Walk.............. 27 mieriolemans agrestis... .. 0020. e eee 87 Datong wile germane aes awe ee 10, 87 (OL DESC ED a] Se re i 87 Be MEM ULL ds tebe Ramone, cele 10 BMPROLUSIPENITCE. Worms cs he 86 Diabroticasvittara. 6 6 eee Lee 10, 87 Alsophila pometaria................ 84 Diaerisiat vrrgunnGa ee. eee a 10 MATEO ONC seo e000. obs St 23, 86 Diapheromera femorata Say.......... 8 “- REACTS er ies Sia el eara ea 23 Dichelonycha subvittata.............. 13 Ben Setear oa". eho So Msn SS ors 23 EIN POGSCO MALI A Se ae ee 87 PAV PTOVOCLOIMACUIULO 3) oo. te ss 12 EL PO GHnD GUNADENSTS <=) anes hora 86 Amphorophora lactucae.............. 86 EPS thONeUrGs CONTES «= ny = a4 ynens eee: 86 Anisota senatoria............'....... 87 se WICINGlLONS. ancaee ae 86 Anthonomus signatus....... Soha RRR 86 ELUCHACH OSE LIE Sin nots ee ee es 10 Anthrenus scrophulariae............. 88 Eulecanium nigrofasciatum.......... 88 PAWIUT LPNS OSCUS <2. = i eb ew 84 Euphydry as praeron...2 cee rea ee 87 vill 5.50 ages Gee Aoi? European apple sucker.............. 63 I COS SECS SN a a 84 European corn 2 En BSS a ee ere 84 PORES eee 10, 125 47,50;;53;, 542,56,,57 CS EEO De ae ee eee 10, 85 European reds mites aces se ee 85 mretnidicaterpillars. . f.2 . .t e s 10 Exeristes roborator Fab.............- 55, 58 _Ascogaster carpocapsae Vier.......... 84 Eallweébwotttlsa< ce. sae ee 8, 10 GID. Pe 27 Halse scorpions. anaes ee a ee 10 Asilus erythrocnemius Hine.......... DF Forest:tent caterpillars. 24.5... 2c 8 MELeS) Walk An pees ee es es 27 Kour linedsleatibugas scent ee 12 “OL TET TTL ORR a ee 7 Brit Myscsan: aoe ete ees ee 8 o, smpoumescoinae Macqa:.:2. 2... 2. 27 Gipsyi moths, 55 epee ee ee 60 Pompano pus Walk 0. oa ek 27 Gracilaria syringella Fabr.......... 8, 19, 87 BECILE ESE LITIGS fe oe ne sages. 27 Grape, beLLyMOthi mw enca a Se teers 86 Asparacvistpeetie..... 22:5. - ose es 10 ‘<< blossommamuld en 9.25 2c eee 86 Aspidiotus perniciosus.............. 84 “leat hoppers. acs festa ae 86 Attagenus piceus..... Rr phe A oe 88 -— yine flea=beetlel. ts) site (a ane 86 Baltimore butterfly... 2... ...0.2%. 87 Grasshopperss: San Jose scale. ....... : Eee ADTS 2 st ee eS esi Geatie 86 Saperda candida..... A, eos Nepticula pomivorella............... 10, 67 Sarcophagid flies... .... ma Oberea bimaculaia Oliv.............. 9 Scelio caloptent uae ‘ Gritonait a Snot. iss. ven Gn ee 86 Seed corn. mag BOE Ophyradeucostoma oj... Seas Seo 28 Serica serica eS GQreh@prerdns. « "uv vieteasdae see ae eee: 3 Serpentine leaf miner....... “-Oscimis-vartabilis Lw..... 6. -6. 2 fe 8 GSU SS Seer est is ee ee > Paleacrita vernata Pack. . 2.25... 5. . ; 8 Seah leaf miners, ..c eee Papatpema EDUUPUKOGID 2 P20 Ane tak CoN Spring oakworm..... fo eo PLULELO xb Seas es SO 87 Spring canker worm........ ~ Paraclemensia acertfoliella Fitch...... 8 Spruce bud-worm......... SS Paratetranychus PUOSUS See ce Sa 85 Spruce mite...... = "2 UNUNEUIS 8 eee 88 Stalk. borer..vc 3 ee ee ; Parsnip WEDWODM +. re ocho. on ge: 12 Strawberry flea-beetle.... a Redeweevilece oc: te ones ae 12 as “weevil, see ese F + Sebeampysiiaw>.. 6... . othe eee 80, 85 Striped cucumber beetle. . eS Oeeeee oom os on wt 85 Systoechus vnigaris...... at i Pegomyia hyoscyami............-+.- 87 Tarnished plant bug re < Pelecinus polyturator Drury Pchccn: Shia ¢ 25. | Lerrapintseale s-- as PERCOSBU QUES SAY... us oles wg Sele et 14 Tinea biselliella.... 2... -s- Aas PL OTOTOWTUSSICOEN aio cns ee Oe 86 Tiphia inornata Say....-..%.-- | EVIL O POMOC ISCO aoc tar ea etets) + eels 24 Tomato Worm S522... soe ANGE TRIP RUPTSP) S71 Sa em eae ae SA ICME 87 Tortrix fumiferana Clemens. nk. Phytonomus nigrirostis.............. 71 Trialeurodes vaporariorum., . Pieris Tape LAMM 03) og os. es 9, 10, 75 Trombidium ae Passodessirebs, Peck. ':.6 0. 152252 5%. 9 Vanessa cardui......... Pe PVaBeBeGUNIO 3.05 Oe i so eee ek 13 Walking-stick insect.......... PONENT OSS DILCUNG 21. t:*: se ates 86 Walnut caterpillar......... Porosagrotis orthogonia Morr......... 76 Wheat midges: 2 se ee : IRGEALONBECLLES. «ice whe ates ae te oe 12 White -fliess >= -: * 58) See we Kee Me A DECLIC ¢ ier oc cnyls oe eedeee 12 White. grubs. ..42..- 222) sees c cor oHeaienOpper. . s.) : ... Maas ee 12, 87 White grub saprophytes. he Psaira rosea abr. 2. 6.5 6 gue Se ees ee 9 White pine weevil............ ryive mae Schmid... 5.3.42. Fei 63 White spotted sawyer...... E RMMINIUGOLD oi. bn. ash as ogee ee 85 , Willow borer. j2.224- erase q Ved E71 e8! SEEN aOR mE ae Ms Ure 28 - Wireworms . o aie; Me™ svilliger Reit... .. Sarees sae 28 Yellow or dusky tussock sare aS M i . or QL Entomological Society of 461 Ontario E68 Proceedings v. 51-55 cop.2 Biological & Medical Serials PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY arkg! ? 7 $ Nideitedchen tinte oaibtslana sini BI io) if paar bert pet $12. +4 A Lidaaba rite Vb: Iyhnpeal 44) S48 vy POM Thee Shabeaed Talat east te Ss spades eters nee aes Dg Sasa seuVadelarivnts oat 5 tebe Thee et ibalbs hie + eae if est aul shit ye i tt iy i set teres) i if isteetier jen bathe Se vetsares Asha ze) ih winrar OHUhe rebar ar ey St pines ae ate tert i yet sane tht sig