The western hemlock sawfly, Neodiprion tsugae Middleron, first came to our notice from the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia. In 1931, reports of the dying of hemlocks over large areas came from rangers and timber operators of this region. A survey conducted by Mr. W. G. Mathers of the Dominion Entomological Branch, in September and October of that year, indicated that the injury extended over approximately forty square miles. In 1932, the outbreak showed definite signs of subsiding, and had practically disappeared by 1933, although many trees were killed during the peak year of 1931, indicating that this is a primary enemy of western hemlock, and that outbreaks may be expected from time to time in the Pacific Northwest.

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

While studying the hymenopterous parasites associated with Samia cecropia Linnaeus in the Chicago area (described by Marsh, '34), the writer had an unusual opportunity of observing the egg-laying technique of the cosmopolitan chalcid Dibrachys boucheanus Ratzeburg. This occasion is taken to describe in some detail the actual placing of the eggs.

During May, 1935, C. F. Doucette collected a few adult weevils on flower heads of mustard growing at the edge of a bulb field near Lynden. Wash. These weevils were recognized by the writer as apparently different from any of the species listed from North America, and a trip was made to Lynden on June 1, 1935, to obtain additional specimens. Specimens were also collected on mustard close to the northern limits of Bellingham, at two points between there and Lynden, north of Lynden, and in the vicinity of Nooksack, all in Watcom County. On the following day two specimens were collected on mustard at Big Lake, Skagit County. Big Lake is practically in the seed-growing section of the county, where a large portion of the cabbage seed used in the United States is produced. Weevils were determined by L. L. Buchanan as Ceutorhynchus assilmilis Paykull, and Mr. Buchanan stated that this species had not previously been reported from North America and that it appeared to be of considerable economic importance in Europe.

The Iowa Insect Survey has, for more than ten years, been studying the seasonal and geographic distribution of Iowa insects. The records are card indexed and come from various sources, chief of which is the survey collection made up by frequent collecting trips covering the entire state. In this way at least some preliminary work has been done in each of the 99 counties of Iowa. Many of these counties have been rather thoroughly worked for special groups.

The life history of Brenthis montinus has long been a problem taxing the ingenuity of lepidopterists. Scudder made repeated efforts to secure the egg but never observed a female ovipositing. The egg figured in “The Butterflies of the Eastern United States” (Vol. 3, plate 64 f.38 and plate 67 f.16) was removed from the body of the ♀ (1863 Bost. Journ. Nat. History VII: 626; see also 1874 Geology of New Hampshire 339, 354).

Until quite recently, nothing seems to have been accomplished toward solving the life histories of any NorthAmerican species grouped in the genus Calephelis Grote & Robinson, but in 1928 (Bull. So. Calif. Ac. SC. XXVII: 80) and 1932 (Bull. So. Calif. Ac. Sc. XXXI :12) those indefatigable students of the preparatory stages of Californian lepidoptera, Dr. John A. Cornstock and Commander Charles M. Dammers, published the life histories of C. australis Edwards and C. nemesis Edwards, illustrated in their usual beautiful manner.

On July 17th, 1932, while collecting lepidoptera with Mr. Frank E. Watson near Newton, New Jersey, he took our first specimen of C. borealis Grote & Robinson in a field near the edge of an open woods. Further search resulted in the capture of eleven more specimens, all in the woods, in this respect confirming the habitat mentioned by Dr. A. F. Brower (1929 Ent. News XL :125).

The nesting habits of many of our wild bees still remain unknown. Their importance, from an ecological as well as from an animal behavior standpoint, is great. Each species is adjusted to a set of environmental conditions which the kind and location of the nest helps to assure it. The young are protected from extremes of heat and moisture, as well as from parasites and predators by the materials composing the cell, by the manner of its construction and by the nesting site selected by the mother bee. The following account consists of brief notes on the habits of certain western species.

Serious defoliation of spruce by a sawfly was discovered in the interior of the Gaspe peninsula, P.Q., in the autumn of 1930. The following year an aeroplane survey indicated that some 2,000 square miles of forest was heavily attacked. The species had not previously been recorded from America and was determined as Dipirion polytomum Hartig, which has been known for over 1OO years in parts of Europe but has caused little or no damage there.

So many observations verging on the extraordinary and bizarre have been made of insect behavior that we no ionger are surprised to learn of insects appearing out of their normal environment. It is thus with interest rather than wonder that we note a few scattered references in entomological literature to thrips, normally considered phytophagous and to some extent predaceous, attacking man in a transitory manner.

Ide (1935) has studied the various instars in the development of the nymph of Ephemera simulans Walker, but does not state the length of the life cycle. Neave (1932) decided that in Lake Winnipeg species of Hexagenia, a genus very closely related to Ephemera, took two years to complete the life history cycle. The length of the life cycle and the rate of development of the species of Ephemera have been discussed but never satisfactorily settled. The present paper attempts to answer these questions with respect to Ephemera simulans in Lake Wawasee.

In the course of a series of dissections of various species of Pieridae, the author noticed what appeared tobe a costal vein in the forewing of a specimen of Archonias bellona Cramer. Further examination showed that there was indeed a costal vein present here, and this prompted a scrutiny of a considerable body of material in this ganus and others allied to it, the results of which are given in tabular form below.

Form elongate, moderately slender, sides of body parallel, three times as long as wide. Color usually nigro-piceous, at times more or less rufo-piceous ; prothorax varying from rufo-testaceous to rufo-piceous; palpi, antennae and legs rufo-testaceous, at times clouded with fuscus. Luster more or less shining throughout. In palerspecimens a rather broad, black transverse fascia is more or less distinct just behind the middle third of the elytra, this extends along the suture to base, gradually widening- in basal third to involve the inner one-halfof each elytron and scutellum: when the elytra are more or less rufotestaceous the apical area remains piceous and when entirely nigro-piceous the maculation may be more or less defined by brownish hairs. Pubescence for the most part pale throughout, decumbent, of moderate length, not coarse and not concealing the surface; beneath more closely recumbent, denser on the apical margins of abdominal segments and mesosternal parapleura; shorter, finer and closely appressed on the legs. Head and pronotum with quite long, bristling, sparsely scattered setiform hairs; those of the elytra semierect and of moderate length.

The present article is based on a study of the collection of fleas belonging toProf. G. J. Spencer, of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B. C., and of the collections made by the late Mr. Eric Hearle of the Dominion Entomological Laboratory, Kamloops, B. C. It is an agreeable duty to me to express my most sincere gratitude to Prof. G. J. Spencer as well as to Dr. Arthur Gibson, Dominion Entomologist, and Dr. J. McDunnough, Chief ofthe Division ot Systematic Entomology, Entomological Branch, Department of Agriculture, Ottawa, Ont., for havingafforded me the opportunity of becoming more closely acquainted with the aphanipterological fauna of British Columbia. It was especially interesting to me as the fauna of this province is largely allied to that of the eastern part of the palaearctic region.

It is the purpose of the writer, in this paper, to describe two apparently new species of Histeridae and, in addition, to review the American species of the subgenus Paralister. The followiiig species is named in honor of Dr. C. H. Seevers, to whom I am indebted for numerous favors.

Above brighter ochre than any American form except subfusca Barnes and Benjamin, from Arizona. The entire upper surface is a tawny ochre that in some males is dusted with gray near the margins. The fringes are nearly white and contrast sharply. Under side of the primaries lighter ochre, crossed by a very distinct, long postdiscal band of white; the margins are washed with gray-white. Lower surface of the secondaries gray or brown dusted over with grayish white and crossed by an irregular median band of white that in some specimens sends projections into the basal anea. Apical ocelli on the primaries and submarginal ones on the secondaries are strong, obsolescent or not present at all.

The Diurnals of southern Newfoundland were briefly commented upon last year (1935, Can. Ent. LXVII : 82). Another summer's catch by the same collector at Doyles Station has increased the number of species reported from the Island by two and possibly helped to clear up the confusion in the genus Lycaena.

Ascogaster carpocapsae Vier. was not known to have spread naturally over the mountain barriers into the apple growing districts of British Columbia, and it was considered that the introduction of this species might aid in the control of the codling moth (Cydia pomonella Linn.) which has become a serious pest in that area during recent years.

Recently in checking material in the genus Laphrin apparently two species were found under the name uvltur Osten Sacken. Marston Bates kindly examined the types of uvltur in the Museum of Comparative Zoology and, on verifying my observations, sent part of their material for study. Two of Osten Sacken's specimens ( ♂ ♀ ) are uvltur and the third speciimen is herein described as new, and notes on several other closely related species are given.

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