THE REPOET OF THE Xo. 36 



TiJE President: I am glad Dr. Baker sent us this paper. It is uue I am 

 sure all of us will be glad to read over at our leisure. I should like to ask 

 Dr. Matheson if the woolly aphis is of much importance in Xew York State. 

 In Ontario it is certainly of minor importance. 



Dr. Matheson : I hesitate to answer your question for Xew York State, 

 for I have not done very much on the woolly aphis. I do not think it is a very 

 important factor except in some nurseries on sandy areas. 



Prop. Parrott: Dr. Matheson has expressed the economic status of the 

 insect so far as New York is concerned. Our attention to the work of the woolly 

 aphis is usually called by its presence in young orchards of five, six or seven 

 years" of age which have not received any spraying. This refers to the aerial 

 and not the root form. It is very seldom our attention is called to its work 

 on the roots of nursery trees. From our correspondence it does not appear to 

 attract a great deal of attention. 



I think we owe a great deal to the entomologists of Canada for the work 

 which has been done on the cherry aphis. I am referring particularly to the 

 work of Mr, Eoss on the ultimate hosts of the insect. This has been a great aid 

 in our studies. 



Prof. Brittain : The woolly aphis is of practically no importance in Xova 

 Scotia. 



The President: I think we in Canada and New York State hardly ap- 

 preciate the advantage we have over States farther south regarding woolly aphis. 

 It is one of the worst pests of the States to the south. I know in Ontario of 

 only one or two cases where the woolly aphis has been found in nurseries attack- 

 ing the roots. 



Dr. Hewitt: The woolly aphis has proven to be quite a serious pest in 

 British Columbia, where we get the root form as well as the aerial form. There 

 was one point which Dr. Baker raised in his paper, which leads to an interesting 

 biological phenomenon which it would be well for all of us to bear in mind when 

 we are carrying on our studies, and that is the possibility of the formation of 

 races of insects. During the last year we have found in British Columbia what 

 is evidently a distinct race of the apple maggot on the Snowberry, which is used 

 as an ornamental shrub. Wherever we found this shrub, whether in the south 

 or farther north, we got this infestation by the apple maggot, though apples 

 in the vicinity were not attacked. 



SOME INSECT PEOBLEMS IN THE PEAIEIE PEOVINCES. 



Norman Criddle, Entomological Laboratory, Treesbank,, Man, 



Conditions in the Prairie Provinces are, as a rule, so totally different from those 

 of Eastern Canada and the problems we have to contend with differ so much in 

 general, that in reality they are often only alike in the broad outlines to which 

 all insect problems must be approached. Take for instance, the general trend 

 of these meetings; the papers and discussions lean decidedly towards the problems 

 of fruit insects and insecticides, whereas in the West you would find fully 75 per 

 cent, related to field crop insects and few indeed to those of fruits or sprays. To 

 us these last are of quite secondary importance, and instead we have to deal far 

 more with poisoned baits and methods of cultivation. Another point, and this 



