PROCEEDINGS. 1018 39 



In studj'ing the fall webworm (Hyphantria) information was 

 obtained, lartjely throug-h material collected by several members of the 

 British Columbia Entomological Society, concerning its control at several 

 widely separated points in both wet and dry belts. It was foun-d that 

 in British Columbia a parasite is at work unknown in Eastern Canada, 

 and that this -parasite was the most important single factor in control 

 there. This parasite is an undcscriljed Tachinid fly, closely related to 

 the gyspy moth parasite Compsilura. Its introduction into the region 

 East of Winnipeg will be watched with interest. In this case the great 

 plains of the Middle West seem to have been the barrier across which 

 the parasite has been unable to go. 



Finally. I will mention just one more case of a similar kind, this time 

 in connection with an exotic insect, the Oyster Shell Scale. In Eastern 

 Canada, and according to Walsh, Shinier, Ewing and Webster, in the 

 Eastern United States, the most important single factor in control of 

 this scale is a predacious mite, Hemisarcoptes malus. This mite, by 

 feeding upon the eggs of the scale, brings about an immense destruction ; 

 and besides takes at least some of the growing summer scales. 

 Although I have been able to find this mite with little or no trouble in 

 every one of our Eastern Provinces, a very careful search, made largely 

 through the kindness of a number of your members, and last summer 

 through personal observations, has failed to reveal the presence of the 

 mite in British Columbia. If it is there at all, it is too rare to be of 

 practical benefit, and its complete absence seems highly probable. 

 Though it is not certain how or when the scale reached British Columbia, 

 that it came from the East is about as certain as that it reached the East 

 from Europe. Infested stock undouljtedly reached the Province shortly 

 after the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway. That the mite 

 has not also reached the Province by the same route is a fine tribute to 

 the splendid inspection and fumigation system consistently maintained 

 by the Provincial and Dominion Departments of Agriculture. It may 

 be added, in conclusion, that some experimental colonies of this mite 

 have been liberated at several points in British Columbia, and that these 

 will be kept under observation during the next few years. 



