A New Species of Mnioes (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) from the United States

This is the first record of the genus Mnioes in the United States. Previously described species are all Neotropic. Townes described the genus in 1946, placing Lampronota? jircunda Cresson, 1874, and Meniscus ? orbitalis Cresson, 1874, in it. The new species described here has been collected from several areas in the United States. This study was made while the author was a graduate student at The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

West Palaearctic species of the genus Diostracus Loew, 1861 (Diptera: Dolichopodidae)

A new status (as subgenera of Diostracus Loew, 1861) for Sphyrotarsus Mik, 1874, Lagodechia Negrobov & Tsurikov, 1996 and Ozmena Özdikmen, 2010 stat. nov. is proposed. A new species, Diostracus (Sphyrotarsus) kustovi sp. nov., is described from the Russian Caucasus. The following recombinations (comb. nov.) are also proposed: Diostracus (Sphyrotarsus) argyrostomus (Mik, 1874); D. (S.) caucasicus (Negrobov, 1965); D. (S.) hervebazini (Parent, 1914); D. (S.) hessei (Parent, 1914); D. (S.) hygrophilus (Becker, 1891); D. (S.) leucostomus (Loew, 1861); D. (S.) parenti (Hesse, 1933); D. (Lagodechia) spinulifer Negrobov & Tsurikov, 1988; and D. (Ozmena) stackelbergi (Negrobov, 1965). A key to ten Diostracus species inhabiting the West Palaearctic Region is provided

Nineteenth-century Ship-based Catches of Gray Whales, Eschrichtius robustus, in the Eastern North Pacific

The 19th century commercial ship-based fishery for gray whales, Eschrichtius robustus, in the eastern North Pacific began in 1846 and continued until the mid 1870’s in southern areas and the 1880’s in the north. Henderson identified three periods in the southern part of the fishery: Initial, 1846–1854; Bonanza, 1855–1865; and Declining, 1866–1874. The largest catches were made by “lagoon whaling” in or immediately outside the whale population’s main wintering areas in Mexico—Magdalena Bay, Scammon’s Lagoon, and San Ignacio Lagoon. Large catches were also made by “coastal” or “alongshore” whaling where the whalers attacked animals as they migrated along the coast. Gray whales were also hunted to a limited extent on their feeding grounds in the Bering and Chukchi Seas in summer. Using all available sources, we identified 657 visits by whaling vessels to the Mexican whaling grounds during the gray whale breeding and calving seasons between 1846 and 1874. We then estimated the total number of such visits in which the whalers engaged in gray whaling. We also read logbooks from a sample of known visits to estimate catch per visit and the rate at which struck animals were lost. This resulted in an overall estimate of 5,269 gray whales (SE = 223.4) landed by the ship-based fleet (including both American and foreign vessels) in the Mexican whaling grounds from 1846 to 1874. Our “best” estimate of the number of gray whales removed from the eastern North Pacific (i.e. catch plus hunting loss) lies somewhere between 6,124 and 8,021, depending on assumptions about survival of struck-but-lost whales. Our estimates can be compared to those by Henderson (1984), who estimated that 5,542–5,507 gray whales were secured and processed by ship-based whalers between 1846 and 1874; Scammon (1874), who believed the total kill over the same period (of eastern gray whales by all whalers in all areas) did not exceed 10,800; and Best (1987), who estimated the total landed catch of gray whales (eastern and western) by American ship-based whalers at 2,665 or 3,013 (method-dependent) from 1850 to 1879. Our new estimates are not high enough to resolve apparent inconsistencies between the catch history and estimates of historical abundance based on genetic variability. We suggest several lines of further research that may help resolve these inconsistencies

Curtis\u27s botanical magazine.

v.100=ser.3:v.30 (1874) [no.6074-6139

Long-Term Variations in the Growth and Decay Rates of Sunspot Groups

Using the combined Greenwich (1874-1976) and Solar Optical Observatories Network (1977-2009) data on sunspot groups, we study the long-term variations in the mean daily rates of growth and decay of sunspot groups. We find that the minimum and the maximum values of the annually averaged daily mean growth rates are ~52% per day and ~183% per day, respectively, whereas the corresponding values of the annually averaged daily mean decay rates are ~21% per day and ~44% per day, respectively. The average value (over the period 1874-2009) of the growth rate is about 70% more than that of the decay rate. The growth and the decay rates vary by about 35% and 13%, respectively, on a 60-year time-scale. From the beginning of Cycle 23 the growth rate is substantially decreased and near the end (2007-2008) the growth rate is lowest in the past about 100 years.Comment: 1 table, 13 figures, accepted by Solar Physic

Observations of the Habits of \u3ci\u3eLygaeus Kalmii Angustomarginatus\u3c/i\u3e (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae) in Southern Michigan

Lygaeus kalmii Stal (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae) is an insect found throughout the eastern United States and Canada. There is extensive taxonomic literature on this insect (Stil, 1874; Townsend, 1887; Parshey, 1919, 1923; Slater and Knopf, 1969), but very little attention has been given to the rest of its biology. This study describes the habits of kalmii populations in southern Michigan