Wilde, W. H. A.

English

Journal of the Entomological Society of British Columbia

ti l 1 ·;'T"~fOI."(~ l "" \1. S," l E TY ",. flHITlSIl (·()I.]"~lRlcI. PRO!'. (1!l;;!l). \ ·oJ. . :;6. N oy . 4. 195!l tained in two years time . In no way could I account for the black mass of weevils in the iwlated mass on the lawn; they had not been seen travelling there- they just ap-peared there. The ~econd instance occurred in the home of an airman who had been in a rented house for about six months ; a s teady trickle of grana ry weevils was issuing from under the quarter-round in the hall upstairs and slowly crawling ~outhwards down the hall; they had been emerging for two days before I inspected the house. Again I examined the basement with greatest care; there was no sign of grain any -where and the floors and walls were sound and without cracks; moreover there was no place in the garden where anybody could have kept poul-try. In this case, I could not even sug-gest the breeding place of the weevils and recommended the continuous use of the vacuum cleaner for their re-moval; there was no place to apply insecticides; the wall extended only to the floor below and not to the base-ment: there was no indication how any material for breeding could have been introduced into the wall from which the beetles were issuing. A NOTE ON ENGINE VACUUM FOR ASPIRATING INSECTS' W . H. A. WILDE2 Studies on vectors of stone fruit virus diseases often req uire test in-sects in large numbers. Usually these a re Homoptera such as leafhoppers, psyllids, spittle bugs or aphids. Vari-ous methods have been devised (1) for aspirating large numbers of these. In my previous collecting with con-ventional mouth aspirators, minute particles of sand, plant and animal matter h ad appeared in the sputum, indicating that there was risk of per-ma nent damage from irritation or myiasis (2) . This note describes a well-proved method using part of the vacuum of 18 to 20 inches of mercury, available in most truck and car en-gines. The method differs in details from that of Moore (3) for collecting grasshoppers. For vehicles with vacuum-operated windshield wipers, cut the wiper vac-uum hose under the dashboard, insert a % in. brass T-shaped connection in-to the two cut ends, and attach an aspirator supply hose to the third outlet. The aspirator supply hose should be long enough to come through , or up to the level of, the dashboard to which it is attached for easy connection with the aspirator tu bing. - 1 Co ntribution No. 21, Regional Hesear ch Station, I)cpa rtm ent o f Agr it'u iture , Summerland . RriUsh ( 'ollllllbia . 2 Entulllolug ist. For vehicles with electrically-oper-ated wipers, bore a hole in the intake manifold below the carburetor for a source of vacuum. Thread the hole and insert a stop cock with a % in . hose connection for the vacuum line which is then taken through the flre wall to the interior of the vehicle and attached to the dashboard . This takes about 4 ft. of % in . windshield wiper hose. By inserting extra T-shaped connections more than one aspirator may be used from the vacuum line. Window screens of 32/ in. mesh should be used . The screens are not absolutely necessary, but the temper-ature on a hot, sunny day in a closed cab is often fatal to the insects and always uncomfortable for the oper-ator. Connect a conventional straight aspirator (1) to the aspirator tubing. Start the motor and set it to run at medium idling speed. Attach the vac-uum gauge to the nozzle of the as-pirator and adjust for the required vacuum with a Hoffman clamp on the tubing close to the aspirator. For leafhoppers 2Y2 to 4 in. of vacuum is required, for spittle bugs 3 to 6 in. Even where it is not possible to drive a vehicle close to the collecting site, time can still be saved by sweep-ing with 3 or 4 conventional nets, then returning to the vehicle to aspirate the catch. Release the catch inside the vehicle wi th the doors closed and aspirate the desired insec ts from the windshield, doors a nd screens. When 50 to 100 insects are in the aspira tor , transfer them to a collecting ja r. This avoids damage from swirling pa rticles in the air stream or from the insects piling up. The transfer is easily made from a straight aspirator into a pre-serving ja r, if the ja r lid h as a self-closing va lve made from a piece of inner tube rubber . Shut oft" the vac -ti,-. uum by pinching the a spirator tub-ing, insert the nozzle of the aspirator in the jar and tap the aspirator gently to dislod ge the insects. Shutting off the vacuum in this way does not in-terfere with the vacuum setting. Leafhoppers collected with this method showed a better ra t e at" sur-vival in vector studies than those taken by convention a l methods, prob-a bly because it was easy to select un -damaged speci mens. References 1. Peterson , A. 1953. A manua l of entomological techniques. 7lh Ed. PI. 68 . Edwards Bros. Inc ., Ann Arbor, Mich. 2. Hurd , P. D. 1954. " Myiasis" re~ulting from th e use of th e aspirator method in the collection of insects. Science 119: (3101):814. a. Moore, H . W. 1943. A mechanical as pirator for ~ ()]"ting and cou ntin.g insects in th (' fip ]d . ('a n . En t . 75 : 162 . A COLLECTION OF HYMENOPTERA FROM BRITISH COLUMBIA By JOHN STAINER This collection co nsists of species taken during the summer of 1939, at Okanagan Mission , with a few species collected at Vancouver Island pOints. I am indebted to Dr. R. Lambert, C. D. Miller, W. R. Mason , and G . S . Walley of the Division of Entomology, Ottawa, for their id entifications; and to Prof. G. J . Spencer for his h elp with this paper. Most of the specimens are now in the National Collec tion at Ottawa, the remainder in my own collection in Parksville. Of the 50 species listed 11 a re not recorded from B.C. in the "Synoptic Cataloque of the Hymenoptera of America North of Mexico" (U.S. Dept. of Agriculture , April 1951) . Some in-teresting points arise in geographical distribution . Of the Apoidea collected only 1 species has a continent-wide range; the ranges of 6 straddle the Rockies; and 23 are recorded West of the Rockies only . On the other hand of the other superfamilies 14 species have a continent-wide range, 3 more ha ve ranges which straddle the Rockies; and only 3 are restricted to the West side of the Rockies. This follows a pattern evident in the Syn-optiC Catalogue. shown by these figures : Per cent of American species with ranges which cross the Rockies Genus Andrena 2.5 Genus Dasymutilla ...... . 11 .2 Genus Chl'ysis . . .... 34.0 In the following list the specimens were taken at Okanagan Mission in 1939, unless otherwise indicated . Months of capture are given in Roma n fi gures. TENTHREDINOIDEA Cimbicidae ( ' i lll/)('. { ({/J/I Tin/J/f1 /HI/'iff/ 'u (' T' PSS. ~ P::t l'J.;s -vi li p: 111 . v i i i. 54. '/ 'I' /lIIII 'PI/O ("{(/"ipi,.fus ."01"1 . q S I1"lI'n i g<l n I " iI« ' - \" . " ~ . ICHNEUMONOIDEA Ichneumonidae Pimplinae Ichneumoninae ( '("", i '-/IIII ' /lli/i)/l ulliJasc'i(/I()I" i us S<I,·. P<lr1(s· ,il l f': -~ ,·ii i. .'):~ . anrl 111. ix . ij::. CHRYSIDOIDEA Ch rysididae IIl'rlyl"il l"i rl i lllll .rtdc"/c ui Bod . ~ 4. ,'. Neareti l pr e v io ll s ly r ecorded runge: A lta .. Ida .. Ore. ('II I"!!" ;" ({' /t !".lISII)"I( ) JJII/' ifi"' l Say . :,. Y. <lnd ~:? \", ('. ((' . ) lul'l Aaro n . ::11. i,· . Nl'a r es l preYiolls · I.,· record e d ra n ge : Id a., C() ln. (' . ( (' h '".l) s i s ) ( ' I)(' /" I//I/lIS F'ab . . "alluilllo : ] 2. \' i i i. ?If) . ~ :; . \' . 

A note on engine vacuum for aspirating insects

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A note on engine vacuum for aspirating insects

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Journal of the Entomological Society of British Columbia