A renewed global agenda to address biodiversity loss was sanctioned by adoption of the Strategic

A survey of the insect pests of carrots was conducted in the organic soils of southwestern Quebec with a view to establishing the presence of the carrot weevil, Listronotus oregonensis (Lec.), in this province as well as to confirm the importance of other pests damaging carrot crops. Four different methods were used to capture adults, and the root sampling method was used for establishing larval populations.The carrot weevil was captured by light trap for the first time in Quebec on 1 June 1967, but was neither recognized nor identified until June 1970 when a few specimens were obtained again by light trap set at Ste. Clotilde and by colour traps placed in the experimental fields used for the survey in 1970. Damage caused by this new pest on carrots ranged from 2.0% to 22.0% root injuries throughout the carrot growing areas of the organic soil regions of Sherrington, St. Michel, and Ste. Clotilde representing several thousands of acres. The carrot rust fly, Psila rosae (F.), was the only other carrot pest captured, but has been found to be of no importance in these areas.

The onion maggot, Hylemya antiqua (Meig), has three distinct generations a year in Canada (Armstrong 1924, Hammond 1924, Baker 1928, Lafrance and Perron 1959), and usually two generations in England (Miles 1955). In Canada the three generations overlap considerably and adults of each generation are observed in flight in late summer (Perron et al. 1953). It is the most important pest of onions (Matthewman et al. 1950, Hudon and Perron 1956), and the first generation is the most injurious to the onion plants (Kendall 1932, Miles 1953).

Coenosia tigrina (F.) was first observed in Canada in 1943 at Ottawa by Mr. A. R. Brooks of the Entomology Division (Mr. G. E. Shewell, Entomology Division, Ottawa, personal communication). By 1917 the insect had been collected as far west as Guelph, Ontario. It was first recorded from the province of Quebec in 1951 by Perron and Lafrance (1952), who observed it preying on adults of Hylemya antiqua (Mg.) in rearing cages at St. Jean. Later observations and surveys by these workers indicated the predator to be very abundant in southwestern Quebec. More recently Mr. F. M. Cannon (personal communication), Field Crop Insect Section, Science Service Laboratory, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and Mr. L. A. Miller (personal communication), Entomology Laboratory, Chatham, Ont., reported C. tigrina to be present as far east as Charlottetown and as far west as Chatham.

Experiments conducted in the greenhouse and in the field by Perron et al. (1958) on 44 varieties of Allium revealed that the varieties Nebuka and Hishiko of A. fistulosum (L.) were significantly more resistant to attacks by the onion maggot, Hylemya antiqua (Meig.), than varieties of A. cepa (L.). This is a report of experiments conducted in 1957 and 1958 in the greenhouse and in the field on the attractiveness of seven of these varieties to oviposition by H. antiqua.