Influence of temperature and humidity on the longevity of the spores of the entomogenous fungus, beauvaria bassiana (bals.) vuill., (fungi imperfecti), and the potentialities of utilizing this fungus for the control of some coleopterous stored grain pests.

Of the three principal biological agents that are employed in the control of insects pests; namely, parasites, predators, and pathogens, use of pathogenic microorganisms has made very rapid progress within recent years. However, microbial control is not new. Considerable natural control is microbial. It is only an increasing appreciation of the role played by insect pathogens in nature, with some of its advantages over other methods of control, including chemical control, that have given an impetus to this method. Some of the spectacular successes achieved by the use of pathogens to control forest tree and field crop insect pests by Canada and the United States, in addition to other countries, have contributed to the use of microbial control. Polyhedrosis virus has been used very successfully to control the European spruce sawfly, Diprion hercyniae (Htg.), and the European pine sawfly, Neodiprion sertifer, in both Canada and the United States.