THE pH IN THE GUT AND BLOOD OF THE LARCH SAWFLY, PRISTIPHORA ERICHSONII (HTG.), AND OTHER INSECTS WITH REFERENCE TO THE PATHOGENICITY OF BACILLUS CEREUS FR. AND FR.

Abstract

Regional pH measurements in the gut and the blood of 11 species of Hymenoptera and two of Lepidoptera were made. The larvae were examined in their later instars, after ecdysis, after starvation, or as mature larvae. The gut pH was found to change regionally during development and under these different conditions, but the blood pH tended to remain relatively unchanged. The pH in the gut and of the blood of the larch sawfly was found to be close to the optimum for good growth of B. cereus and was within the optimum activity range of the enzyme lecithinase in the anterior two thirds of the mid-gut and in the blood. This apparently holds for most of the sawfly species examined and for Carpocapsa pomonella, but not for those Lepidoptera examined herein.