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A total of 6,199 adult ticks (Haemaphysalis intermis, Dermacentor reticulatus, D. marginatus and Ixodes ricinus) collected in three localities in Slovakia were examined for microsporidian infection. The spores of Nosema slovaca were found in six D. reticulatus (0.097%). The microsporidian experimentally inoculated into the hemocele of half-engorged females of D. reticulatus caused acute infection and death of the host. The infection can be transmitted also to other tick species from the same region. The yield of spores from one tick ranges from 3 X 10(5) to 52 X 10(7) depending on the infection dose and tick species. Peroral infection of some butterfly larvae with the microsporidian pores was unsuccessful. The importance of Nosema infection in ticks in nature is discussed.

The cytoplasmic polyhedrosis virus (CPV) from the midgut of blackfly larvae is recorded from a population of Simulium argyreatum in Czechoslovakia. A 7.7% infection of 2766 sampled larvae was manifested by white spots in their body. 85% of the white-spotted larvae were infected with CPV when sampled in June. In August 9% of 1377 larvae had white spots but only 10.6% of them were with CPV. Out of 823 collected pupae, only 3 imperfect pupae had the virus in apparent form. Other infections producing white spots in larvae were due to the microsporidia Plistophora multispora, P. simulii, P. debaisieuxi, Thelohania fibrata, the fungus Coelomycidium simulii and the mermithids.