none In Hungary C. maculaalba is the most dangerous pest of Papaver somniferum L. Its damage was first recorded in 1884. Poppies grown in lowlands are attacked by the pest in the first place. In some years the extent of damage may even reach 50 per cent. C. maculaalba has a single generation a year. It is only able to place its eggs in 1 to 2-day old capsules. The excitation mechanism of egg laying is: 1. in response to the fragrance of flowers as an olfactostimulus the female adults gather in the poppy flowers; 2. the specific stimulants of the capsule, as contact chemostimuli induce mastication of the adults, then with the third stimulus - the roundness of the capsule as a form stimulus - added to the former two the female adult is moved to pierce the capsule with its proboscis and place its eggs through the hole thus made in the capsule. The antennae also play a decisive role in egg laying. Even such adults as possessing mere scapes are able to lay eggs, while those without scape do not lay eggs. The temperature threshold for eggs and larvae is 13 degree C. The effective heat sum calculated for the period of embryonal and larval development is only correct when based on temperature values obtained inside the capsult. In Hungary the species Bracon longicaudis (Hym., Braconidae) was raised from C. maculaalba larvae. Twenty-one per cent of the larvae were parazitized. The paper also discusses the grandological factors and prognostic methods, and finally describes the methods of control used with success in small- and large farms.