378 



ARTICULATES I INSECTS. 



Fig. 279. 



UROCERATA, Latr., OR BORING SAW-FLY FAMILY. 

 This Family comprises comparatively rare hymenoptera 

 which are among the largest of the sub-order. They 

 have the body elongated, nearly cylindrical, and the blunt 

 abdomen ending in a horny point. From beneath the 

 abdomen projects a long, saw-like, and powerful borer, 

 with which they bore holes into trees, in which to lay 

 their eggs. The larvae are borers in the trunks of trees. 

 The Genus T inn ex contains T. cohnnba of authors, 



which is an inch or more 

 in length besides the 

 borer, and that an inch 

 long, projecting beyond 

 the body. The head and 

 thorax are rust-colored 

 and black ; the abdo- 

 men black, with seven 

 ochre-yellow transverse 

 bands. The Genus Uro- 

 ccms comprises those 

 which especially infest 

 the pines. 



TENTHREDINET^, Latr., OR SAW-FLY FAMILY. This 

 Family comprises hymenoptera in which the females have 

 an ovipositor consisting of double saws lodged under the 

 body, and covered by two pieces which serve as a sheath. 

 They are sluggish in their habits, and fly only in the 

 warmest days. Their larvae have from eighteen to twen- 

 ty-two legs, and are found in communities on the leaves 

 of birch and alder, holding on by their true legs, while 

 the rest of the body is curved curiously upwards ; or ap- 

 pearing like slugs on the leaves of the pear and other 

 fruit-trees, and those of the rose ; while others feed upon 

 the stems of plants, or roll up a leaf, or construct cases 

 of particles of leaves to hide in. 



Saw-Borer Fly, T. columba of authors. 



