May, '08] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 213 



In 1906 my first visit to the field in question was made on 

 May 3Oth, and at that time I found a few leaves with small 

 mines in them. Some of the larvae taken from these mines 

 measured 2 mm. in length. Considerable time was spent in 

 the field, and I observed a number of small blackish-colored 

 saw-flies flying about the plants and alighting upon the leaves. 

 Some were evidently ovipositing, and the operation was ob- 

 served. The insect would alight upon the upper surface of the 

 leaf and select a spot for the deposition of the egg, apparent- 

 ly at random. Sometimes the place would be in the shade, 

 sometimes in the sunshine, but so far as I could determine it 

 was always upon the upper surface of the leaf. The tip of 

 the abdomen would then be brought in contact with the leaf, 

 and in a very short time, usually 30 to 50 seconds, the opera- 

 tion would be finished and the insect would fly away. 



Some of the spots where eggs had apparently been de- 

 posited were marked, in the hope that later, with the aid of 

 a microscope, I would be able to locate the eggs; but in this I 

 failed. Several of the saw-flys were collected at this time, and 

 one that was submitted to Dr. A. D. MacGillivray, was pro- 

 nounced by him to be Scolioneura capitalis Norton. 



This species was described by Norton in 1867,* as Sclandria 

 (Blennocampa) capitalis, from a single female taken at Brook- 

 lyn, N. Y. In 1895 Marlett re-described the species,t using 

 Norton's type, and referred it to the genus Scolioneura. At 

 the same time he described a new species of Scolioneura, can- 

 adcnsis, which, according to Dr. MacGillivray, is probably a 

 form of capitalis. In 1884 Forbes bred from larvae found 

 on mining leaves of cultivated blackberries at Normal, 111., two 

 specimens of the small saw-fly which were, according to Dr. 

 MacGillivray, undoubtedly males of S. capitalis, but which 

 Forbes described^: as Metallus rnbi (gen, et sp. nov.).** His 

 description of the larva follows : 



* Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc., Vol. I, p. 247. 

 f Proc. Ent. Soc. of Washington, Vol. Ill, p. 234. 

 J Fourteenth Report of the State Entomologist of 111., p. 87. 

 **In 1887 Cresson referred this to the genus Fenusa, considering it 

 possibly a variety of F. curia Norton. 



