THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 99 



The information received I brought before the Montreal Branch of the 



Ontario Entomological Society, and it caused some surprise, as members 



had never heard of the process. During the evening the President, Mr. 



G. J. Bowles, exhibited a Polyphemus moth just out of chrysalis, which got 



away and flew into the gas, so burning itself that it had to be killed. The 



moth was examined, and close to the base of* each fore wing a spine was 



found, quite long and sharp, which could certainly be used by the insect 



for scratching and tearing the silk of the cocoon so as to facilitate the 



egress of the moth. The inside of the cocoon at the opening seemed to 



bear marks of its work. This discovery has excited quite an interest 



among our members, and we await the opinion of other Entomologists on 



the subject. 



John G. Jack, Montreal. 



Dear Sir, — 



During last summer we were visited by an insect which attacked our 

 White Pine trees (Pinus strobus). I refer to Abbot's White Pine Worm, 

 Lophyrus Abbotii, a gregarious worm of some note in the south and west. 

 I have not seen it noticed by any of our Canadian Entomologists, and 

 consequently do not know whether it is a common insect in this country 

 or not ; but I do know that should it become very numerous it would 

 shortly be a very heavy blight on our White Pine, either in grove or forest 

 growth. I have not yet seen any on the imported pines, such as the 

 Scotch and Austrian ; indeed the insect seems tenaciously to prefer our 

 native species, probably because of its soft and tender foliage. It 

 appeared here in July and August (1 neglected to note the exact date), but 

 in such flocks that they soon defoliated the brandies on which they were 

 working, and were thus easily detected. When nearly full grown these saw 

 fly worms measure from three-fourths to one inch in length, are heavily 

 marked by black spots on a dull whitish ground, and have the habit of 

 bending the. fore part of their bodies backwards on being approached or 

 disturbed. According to Prof. Riley, the parent saw fly deposits her eggs 

 on the slender leaves of the pine in autumn, where they remain in the 

 egg state all winter, hatching early in summer. The remedies recom- 

 mended for this pest are hand-picking, the use of dry air-slacked lime or 

 powdered hellebore mixed with water and sprinkled on the affected parts. 



B. Gott, Arkona, Ont. 



