New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 347 



they are placed in rows on the midrib and larger veins as in the 

 case of the currant saw-fly, but more often the female makes a 

 slit through the cuticle of the leaf and deposits her egg under- 

 neath. The eggs are usually quite small at first but it has been 

 observed that they gradually enlarge, probably by the absorption 

 of moisture from the leaf tissue. 



The larra.— The larvae of saw-flies resemble caterpillars in gen- 

 eral appearance, but can usually be distinguished from them by 

 the number of prolegs, which in most cases is from 12 to 16, 

 while true caterpillars, with one exception, have but 10. 2 Also 

 a common habit among saw-fly larva? consists in curling the pos- 

 terior segments of the bod} 7 about the stem or edge of the leaf 

 upon which they are feeding. Other species are slug-like in ap- 

 pearance. A familiar example is the cherry slug which attacks 

 the leaves of both cherry and pear trees. In still other species 

 the larvre are smooth and free from slime or covered with spine-" 

 bearing tubercles. 



The pupa. — The pupa is enclosed in a parchment-like cocoon. 

 Some species form them 2 or 3 inches under ground, while 

 others prefer the surface of the ground or some point on the food 

 plant a short distance above it. 



The adult. — The adult insect may be readily distinguished 

 from other Hymenoptera by the broad head and thorax and the 

 abdomen which broadly joins the thorax at its base. Other char- 

 acteristics are found in the wings and the peculiar saw-like oviposi- 

 tor of the female. 



history and present distribution. 



But comparatively little is said about this species by the early 

 writers on economic entomolocv. So far as the writer has been 

 able to learn it is not mentioned as a European species. Among 

 the earliest references to it is one by Harris in his ft Entomologi- 



2 Comstock's Manual for the Study of Insects, p. 612. 



