238 HALF HOURS WITH INSECTS. [Packard. 



little caterpillar, the more since similar damage is caused to 

 pine bushes in Europe by a little Tortrix, with similar 

 habits. 



A not uncommon sight in isolated pine trees is a nest of 

 saw-fly caterpillars, whose sawdust-like castings form a large 

 mass collected among the leaves. These "false caterpillars," 

 as they are called, are social and live huddled up together on 

 the end of a pine branch. Small trees are often ruined by 

 them. 



It always seems as if artificially planted forests suflTer the 

 most from the attacks of injurious insects. One of these saw 

 flies, before unknown to science, has been found ravaging a 

 plantation of young pitch pines on Cape Cod. By means 

 of the saw-like ovipositor these curious flies are able to cut 

 slits in the leaves and stems of plants. The present species 

 {Lophyrus pini-rigidi) thus slits, and inserts an Qgg in each 

 side of the needle of the pine. The males are easily distin- 

 guished from all otlier saw-flies by the beautifully pectinated 

 antennae and shining black bodies. 



"We could go on describing the insects injurious to our 

 pine trees, but the enumeration would be tedious to the 

 reader. About a hundred different species are known to 

 prey on our native pines, and a number of them attack the 

 imported ornamental pines and flrs of our lawns. They 

 attack the roots, the trunk, the leaves and the seed in the 

 cones. M. Perris, a French naturalist, has written an ex- 

 tensive work on the insects of the maritime pine of France, 

 describing with care a hundred species found on that tree 

 alone ; and not only the destructive kinds, but all the nu- 

 merous parasitic and carnivorous forms which take up their 

 abode beneath the bark of the tree and wage a ceaseless 

 warfare against the primitive occupants. If au}^ one would 

 like to look behind the scenes and witness the struggle for 

 existence going on under the bark of a pine tree, let him go 

 to the woods for himself and study the various insects, in- 



14 



