I 



THE LOPHYRI. 1 77 



spare for its larvae. The young larvse live in groups, and collect 

 in great numbers ; they eat first of all the young shoots and buds, 

 and finally do not despise the hardest foliage. Many of the trees 

 they attack are soon terribly despoiled of their leaves, and have 

 their existence endangered, and every now and then large forests 

 of firs and pines are nearly destroyed by the ravages of this 

 insect, which certainly chooses a strong tasting diet. 



The larvae of the LopJiyri do not dig into the earth in order 

 to undergo their metamorphosis, like so many of the saw-flies ; 

 but they construct their cocoons upon the branches of the tree 

 they have despoiled. The cocoons are grouped together on the 

 stouter twigs of the trees, and are more or less oval in shape. 

 They are often found empty, and one end opens like a trap-door. 

 This is because the saw-fly, when ready to escape, cuts a nearly 

 circular slit in one end, pushes up the flap, and flies oiT. 



The position of the oval shaped cocoons is shown in the 

 engraving, and there are some perfect insects represented. The 

 females are engaged in depositing eggs, whilst a male is flying. 

 The larvae have the characteristic curl of the tail. 



Some larvae of the genus Lyda live in groups, and like the 

 Lcpidoptera under similar circumstances, protect themselves by 

 forming a net-work of silk for the whole colony. The pear-trees 

 are now and then much damaged by Lyda piri, whose larvae 

 collect in great numbers upon the leaves, and spin a web in 

 common to protect themselves. 



The Cephines are the second tribe of the saw-flies, and they have 

 slender bodies. They live in the interior of plants when in the larva 

 form, and thus imitate the peculiar habits of many caterpillars, 

 and, as might be expected, they present similar peculiarities as 

 regards colour and the development of the legs. The Ccphiiics in 

 fact exhibit so great an arrest of the growth of the membranous 

 legs that they surpass nearly all caterpillars in this respect, and, 

 indeed, they are almost like worms. The species of the genus 

 Ccphus have a compressed abdomen, and the ovipositor of the 

 female is hardly visible, whilst the antennas are swollen at their 

 ends, and composed of twenty-one joints. The commonest kind is 

 CcpJnis pygmcsjts — a little insect of a third of an inch in length ; 

 it is black, and has a yellow border to its third, fourth, and seventh 



