ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. 40 



CANADIAN UROCERIDzE 



{Abstract of a Paper presented to the Roijal Society of Canada.) 



By W. Hague Harrington, Ottawa. 



The paper which I have the honour to submit is, from its length and the number of 

 descriptions contained in it, not suitable to be read in full. I have, therefore, made a 

 short abstract from its contents, to indicate its scope and purposes. It treats of the 

 Urocerid:e, a family of the order Hymenoptera ; the species of which are lignivorous in 

 the larval state and attack our forest, shade and fruit trees. 



In discussing these insects I have accepted the name Urocerid:e in accordance with 

 the classification of North American Hymenoptera published by Mr. E. T. Cresson, who 

 for many years has been a diligent student of the order, and who has described a large 

 proportion of the American species. In agreement with European nomenclature, the 

 name Siricidte would be used, as the first species described were placed by Linn sens in 

 Sirex, one of the ten genera into which he divided all the Hymenoptera. His simple 

 classification has been so expanded, to receive the vast number of insects since described, 

 that the Hymenoptera of America, north of Mexico, are separated into about a thousand 

 genera. 



The genera placed by Cresson in the family Uroceridte have been the subject of 

 much discussion by systematic entomologists and their relations to one another and to 

 the Tenthredinidse, have been variously viewed. The object of this paper is not how- 

 ever, to discuss the sj'stematic position of the genera, hut to bring together for the benefit 

 of students of the Canadian fauna, the descriptions of the various species, and to add such 

 information regarding them as my observations have furnished. No new species are 

 desciibed, but I have rather endeavored to show where the present number of species 

 could be lessened, and the suppressed be placed as varieties. The insects of this family 

 vary very much iu size and sometimes in coloration, and several of the species being 

 widely distributed and rare, have been redescribed trom different regions. 



There are five genera : Ceplius, Xiphydria, Urocerus, Tremex and Oryssus. To facil- 

 itate the identification of specimens, I have prepared synoptic tables based upon such 

 features as seem most distinctive. The individuals of Cephus appear to be very rare in 

 Canada, but six species are represented, including C. pygmceus, Linn., which has been 

 introduced from Europe, where it is well known, and at times a destructive borer in the 

 stems of wl'eat. In Xiphydria several species have been described, but some are only 

 varieties. The most common species is X. albicornis, Harris, which is frequently found 

 on maples, and which does considerable injury to shade trees. I have given observations 

 upon its habits, in the publications of the Entomological Society of Ontario. 



The typical genus Urocerus (Sirex) contains about twenty American species of which 

 nearly all occur in Canada. Some of these are large, handsome insects, widely dis- 

 tributed throughout the Dominion ; from Nova Scotia to Vancouver Island and very far 

 northward. The larvte of these insects are borers in our coniferous trees and their dis- 

 tribution is probably co-extensive with the trees they infest. In some sections, pine, 

 spruce, fir, etc., suffer considerably from their attacks. The three most common species 

 are U. alhicornis, black, with white banded legs and antennae ; U. flavlcornis, black, with 

 yellow bands and antennte, and U. cyanens, blue, with ferruginous legs. 



Tremex contains only one species, the well-known T. columha, the larvse of which 

 are popularly known as Horn-tails, a name also applied sometimes to the adult insects on 

 account of their long ovipositors. This insect attacks chiefly the maple and beech, which 

 are often thoroughly riddled by its larvje, but it also infests other forest trees, such as oak 

 and sycamore, and fruit-trees, as apple and pear. It is a striking insect in appearance ; 

 one of the largest of our Hymenoptera; richly marked with black and yellow, and })ro 

 vided with a long, stout ovipositor for penetrating the thick bark of the trees in which it 

 deposits its eggs. 



4 (en.) 



