1888.1 269 



ON THE KNOT-HOEN LARVA WHICH INFESTS THE CONES OF 



SPRUCE FIR. 



BT H. T. STAINTON, F.R.S. 



Since the publication ol" Mr. Atmore's notes on the larva of Ne- 

 pJiopteryx ahietella, "prhich he met with burrowing in old and young 

 shoots of Scotch fir (Plnus sylvestris) in the spring, my attention has 

 been called by Mr. C. G. Barrett to a larva found in the cones of 

 spruce fir (Pinus ahies or Abies exceJsa) in the autumn, which he had 

 supposed to be that of Nepliopteryx ahietella. 



The perfect insects bred by Dr. Wood certainly seem to be re- 

 ferable to the splendidella, H.-S. (the name now adopted by M. Eagonot, 

 Ent. Mo. Mag , vol. xxiv, p. 224;, for the sylvestrella of his Eevision, 

 Ent. Mo. Mag., vol. xxii, p. 52) ; as probably this insect is still in very 

 few of our collections,* I have thought it desirable to publish the fol- 

 lowing extracts from the note books of the late W. Buckler, so as to 

 call attention more emphatically to this insect and its curious habits. 



Notes on Phycis abietella from Mb. W. Buckler's Note Books. 



On August 16th, 1874, I received from Mr. John H. Wood a spruce fir cone 

 containing a larva, whose ravages were plainly perceptible by the extruded particles 

 of light fawn coloured frass from some of the scales, which still adhered by a thread 

 or two of silk to the cone. It was not till the 26th that I was able to secure this 

 individual to figure and describe, although on two previous occasions I obtained a 

 transient glimpse of it as it left one part of the cone and entered another part ; but 

 on this occasion I caught it on the calico cover of the glass vessel that contained the 

 cone, and then took the following description : — 



Larva, when stretched out, is just half an inch in length, rather slender in pro- 

 portion, stoutest at the thoracic segments, the others a little less but tolerably 

 uniform in width to the twelfth, whence it tapered a little to the extremity of the 

 thirteenth, which was rounded ; the head a little flattened, rather broad, but not so 

 broad as the second segment, which is equal in length and breadth to the third and 

 fourth, the transverse wrinkles on these being rather deep, while on the others, one 

 moderately deep, followed by a fainter one, sub-divides each of them at about two- 

 thirds fi'om the beginning ; anterior legs well developed, the ventral and anal ones 

 moderately and much under the body. 



The head is shining and of a pitchy blackness, above paler on the top of the 

 lobes and brown beneath ; a broad, black, shining, semicircular plate is on the second 

 segment, the skin of the body is without gloss, and of a rich reddish- (rather 

 chocolate-) brown colour above on the back and sides, becoming a little paler on 

 the belly ; on the sides at the segmental divisions the skin appears paler, of a greyish 

 glistening tint, seen only when the larva is fidly stretched out ; the tubercular dots 

 are small, black, and shining, each emitting a fine and longish hair ; spiracles round, 



* Mr. P. B. Mason has specimens of splendidella which are undoubtedly liritish, but of which 

 the localities are not known. They were obtained from the collection of the late Mr. Edwin 

 Brown, of Burton-on-Trent, and other reliable sources. 



