178 FOREST ENTOMOLOGY. 



be remembered that it is amongst the very young plantations 

 that most damage is done. 



LOPHYRUS RUFUS (Khlg). 



Miss Ormerod writes^ regarding this species : — 



" I have also had observations, with specimens during this year, of 

 much injury being done by the caterpillars of the Loj^hyrus rufus of 

 King on three or four thousand acres of young Scots fir in Argyle- 

 shire. These caterpillars are of a greenish dusky grey, with black 

 heads, a line lighter line along the back, and a dusky line above the 

 spiracles. The abdominal sucker feet and abdomen below yellow- 

 green. The specimens sent me on the 10th of June had spun 

 their cocoons by the ■23rd. The flies may be looked for from 

 August onwards. The females are reddish ; the males black, 

 with abdomen beneath and legs red. It was observed that 

 trees ten feet high were not so seriously attacked as those from 

 two to six feet hi"h." 



NEMATIN^ (Nematides). 



This sub-family is of considerable interest in forest entomology, 

 inasmuch as a great many of the species are arboreal feeders. j\Iany 

 of them are amongst the first insects to appear on the wing in spring. 

 On a sunny day single specimens may be seen flying for a short 

 distance, and then lodging amongst grass or other harbourage. They 

 can then be very easily placed in a chip-box or bottle. They may 

 also be collected from the flowers of sallow, which forms a sort of 

 general food for spring insects. As regards feeding habits, they may 

 be divided into two principal classes — viz., those whose larvae feed 

 on the foliage, and those which form galls chiefly on willows. 

 They are injurious in the larval stage only. 



As regards size, they range from very small to medium-sized insects, 

 perhaps from 2 to 12 mm. They are for the most part smooth, 

 shiny, and rather soft -bodied, variously coloured, with 9 -jointed 

 antennfB, usually elongate, slender, and tapering ; anterior wings, with 

 simple, seldom- divided, radial cell. Hind wings always with two 

 discal cells, and with completely enclosed lanceolate cell. 



^ Manual of Injurious Insects, 2n(l edition, p. 2.55. 



