336 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



There appears to be no record by American entomologists of injury 

 to the currant or any other plant by this insect. It is apparently a new 

 depredator on this shrub. Notwithstanding its general resemblance in 

 appearance, it can hardly be said that it is closely allied to Janus integer, 

 since the latter is referred to the Uroceridae — a family with females 

 having ovipositors adapted for boring in solid wood, in which their 

 larvae, as a rule, find sustenance. On the other hand, the Tenihredinidae 

 are largely phyllophagous, the females ovipositing in or upon the softer 

 vegetable tissues. A careful comparison of the two insects above named 

 reveals marked structural differences. 



Anomalous boring habit of the larva. Of the 24 British species 

 of Tenfhredo described by Cameron, the larvae of only 10 are mentioned, 

 and each one of these is an external feeder. The habits of the Ten- 

 thredo larvae in this country appear to be practically unknown, and we 

 have found no record of any of the species living within the stems of 

 plants. 



In Great Britain, in the closely allied genus oi Poecilosonia, P. Candida- 

 tinn Fall., is recorded as boring in the pith of rose branches in much the 

 same way as Tenthredo rufopectus is supposed to work in tlie currant 

 stems. The perfect fly appears about the middle of April or early in 

 May and lays her eggs singly in the tips of the young branches. The 

 newly hatched larva bores into the pith, ' whereby the leaves become 

 withered, and then damage is done to the plant. ''^ Two species of 

 Crxptocampus, C. saliceti and C. angusius, are also recorded by Mr Cam- 

 eron as boring in the pith of young willow twigs of several species. 

 Certain species of Eiiura and Fontania are said to pass their early stages 

 wiihin stems of plants without forming galls, that is, they are practically 

 borers. Emphytus maculaius accordmg to Riley deposits her eggs in the 

 stem of the cultivated strawberry, and by 'their presence causing a 

 swelling in the stalk.' The larvae of some other species of Tenthre- 

 dinidae live in galls, in various fruits, or within mines in leaves, the great 

 majority, however, appear to be external leaf feeders. The full grown 

 larvae of some ot these insects are known to bore into stems of plants 

 for the pur()ose of finding a suitable place for pupation. 



Description. The perfect insect may be distinguished from Janus 

 integer (plate i, fig. 2) by the body being entirely black and the 

 abdomen flattened above (depressed), while in the latter the abdomen is 

 flattened on the sides (compressed). The abdomen of the male oi Janus 



a Cameron : Monograph of the Britigh phytophagous hymenoptera 1882. 1 : 210. 



