758 FIFTH REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



broken dark olive line along the side at base of the abdominal legs, the latter pale 

 greenish yellow ; thoracic feet black, pale green at the articulations. Length, 13™">. 

 On the pitch pine, Brunswick, Me., August 16, 1883. 



79. Le Conte's saw-fly. 



Lophyrtis lecontei Fitch. 



Clusters of dirty yellowish, black-spotted false caterpillars on the outer branches 

 of ornamental pines and tirs on lawns, stripping the leaves and disfiguring the 

 shrubs. 



Dr. Fitch described under the above name this saw-fly, but did not 

 rear it from the larva, though inferring that it was the parent of certain 

 false caterpillars, of which he found two broods on "pines, particularly 

 those set in our yards for ornaments, stripping the limbs which they 

 invade of their leaves." He further says : 



When nearly mature these worms are so large that the end of a single leaf of the 

 pine probably furnishes them a very insufficient mouthful, hence two worms often 

 unite, standing face to face, and thus hold the five leaves which grow from each 

 sheath on the white pine pressed together in a bundle as they eat them, commencing 

 at the tip and gradually stepping backwards as the leaves become shorter. It is 

 only the old leaves of the previous year's growth which these worms consume, 

 never touching the new ones at the outer end of the limb; hence they injure 

 the tree much less than they would were they to strip the limbs they invade 

 of the whole of their foliage. At least two broods of these worms appear annu- 

 ally, the one in July, the other in September and October, the latter often 

 remaining on the trees after frosty nights have occurred. Having finished feeding, 

 they leave the tree and inclose themselves in cocoons under fallen leaves or other 

 shelter on the surface of the ground, in which they remain during their pupa state. 



The female. — Length, 0.38 inch to the tip of the abdomen, and 0.48 inch to the end 

 of the wings. It may at once be distinguished from all our other described species by 

 the joints of its antennae, which are twenty-one in number. It is shining dull, tawny 

 yellow, with the antennae black, and also the abdomen and base of the thorax. The 

 under side is paler yellow, with two broad black stripes on the abdomen. The wings 

 are smoky hyaline, their veins black. Captured the middle of May. (Fitch.) 



Riley states that this saw-fly has been found feeding on the Scotch and 

 Austrian pines in New Jersey. The larva he describes as an inch long, 

 dirty or yellowish white, with dorsal black marks wider before than 

 behind, and usually broken transvers^y in the full-grown individuals. 

 They are further apart than in L. abhotii. The lateral spots are some- 

 what square, with an additional row of smaller black marks below 

 them, and the last segment is entirely black above. 



The antennae of the male fly are twenty-one jointed, and have on one 

 side seventeen large and on the other seventeen small branches, there 

 being eighteen on one side and fifteen on the other in L. abbotii. The 

 female may at once be distinguished from L. abbotii by her abdomen 

 being jet black above, with a small brown patch at the end and a trans- 

 verse line of the same color just below the thorax. 



Remedy. — These saw-flies, living as they do,in societies in large masses 

 of coarse castings like sawdust, are easily detected by the eye, and can 

 readily be removed by hand, especially in the case of ornamen tal shrubs. 

 Also shower and jar the trees. 



