PINE SAW-FLIES. 757 



77. The fir saw-fly. 



Lophyrus abietis Harris. 



Defoliating the leaves of the fir, spruce, as well as the pitch-pine; larvfB similar to 

 the foregoing, the flies appearing late in July and also early in May. (Harris.) 



The following account of the fir saw-fly is taken from Harris' 

 Treatise : 



For some years past many of the fir trees cultivated for ornament in this vicinity 

 have been attacked by swarms of false caterpillars, and in some instances that have 

 fallen under my notice have been nearly stripped of their leaves every summer, and 

 in consequence thereof have been chucked in their growth and now seem to be in a 

 sickly condition. My specimens of this kind of saw-fly, which were raised from the 

 caterpillars in the summer of 1838, came out of their cocoons towards the end of July 

 in the same year ; but I have also found them on pines and firs early in May. 



To this account Dr. Fitch makes the following comments: 



I suspect Dr. Harris's observations upon this species were not full, and that like 

 the analogous saw-fly which we have noticed on the pine. No. ^73, there are two 

 generations of this species annually; for we are informed that the perfect insect 

 appears in May, producing a crop of worms in June and July, from the cocoons of 

 which the perfect insects come out the last of the latter mouth. But Dr. Harris sup- 

 poses that most of these cocoons remain unhatched through all the hot weather of 

 August and September and the winter succeeding, to give out the flies which appear 

 in May. It is much more probable, however, that the flies all come out of their 

 cocoons about the beginningof August, and, like the species we have seen on the 

 pines, produce another brood of worms in autumn, which has escaped the notice of 

 Dr. Harris; and it is these which lie in their cocoons through the winter and give 

 out the flies which are met with in May.* 



Young larva 7ia?/grroi(;j?.— Pale yellowish green, with a blackhead, no spots. 



Larger ones ready to jiupate on Y>^tc]n[)'ine, Head black. Body a little djller green 

 than pine needles, with a broad jialer longitudinal line. A diffuse paler subdorsal 

 line, a broad pale green lateral line, and a dark line of scollops at base of abdominal 

 legs. Thoracic feet black, interrupted with green at the joints, the abdominal feet 

 pale green. The body not spotted. Head 'black, green near and above the labrum. 

 Length 15"™. The end of body curled up like a Nematus. August 8, they made 

 pale cocoons between the leaves. 



The male saw-fly is smaller than the female, with broadly pectinated antennae, and 

 is one-fourth of an inch in length ; body black above and brown beneath, legs dirty 

 leather-yellow color. 



The female is about three-tenths of an inch long; body yellowish brown above, 

 with a short blackish stripe on each side of the middle of the thorax ; body beneath 

 and legs paler, of a dirty leather-yellow color; antennae short, tapering to a point 

 consisting of nineteen joints, and toothed on one side like a saw. (Harris.) 



78. Lophyrus (neither abietis nor abbotnl). 



Body of the shape usual in the genus. Head pale behind, with fine dark dots, 

 and a dark median line connecting in front with a large black area between the 

 eyes, inclosing a subtriangular pale spot. Labrum, jaws, and palpi black ; eye large, 

 distinct, black ; antennae distinct, black. Body dark olive green, with a paler green 

 dorsal stripe ; a subdorsal stripe of the same hue, below which is a broad even lateral 

 olive-green stripe. Below this line and beneath, the body is greeuish yellow. A 



' Lophyrus abietis ? on pitch pine, August 1, 1880. 



