Collected obskkvations on bkitish sawfliks. 1J7 



certainly, as the Cyiiips lias not been bred. According to 

 Dr. Mayr a female oi Synergua alblpes, Hart., and S. facialis, 

 Hart., have been bred (rom these galls at the end of July of 

 the same year. — E. A. Fitch. 



COLLECTED OBSERVATIONS ON BRITISH SAWFLIES. 

 By the late Edward Newman. 



(Continued from p. 91.) 



Proceed we now to distribute the Hymenoptera, to which 

 the sawHies undoubtedly belong. The grand divisions are 

 four, as usual ; and these are dependent on food and 

 economy. There are various classifications of this interesting 

 group, all more or less dependent on that character; so 

 that the task of distribution is comparatively easy. However 

 different our systems may appear on paper, there is evinced 

 a concurrent disposition to employ these as the leading 

 principles; and Nature, the great mistress and teacher in 

 the matter, appears to have marked them with unmistakable 

 clearness. 



1. Peedotropha, in which the eggs are generally laid in 

 cells prepared for their reception. When the larva emerges 

 it is fed by the parents ; mouthful after mouthful is brought 

 as required, and placed in the mouth of the young one, 

 which is helpless as an infant. All these have three sexes. 



2. Crenphaga, which store up insects of all kinds, also 

 spiders, for the food of their young. It is said that these 

 poor creatures receive a sting from the parent at the time of 

 incarceration, and that this deprives them of all muscular 

 power. Although these poor prisoners remain dormant, 

 yet they are not absolutely dead ; at least the prey remains 

 perfectly fresh until required lor the food of the larvae. 



3. Biophaga^ which, in the larva slate, live entirely on the 

 living fluids of other insects, feeding until the skin, or exo- 

 skeleton, remains a shrivelled and empty sack ; it then 

 sometimes emerges to undergo its transformation to a pupa; 

 but this change more frequently takes place inside of the 

 skin. This may be truly said to be feeding on life. 



4. Pliylopliaga, which eat nothing but plants, generally 

 the tissue only of the leaves, but sometimes also the pitii and 

 solid wood. 



These, however, require a rather more detailed description. 



