PEAR AND CHERRY SAWFLY, 125 
Pear and Cherry Sawfly. Selandria atra, Stephens and Westwood; 
Kriocampa limacina, Cameron. 
SELANDRIA ATRA.—Slugworm and Sawfly, magnified, with lines showing natural 
length; cocoon, 
The small blackish moist-looking grubs, known as ‘“‘ slugworms”’ 
from their great resemblance to little slimy slugs, feeding on the upper 
surface of the infested leaves (and which, like the attack mentioned in 
the preceding pages, are the larvae of a Sawfly) were more than usually 
reported in the past season. 
These larvee feed on the leaves of Pear, Cherry, Plum, and various 
other allied trees, and devour the skin of the upper side of the leaf, so 
that the remainder appears like a net-work of veins, held together by 
the skin of the lower side, which is left untouched, and turns to a 
deep brown colour. 
The first notice I had of the attack in the past season was sent me 
on July 1st from the Estate Office, Maresfield Park, Uckfield, Sussex, 
by Mr. M. Sandford, as follows :— 
‘T send you by this post a box containing some nasty caterpillars 
that are infesting the Pear trees in the garden here; the men say 
they have never seen any before. ‘They are on the outside of the 
leaf, not, as is usually the case, under the leaf; and they attack 
trees on the wall principally, commencing at the top and working 
downwards.’’—(M. 8.) 
Some of the specimens sent were just arriving at their last stage 
of growth as caterpillars, in which they moult off their black slug-like 
skin, and appear as yellow or buff-coloured caterpillars, free from all 
moisture, and wrinkled across instead of being smooth and slimy. 
On July 8th Mrs. Besley, writing from Braunton, North Devon, 
observed :— 
‘‘T send by same post specimens of caterpillars that have been 
devastating some of the fruit trees in my garden, Cherry trees 
especially, a large one in one week was just a skeleton. They have 
also attacked Plum, Peach, and Pear; the latter standard as well as 
wall trees. No gardener in this village has seen the attack before ; 
it appeared about the beginning of June. . . . Syringing with 
