COMMON STEEL-BLUE SIREX. tt 
Of the Sirex, without distinction of species, found in this country, 
Mr. P. Cameron* mentions that he considers the vast majority of 
the specimens taken alive have been introduced with foreign timber. 
They are often found near wood-yards, railway stations, and in coal- 
pits. (The italics are my own.—H. A. O.) 
The following note, with which I was favoured in reply to my 
enquiries, by Mr. John Gerrard (inspector of mines), on October 1st, 
from Worsley, near Manchester, bears on the matter with regard to 
the chief part of the infestation being considered to be imported, very 
similarly to the above observations :— 
‘‘Hardly a year passes without a specimen” [of Giant Sirex— 
K. A. O.] ‘coming under my notice, mostly females. Have never seen 
the grub, nor heard of any gallery being seen in the props. Allare in 
or near mining timber; the timber imported from Norway.”—(J. G.) 
From its great size and brightly contrasting colour of its yellow 
and black markings the Giant Sirex is a very conspicuous insect. The 
female is from an inch and a third to over two inches in the spread of 
the wings; head black, with some yellow markings; and the body 
between the wings and the abdomen, excepting the first two and the 
last three rings (which are mostly yellow), black also. The abdomen 
(see figure, p. 69) ends in a long point, beneath which is, in its horny 
sheath, the strong ovipositor with which the insect bores through the 
Fir bark to deposit its eggs. The male is smaller, with the abdomen 
yellowish, excepting the first and last segments, which are black. 
SIREX JUVENcUS.—Common Steel-blue Sirex and maggot. 
The Sirex juvencus is a most variable insect, both in its size and 
colouring. The female is commonly blue-black, with brownish or 
* See ‘Monograph of British Phytophagous Hymenoptera,’ by P. Cameron 
Ray Society, vol. iil. p. 134. 
