169 



iit Aliiniedii, (!iil., workiiij;' in ^rass, and is rotevred to iii iNt^EOT LiFE, 

 Vol. Ill, p. 71. These are the only published records of Saw-flies aflfect- 

 inof small grains or j^rassos in this country. 



The European ('orn Saw-fly is, properly speaking, not a Saw-fly, but 

 may be classed with the family Urocerida^, or Horn-tails, the larvae of 

 which are wood-borers. The larva of Cephus resembles them in this 

 habit in that it does not feed exteriorly on the grain, but burrows in 

 the stalk. The genus Cephus with allied genera has also been sepa- 

 rated as a distinct family, Cephidae, connecting the Tenthredinida? with 

 the llroceridjTJ. 



The Saw-fly larvte, which attack cereals and grasses, belong mostly 

 to the genus Dolenis, the exceptions being the Cephus spp. just men- 

 tioned, and Ncmatus marylandicus Norton. 



DOLERUS SPP. 



The Saw-flies of the genus Dolerus are comparatively large, robust 

 insects, of a dull black or bluish color, varied with yellow or reddish, and 

 are represented in the United States by some seventeen species, of 

 which the early stages of none have been recorded. They are among 

 the earliest of the Saw-flies to api)ear in the spring, and are frequently 

 found about willows feeding on the ])ollen of the catkins. They are 

 also, and very commonly, taken on grass, particularly in moist and 

 swampy localities. 



In Europe there are nearly 60 described species, but here again the 

 habits of but few of them are known, and the larvie, on the authority 

 of Andre, have been carefully described only in the case of a single 

 sj)ecies — D. hcematodes Schk. This is the more remarkable because 

 the si)ecies of this genus are abundant and widely distributed. The 

 adults of a number of European sj)ecies, however, have been reared 

 from the larvte, and of these larvsB brief descriptions have been made 

 and the food-habits recorded. These records show that the larvse of 

 this genus feed on grasses {Festuca, etc.,) or on Juucus and certain 

 other low monocotyledonous plants. 



Cameron gives the food-habits of the following species: * 



B.fuJviventris on Uquisetum ? 



D. palustris on Equisetum palustre. 



D. (jonagra on meadow grass, particularly Festuca pratensis. 



D. hcematodes on Juncus sp. 



D. niger on Festuca f 



The egg of a Dolerus has never been described or seen. The larvfe 

 of the Dolerus spp. are quite uniform in color and general characteris- 

 tics, and do not differ essentially from the larvje of other Teuthredinina?. 

 They have 22 legs, are cylindrical, and generally of a uniform grayish 

 or slaty color dorsally and laterally, but nearly white ventrally and 

 subventrally. 



*A Monograph of the British Phytophagous Hymenoptera, Vol. i. 



