﻿OF TUB] STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 33 



It is also most abundant in the East. It was first sent to me in Octo- 

 ber, 1867, by my friend A. S. Fuller, present editor of the Rural JVeio 

 Yorher, with the following letter. 



I send you by to-day's mail a box of caterpillars found feeding on the 8cotcli and 

 Austrian pines in my nursery. lean tind nothing in Fitch or Harris which will ena- 

 ble me to identify them. These caterpillars have appeared in myriads in the last few 

 weel^s, and they do not pass a leaf, but take them all clean, old or young. If you can 

 tell me all about this worm, please do so. 



In a recent article {R. N. Y.^ Nov. 25, 1876) referring to the inju- 

 ries of what is evidently the same worm, though confounded with the 

 preceding, Mr. Fuller writes : 



We have already had some pretty hard frosts up to this date, Nov. 14, and yet a 

 neighbor has just brought us some of these grubs taken from his pine trees. For sev- 

 eral years past we have noticed that these Saw-fly larv;« remained upou the trees till 

 very late in the Fall, and that it required a hard freeze to make them leave off feed- 

 ing and de-cend to the earth, where they spin their cocoons among the old leaves and 

 other vegetable matter. 



These two pine worms have precisely similar habits, and, though 

 bearing so close a resemblance to each other as to be easily con- 

 founded, LeConte's species is easily distinguished upon close exami- 

 nation by having the head reddish-brown, the spots differently shaped, 

 and an extra row on each side. The female lly is distinguished by 

 her black abdomen. For those interested the differences are pre- 

 sented more in detail in the following descriptions : 



DESCRIPTIVE. 



Loi'iiyrusLeContei : — Larva — Average length, when full grown, about one inch. 

 Color, dingy or yellowish-white, and void of any greenish or bluish hue. Dorsal black 

 marks wider anteriorly than posteriorly, and usually broken transversely iu the full 

 grown individuals ; also further apart than in L, Abhotii. Lateral spots sub-quadrate, 

 with an additional row of smaller black marks below them. Head shiny reddish-brown, 

 with black eye -spot each side. Jaws tawny. Anal joint entirely black above. Ven- 

 ter and prolegs (14 abdominal and 2 anal) immaculate. Thoracic legs black, with white 

 joints. When young it is without marks, and some of the full-grown specimens have 

 them more distinct than others. 



Puim — Umlistinguishable, except in the average larger size, from that of L. AbbotiL 



Imago — The male fly can scarcely be distinguished at first sight from that ot the 



other species, though the average size is somewhat greater, and the brown parts, viz.: 



venter, and tip of abdomen above, are of a somewhat deeper rufous-brown. The an- 



tenn;e are more often and regularly 2l-jointed than in Abbotii. 



The female is distinguished, however, by her body being jet black above, except a 

 small brown patch at the extremity and a transverse line of the same color just below 

 the thorax ; and by her wings being smoky instead of hyaline. Venter with a black 

 longitudinal line, more or less intense, each side. Thorax and head as in Abbotii, \i 

 anything, a little deeper in color. Average length 0.40, and expanse 0.70, though some 

 will measure 0.50 inch and expand 0.82 inch. 



There are several other American Saw-flies belonging to the 

 same genus {Lophyrus) whose larvae doubtless feed upon evergreens. 

 One {Lophyrus abietis Harris) which is treatel of by Harris, depre- 



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