148 2 



AUlil^KETU.M AND TKU TICKTL' .M 



I'AKI' III. 



of 1 ft. or more. Mr. Lewin thinks the 

 caterpillar generally confines itself to the 

 j)ith in tile centre of the stem ; but Mr. 

 Bree finds the pith sometimes untouched, 

 all the [)erforations being made in the 

 solitl wood between the |)ith and the 

 bark. Being an internal i'eeder, tiie cater- 

 pillar, of course, is only to be found by 

 cutting into and opening the stems of 

 the w illow in which it is enclosed. When 

 the perioilical falls of underwood take 

 place, Mr. Bree has observed that scarcely 

 a single willow wand is cut down that 

 does not exhibit [)roofs of the ravages of 

 this insect ; sometimes three or four, or 

 even five, separate perforations occurring 

 in the same stem. Though theTrochilium 

 rrabronifornie is a conmion species, Mr. 

 Bree has never met with an example of 

 the winged insect at large in his neigh- 

 bourhood (AUesley, near Coventry). 

 He has bred it from the caterpillar ; antl 

 once he took a single pair in an osier 

 bed near Dudley, which, at the time, 

 were considered as great rarities. "The 

 woodof 5'alixcaprea is, in Warwickshire, 

 usually either sold to the rake-maker, 

 for the purpose of being worked up into 

 rake-teeth, &c. ; or converted into what 

 are called flakes, i. e. hurdles made of 

 split stuff nailed together, in contradis- 

 tinction to the connnon wicker hurdle, 

 which is formed of round wood, twistecl 

 and plaited together without the help of 

 nails. The lower, and consequently the 

 thicker, portion of each willow rod, to 

 the length of .5 in. or 6 in., or occasionally 1 ft. or more, is spoiled by the 

 perforations of the larva, and rendered unavailable to the above purposes." 

 (Mag. Nat. Hist., new se- 



ries, vol. i. p. 19.) Of the 

 Trochllium crabronifurme 

 (or, more properly T. bem- / 



beciforme) a beautiful figure / 



is given by Mr. Curtis in the 

 British Entomology, pi. 37-i. 

 fig. sup.; and several addi- 

 tional particulars relative to 

 its habits are given by Mr. 

 Westwood, in an article in 

 the third part of the Z'/fl«i- 

 actions of the Entomological 

 Societij. 



The caterpillars of ^(:- 

 matus capreJE feed on the 

 leaves of the sallow {S. ca- , i 



prea L.), and of several | Mi /f /« \'>n> 



species of willow and osier, - . 



to which they are said to be sometimes very destructive. A cultivator 

 in the neighbourhood of I'eiuancc, after thoroughly preparing a |)iece of 



