HYMENOPTERA SAW -FLIES, ETC. 



175 



LOPHYRIDES. 



Genus Lophyrus. 



The species belonging to this genus are relatively very small. 

 The males are smaller than the females, and have double pectinated 

 antennae ; and the larger females have single (but slightly) pectinated 

 antennae. In this country only two species have been recorded, but 

 in Germany eight or ten species are mentioned. All the species are 

 arboreal in their habits, and hitherto recorded as feeding on the 

 foliage of Scots pine. It would be well for the student of forest 

 insects, more especially 



those living in Scotland, -fH/h 



to keep a sharp look-out 

 for unrecorded species. 

 They are double - brooded 

 during the year, and there- 

 fore lend themselves for 

 rapid results as regards 

 observation. 



Lophyrus pini 

 (Linn.) 



In consequence of the 

 immense damage done to 

 young Scots pine planta- 

 tions, this insect may be 

 classed as a veritable 

 forest pest. The larvae live sociably, and have voracious appetites, 

 so much so, that the leading shoots are quite defoliated, giving the 

 twigs the appearance of having been clipped with a pair of scissors ; 

 and wherever such wholesale damage is to be gauged by area, it is 

 obvious a severe visitation is in reality an alarming pest. 



The saw-flies appear in early summer, but the time seems to vary 

 in localities. Thus in Cheshire I often found the females lodging 

 amongst the leaves about the end of May, whereas in Northumber- 

 land the males (which generally precede the females) appeared on 

 July 4, 1901. This was from specimens I had kept from an autumn 



Fig. 162. Larval o/Trichiosoma on hawthorn leaf. 

 (From drawing by P. J. Brown.) 



