188 



FOREST ENTOMOLOGY. 



Egg. The egg is longish oval, and measures just over a millimetre 

 in length. It is white in colour. 



"Larva. The full-grown caterpillar measures three-quarters of an 

 inch, or a little over, in length (see fig. 178). It has a round, black, 



hairy head, with a single ocellus on 



J* each side. On the upper surface, all 

 i \ down the back, the colour is grey- 



green ; 



the sides are lighter; the 



under surface is yellowish-green. If 

 one uses a lens, there will be seen 

 on the abdominal segments transverse 

 rows of minute warts with spines. 

 The spiracles along each side are 

 brown. The legs number twenty 

 viz., three pairs of thoracic legs, 

 which are black, and seven pairs of 

 abdominal legs, which have the colour 

 of the under side of the body. The 

 head is followed by twelve segments 

 or joints : 1, 2, and 3 are thoracic joints, and each bears a pair of 

 legs; 4 to 12 inclusive are abdominal joints; 4 has no legs; 5, 6, 

 7, 8, 9, and 10 have each a pair of legs; 11 has no legs; and 12, 

 the last joint, carries a pair of legs." 

 Fig. 179 is a representation of the pupa?. 



Fig. 178. Larva; o/Nematus Ericli- 

 sonii (slightly reduced). 



I I II 



Fig. 179. Pupal cases o/Nematus 

 Erichsonii (slightly reduced). 



Lyg^onembtus saxeseni, Htg. 

 Nematus abietinus, Ch. 



This insect, though often a very great pest on the Continent, is not, 

 as a rule, very abundant in this country. 



The injuries may, however, be recognised from the leading shoots of 

 branches of spruce from twenty to sixty years of age being defoliated. 

 This species has been recorded as being rather injurious in Cumberland, 

 and I have found it fairly common at Kielder, in Northumberland. 



The larva may be beaten from the spruce branches during the summer 

 months. It is about half an inch in length, and of a uniform green 

 colour, very much resembling a spruce needle. The eyes are black. 



As regards the perfect insect, I have so far not been successful in 

 hatching it, though several have pupated all right, and therefore 



