340 



Insect Pests. 



The female lays her eggs during the bright part of the day, 

 especially in the sun. The ova are deposited in groups of from 

 thirty to sixty on the under surface of the pear leaves, more or less 

 in rows ; about ten in each row seemed to be the general number 

 in those observed. They are yellow in colour, long in form, and 

 are covered by a greasy and rather sticky substance of an oily 

 nature. A female contains nearly 200 eggs ; one kept in confine- 

 ment deposited 183 in six days, but laid them in a very irregular 

 manner. The larva? hatched out in from seven to ten days. At 

 first the young grubs are pale yellow or straw coloured, and at 

 once commence to form a web, which grows in size from day to day. 

 On the loth of July, 1899, I found one tent nearly a foot long 

 which 'contained thirty nearly full-fed larva?, and on the same day 



[Horace Knight. 

 FIG. 224. SOCIAL PEAR SAWFLY (Pamphilut jlctricentrig). 



another nest was observed only 3 inches long, and spun between 

 two pear leaves and their stalks ; the latter also contained thirty 

 larva?, all huddled together amongst a dense mass of webbing ; the 

 larva 1 were about half grown. 



The tent of silk is very loosely spun, but very firm and grey in 

 colour, but it often assumes a dirty brown colour owing to the 

 "frass" and moisture collecting in it, which gives it a very quaint 

 appearance. The silk when first spun is rather reddish-yellow, 

 somewhat lustrous, but soon becomes dull and pale grey. The 

 nests are usually much wider than those of the tent caterpillars 

 (Lackey Moth) and the larvae are readily distinguishable. The 

 orange-yellow larva? (Fig. 225) have a longitudinal pale brownish 

 stripe on each side ; the head is black and polished, and there are 

 two black spots on the second segment. On the first three segments 



