142 ALLANTUS SOROPHULAEI^J. 



Tenthredo propinqua, King, Bcrl. Mag., viii, 132, 105 ; Htg., 



Blattw., 287, 2. 



Black, covered with a close fuscous pubescence, strongly punctured, 

 antennae, knees, tibiae and tarsi luteous ; clypeus, labrum, tegulse, edge 

 of pronotum, a spot below the fore wings, scutellum, a spot behind it, 

 a spot over posterior coxae, the apical edge of basal segment of abdomen, 

 and of the fourth to the ninth whitish-yellow. Wings yellowish, the 

 radial and top of cubital cellules infuscated, costa and stigma yellowish. 

 The anterior femora have a yellow line above. 



The $ has the basal abdominal segment and the third and following 

 segments broadly lined with pale yellow all round, and all the femora 

 are lined with pale luteous above and in front. 



Length 67 lines. 



The larva feeds on Scroplmlaria nodosa and Ver- 

 bascum nigrum, in the leaves of which it eats irregular 

 holes in the middle, generally avoiding the nerves, 

 although it eats very close to them. The head is deep 

 black, pale at the mouth ; it is narrower than the 

 second segment, and has a few scattered hairs over it. 

 The body is of a bluish-grey velvety colour to the 

 spiracles, below which it is white. The legs are yel- 

 lowish-white, with black claws, and at the base of 

 each is a small black mark. Along the back, in the 

 centre, is a line of eleven large (compared to the 

 others) roundish black marks ; between this and the 

 spiracles are three irregular rows of smaller black 

 dots, the outer ones being the largest. The margins 

 of the spiracles are pale brown, and below each are 

 two small dots. The skin is in folds. 



"When young it is of a pale bluish-grey colour. At 

 the last moult it casts off the markings, and becomes 

 of a uniform pale reddish-brown colour, with a some- 

 what darker stripe down the back. The head is of 

 the same colour, with a darker mark on the vertex \ 

 the eyes being surrounded with a darker ring. If any- 

 thing, too, the skin becomes more folded and wrinkled; 



It pupates in the earth, forming an earthern cell in 

 which it passes the winter, emerging as a fly in early 

 summer. In England it is common in the midland 

 and southern counties, but does not, so far as I know, 

 occur in Scotland. Its distribution extends all over 

 Europe. 



