82 LOPHYRTJS SERTIFEEUS. 



arranged in single transverse rows, except on the first 

 and last segments, where they are more numerous. 

 Down the back are two broad blackish stripes ; over 

 the spiracles is a stripe of a deeper black colour, 

 formed not of a continuous stripe, but of irregular, 

 more or less interrupted, spots ; below this is another 

 stripe, also of interrupted spots ; and there is a number 

 of black points over and a black mark in front of the 

 claspers. The leg plates are black, shining ; the clas- 

 pers are coloured like the body. With old examples 

 the penultimate segments may be almost entirely 

 black. With young specimens the dorsal stripes are 

 very faint ; this being also the case with the second 

 lateral stripe of dots. When full-fed there is only a 

 central dorsal stripe composed of interrupted marks ; 

 there are eleven double black marks over the spiracles, 

 and a smaller black mark slightly in front of each 

 spiracle ; the oral region is pale. Length 7 9 lines. 

 The colour is somewhat variable, especially in some 

 specimens being of a clearer green than others. 



The larvaB are found in May and June ; spin up 

 towards the end of June, the flies appearing in August 

 to October, when no doubt the eggs are laid, remaining 

 undeveloped till the following year. 



Mr. J. Gardner (E, M. M., xxv, p. 131) states 

 that on the 7th of July, 1885, at Sheraton, near 

 Hartlepool, he found the Scotch fir infested with 

 myriads of the Iarva3 of this species. He says that 

 " every tree was infested with hundreds of larvas, 

 often two or three batches upon one tree, eating 

 almost exclusively the old or last year's needles, and 

 leaving this year's growth untouched; in some cases 

 where the supply of old needles had fallen short, they 

 had actually gnawed the bark. I noticed one tree 

 that was entirely stripped of the old foliage, not a 

 single needle left ! and I did not see a single tree in 

 any part of the plantation that we visited but what 

 was infested with the Iarva3." Mr. Gardner further 

 states that according to the testimony of a man who 



