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A RBO li KTU M A N 1) FR UTICKTU M 



PART 111. 



of 1 ft. or more. Mr. Lewin thinks the 



caterpillar generally confines itself to the 



pith in the centre of the stem ; but Mr. 



Bree finds the pith sometimes untouched, 



all the perforations being made in the 



solid wood between the pith and the 



bark. Being an internal feeder, the cater- 



pillar, of course, is only to be found by 



cutting into and opening the stems of 



the willow in which it is enclosed. When 



the periodical falls of underwood take 



place, Mr. Bree has observed that scarcely 



a single willow wand is cut down that 



does not exhibit proofs of the ravages of 



this insect ; sometimes three or four, or 



even five, separate perforations occurring 



in the same stem . Though the Trochilium 



crabroniforme is a common species, Mr. 



Bree has never met with an example of 



the winged insect at large in his neigh- 



bourhood (Allesley, near Coventry). 



He has bred it from the caterpillar ; a'nd 



once he took a single pair in an osier 



bed near Dudley, which, at the time, 



were considered as great rarities. "The 



wood of Salix caprea is, in Warwickshire, 



usually either sold to the rake-maker, 



for the purpose of being worked up into 



rake-teeth, &c. ; or converted into what 



are called flakes, i. e. hurdles made of 



split stuff nailed together, in contradis- 



tinction to the common wicker hurdle, 



which is formed of round wood, twisted 



and plaited together without the help of 



nails. The lower, and consequently the 



thicker, portion of each willow rod, to 



the length of 5 in. or 6 in., or occasionally 1 ft. or more, is spoiled by the 



perforations of the larva, and rendered unavailable to the above purposes." 



(Mag. Nat. Hist., new se- 



ries, vol. 5. p. 19.) Of the 



Trochflium crabroniforme 



(or, more properly T. bem- 



beciforme) a beautiful figure 



is given by Mr. Curtis in the 



British Entomology, pi. 372. 



fig. sup.; and several addi- 



tional particulars relative to 



its habits are given by Mr. 



Westwood, in an article in 



the third part of the Trans- 



actions of the Entomological 



Society. 



The caterpillars of N6- 

 matus capreae feed on the 

 leaves of the sallow (S. ca- 

 prea Z/.), and of several 

 species of willow and osier, 



to which they are said to be sometimes very destructive. A 

 in the neighbourhood of Penzance, after thoroughly preparing 



1291 



cultivator 

 piece of 



