274 Insect Pests. 



THE BLACK-BODIED SAWFLY. 



{Nematns apjJendiciUafus. Htg.) 



During 1897 a niimber of larvie were forwarded from Surrey 

 that were causing serious harm to some gooseberry bushes, that 

 differed totally from the two former species. These proved to be 

 those of the Nematus apidcndiculatus, a widely distributed sawfly, 

 but seldom appearing in large numbers. Cameron (1) records it 

 from Braemar, Clydesdale, Sutherland, Manchester district, York, 

 Gloucester, around London, Glanvilles Wootton, and Devonshire. 

 I have observed it frequently in Surrey, and have had it sent from 

 Worcestershire, Cambridgeshire, Sussex and Kent (2). 



On the Continent it has been observed in Norway and Sweden, 

 Germany, Holland, France, and at Eiga (Eussia). It cannot be 

 confused, either in the adult or larval stage, with either rihcsii 

 or consoh-iims. The female is black, smooth and shiny ; the abdomen 

 is broad and stout; the legs are white with a yellowish tinge; coxse 

 black at the base ; femora reddish, dusky in the middle, the apex 

 of the posterior tibia? and apical tarsal segments black. The trans- 

 parent wings are iridescent, the costa and stigma testaceous. 



In the male the hind femora are nearly all black, and the 

 posterior tarsi are fuscous. In length the female is about }r inch, 

 the male \ inch. Like N. consohrinus it is subject to slight variation, 

 some specimens not being so pubescent as others. The females appear 

 in May. Two were noticed laying their eggs on the 10th of May. 



In colour the larva is green to greyish-green, the eyes being 

 surrounded by black circles ; from each of these patclies proceeds 

 a brown line, narrowing gradually and passing to the summit 

 of the head where they join ; the long slender body is much 

 wrinkled ; the second and eleventli segments are of a yellowisli 

 tint, and also the edges of the spiracles, the middle and posterior 

 legs and the top of the anal segment ; the legs are green with 

 brown claws. 



When full growai (the only stage in which I have seen them), 

 they reach h inch in length. Cameron (1) says the larva? appear 

 in June. Those sent me were nearly mature when received on the 

 14th of June, and pupated on the 20th of June. The partially grown 

 and fully grown larva feed on the edges of the leaves, with the 

 end of the body often curved in the typical Nematus fashion. The 

 specimens under observation pupated in the soil, and formed first 

 a silken then an earthy cocoon, just as the two commoner species 



