The Zoologist — December, 1808. 1J71 



have voluntarily descended from ihe tree for the purpose of spinning 

 up, for on the following day the remaining larva also began to make 

 its cocoon. The cause of these larva; being so much smaller than the 

 former did not appear, nor could I see the reason of so short a time 

 sufficing them in which to pass through the larva state. On the 30th 

 of June I found, in the little box in which the larva in question had 

 made its cocoon, a dead male sawfly of the species called by Hartig 

 Nematus pallicercus lying next to the empty cocoon. I will now 

 proceed to describe this imago, of which a representation is given at 

 fig. 10, premising that the sawflies of 1860 fully agreed with it, with 

 the exception of their wings not being unfolded. 



It is 6* mm. in length, and expands to 13 mm. This species may be 

 said to have but two lints, a pale reddish yellow and obscure black. 

 The antenna? are of this latter tint, and somewhat thick when com- 

 pared with those of many other species of Nematus; the eyes are 

 gray-brown ; head reddish yellow, the extremities of the upper jaws, 

 the cheeks and the vertex, together with the posterior part of the head, 

 are black; the prothorax is yellow; the dorsum of the mesothorax 

 black, the under surface being shining brown ; metathorax black 

 superiorly, yellow inferiorly ; the anterior and intermediate legs are 

 yellow as far as the last two joints of the tarsi, which are blackish; 

 the posterior legs, which are otherwise yellow, have the extremities of 

 the femora reddish, the tibia; brownish, the ends being decidedly 

 brown; the tarsi grayish black. The. dorsum of the abdomen is 

 shining black, the lateral margins yellow, the under surface reddish 

 yellow. Wings obscure white, slightly iridescent; the nervures 

 brown. The costal and post-costal nervures are yellow at their 

 insertion, the stigma being also of this colour. 



The description given by Hartig of the female, loc. cit., agrees with 

 this description of the male, with the following slight exceptions. The 

 black on the vertex is divided by jellow bands into three spots ; the 

 sides of the mesothorax are yellow, shaded with black at the insertion 

 of the wings ; the posterior coxae are black in the middle and at the 

 base; the spinous projections of the abdomen are pale brown. 



This insect appears to be rare both in this country and in Germany. 



