71 



SeJandria barda is a saw-fly differing from the former in begin entirely black, with 

 rhe exception of the red portions of the thorax, and in having the upper wings darker. 

 It has been recently recorded * as infesting ash trees in Iowa, and we may safely expect 

 that its habits will be the same here. (Figure 36 from Mr. Osborn's report illustrates 

 -this insect in its several stages.) The eggs are laid in the leaf-stem and produce, in two 

 or three days, whitish worms, having black heads and feet. As the worms grow older 

 they become of a clear green colour, retaining their jet-black heads and thoracic legs. I 

 have only captured one specimen of this saw-fly myself, but it may be more abundant in 

 other parts of the Province. 



The larvae of Selandria caryce, which feed in the United States upon butternut and 

 hickory, are remarkable from the dense covering of a, white floculent substance which 

 they secrete, and which gives them the appearance of little masses of cottony wool. 



Macrophya is an extensive genus containing larger and handsomer species than the 

 foregoing, but their habits are apparently less obnoxious, and not so well recorded. M. 

 ■niger, as the name indicates, is black, but the tips of the antenna? are white. M. flavicoxce 

 is another black species, having the legs handsomely banded with white. 



The genus Allantus contains species very similar in general appearance, but having 

 shorter and thicker antenna;. A. basillaris is very abundant in July and August on the 

 jiowers of Spiraea and Solidago. It is a handsome fly, half an inch long, and black, with 

 liberal markings of yellow, and has quite a wasp-like look. 



The last, and typical genus of the sub-family, is Tenthredo, which contains more 

 than thirty Canadian species, some of considerable size and beauty. T. ruflpes {Allantus 

 leucostoma of Kirby's Fauna Bor. Am.) appears to be the commonest species here. It is 

 iialf an inch long ; black with reddish legs, of which the hinder pair are partly black. 

 T. atroviolacea is of the same size and colour, but the legs are dark and the wings viola- 

 ceous or cloudy, instead of transparent. T. grandis, T. tricolor, and T. mellina are also 

 larg^ handsome species. Of the larvae of these interesting species I am, however, unfor- 

 tunately ignorant, probably they are not very injurious as the winged insects do not 

 appear to be abundant. 



Sub-Family 4. — Lydin/e. 



The members of this family are distinguished by their multi-articulate antennae, 

 -which usually have from fifteen to thirty-six joints, and vary much in shape, being short 

 or long, simple, serrate or pectinate. The larvte f^ed upon evergreens. Only two genera, 

 Xiophyrus and Lyda occur in Canada ; each contains several species. 



Lophyrus abietis is a robust fly about one quarter of an inch long, and with large 

 transparent wings expanding more than half an inch. The antennae are short ; those of 

 -the females being stout, serrated, and containing eighteen joints ; those of the male are 

 broadly pectinate and cause him to appear very different from his mate. In colour also 

 •the sexes differ, the male being black and the female yellowish or ferrugineous. The 

 worms, when young, are brownish, but subsequently become of almost the same shade of 

 green as the leaves on which they feed (those of fir and spruce) and upon which it is, 

 therefore, difficult to see them. The head is pale, and there is a white stripe along each 

 side. The flies are said to emerge in May, and produce larvae which feed in July and 

 August and there may, perhaps, be two broods. I found both young and mature larvae 

 feeding together on 23rd August last, and the winged insects were also captured on the 

 same day upon the trees (spruce). The full-grown larvae spun their cocoons two or three 

 days later, from which the flies will issue next spring. 



Lophyrus Abbotii is a slightly larger saw-fly, very similar in appearance, the larvae 

 of which are often found abundant on the white pine (Pinus strobus) greedily devouring 

 the foliage, to the injury and even destruction of the trees. (In Fig. 37 the insect is 



* Mr. Henry Osborn in Bulletin of the Iowa Agricultural College, reprinted in Aug. number of Can. 

 JSnt. Vol. xyi., p. 148. 



