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young European larches which had been planted in a garden in the middle of the town r 

 and which were entirely stripped of their leaves. Upon enquiring if there were any" 

 larch or tamarac trees in the neighbourhood, I found that these names were not even- 

 known, and when I explained that the tree I was in search of was a Conifer which dropped 

 its leaves in winter, I was informed that "Juniper" was what I meant and should have 

 asked for. This tree does not appear to be so plentiful in the Lower Provinces as in 

 Quebec and Ontario ; but wherever they were detected I found more or less of the larvar 

 of the saw-fly also. At the mouth of Eel River, a mile or two from Dalhousie, is an 

 extensive tamarac and cedar swamp, and here I found that although some of the trees- 

 were untouched ; yet the greater proportion, especially the taller trees, were badly 

 infested. 



On the farm of Mr. Duncan Stewart, there was a row of tamaracs which he hag' 

 transplanted from the swamp mentioned, and these were badly infested, being conveniently 

 near to the McHarran Hotel, where I was staying, I was able to examine the insects 

 frequently, between the 16th and the 28th July. On visiting the trees the first time, I 

 succeeded in capturing two perfect females of the saw-fly, and found a large number o£ 

 the clusters of the youiag larvae. They were evidently much later in hatching out in this- 

 locality than at Quebec, as at this time little harm had been done, and although there 

 were larvae of all sizes, by far the greater part were very lately hatched from the eggs — ' 

 and were collected in clusters, every needle of each fascicle, near the part of the twig: 

 which had held the eggs, bearing its strange-looking dark-green larvae. Immediately after 

 hatching, the young larva? attack the leaves nearest the orifices of their cells ; they do- 

 not consume the whole of the leaves but nibble the edges, leaving them ragged and 

 uneven. They seem always to work backwards, down the branchlet, and leave the ter- 

 minal shoot untouched. After the first month they are very voracious and consume 

 every neeule in the different fascicles as they come to them ; beginning at the apex and 

 holding them between their thoracic feet, they eat them right down to the base, and as- 

 soon as one bunch of leaves is finished they move back to the next. On being disturbed- 

 they curl their bodies over their backs similarly with the larvae of some other species of saw 

 flies. They may, too, be seen sometimes resting in the same position, when being in 

 large numbers all together, they have a very peculiar appearance. When the young larva 

 is first hatched the head is disproportionately large and of a darker colour than the body. 

 I regret to say I did not take accurate measurements of the larvae, nor record the duration; 

 of the different moults ; but the active larva? stage seemed, in most instances, to last about 

 one week, althoygh a few individuals I took home with me from the Eastern Townships, 

 fed for the remarkably long period of three weeks before spinning their cocoons. It is- 

 probable that some of these will turn out to be parasitised. After the first moult the 

 larva is of a lighter green in colour, and the head and thoracic feet are black instead of 

 dusky green. After the next moult, however, a great change takes place ; the worm i» 

 quite altered in appearance ; it is very much larger and the colour is quite different ; 

 instead of dull-green the whole upper surface of the body is of a peculiar bluish-white 

 hue, similar to the glaucous waxy bloom which is seen on some fruits or the leaves of 

 some plants, as for instance the bloom of the ripe plums or the glaucous white colour 

 beneath the leaves of Pines and the Common Juniper (Juniperus Vulgaris). The black 

 head is very conspicuous, and on each of the segments, after those which bear the tho- 

 racic feet, except the last, are two double rows of small black tubercles ; these do not 

 occur on the second, third and fourth segments. After this there is one more moult ; 

 but the only important change is in the size of the larva which, when full-grown, is about 

 an inch and a quarter in length, bluish-white above and green beneath, head and thoracic 

 feet black ; pro-legs, of which there are seven pairs, green. When mature and just before 

 spinning up, the larvae assume a brownish or pinkish hue, and drop from the trees to the 

 ground, where they spin an oval cocoon about half an inch in length and of a dark- 

 brown colour. The cocoon is generally found beneath moss or stones or among the 

 roots of grasses, on or just beneath the surface of the ground ; but Dr. Fyles writes me 

 that he found the cocoons at least six inches beneath the surface along the bottom of a- 

 hot-bed where they were collected together in masses. Although the larvae spin up about 

 a week after emergence from the egg, they do not at once change to pupae, but pass th®- 



