INSECT ENEMIES OF EASTERN FORESTS 551 
are black. This species occurs through the Northeastern States and 
Canada, and the larvae feed on eastern arborvitae and juniper. The 
adults emerge in May, and the larvae are active during June and July, 
spinning their cocoons in the duff during the latter part of July. 
The balsam-fir sawfly (Neodiprion abietis (Harr.)), is about 34 
inch in length as a full-grown larva. The head and the outer sides 
of the thoracic legs are black. The body is dull green above, lighter 
beneath, and marked with longitudinal stripes which are wider than 
the distance between them. The stripe on each side of the dorsal line 
is usually of a darker shade of green, the lateral stripe and another at 
the base of the legs are brownish or blackish, this last one sometimes 
divided. 
This species is widely distributed from Quebee to Manitoba in 
Canada, and in the United States from New England westward to 
Minnesota and Missouri. The larvae feed on balsam fir and occa- 
sionally on spruce. Harris (210) recorded the defoliation of orna- 
mental trees for some years prior to 1852, and Brown “4 reported de- 
structive infestations on balsam in Ontario and Quebec as recently as 
1938. There are also various reports of this species attacking spruce 
and pine but, because of their similarity to some closely related species, 
the individuals are often confused. There is one generation annually. 
The adults emerge over a period from late in July to early in Septem- 
ber. The eggs are deposited singly in slits cut in the needles, and the 
insects overwinter in the egg stage. Hatching takes place late in May 
or June, depending on the climatic range. The larvae are gregarious 
and become full grown in July or August. After the last molt their 
color fades considerably and they spin reddish-brown cocoons among 
the folage on the twigs and in the litter on the ground. Some closely 
related species also feed on spruce and hard pines, and their larvae 
are often mistaken for those of Neodiprion abietis. Their life his- 
tories also are very similar. 
The full-grown larva of Veodiprion americanum (Leach) is about 
% inch in length. The head is reddish brown, the eye spots black, and 
the mouth parts dark brown or blackish. The body is greenish white 
with a dull grayish-green longitudinal stripe on each side of the 
dorsum and a row of black angular spots just above the spiracular line 
extending from the second thoracic to the ninth abdominal segments, 
inclusive, and two nearly confluent black blotches on top of the tenth 
segment. The thoracic legs are black on the outer side, but the prolegs 
are concolorous with the body (fig. 146, A). 
This species occurs in the Atlantic States. From about 1935 to 1939 
it seriously defoliated loblolly pine in Virginia. A few shortleaf pine 
intermingled with the loblolly pine were also attacked. There is one 
generation a year. The winter is passed in the egg stage in the pine 
needles, although in Virginia a few prepupal larvae have remained in 
a diapause until the following year. The eggs hatch late in April and 
earlyin May. The larvae feed on the old needles, becoming full grown 
early in June, when they enter the soil to spin their cocoons. The 
adults emerge early in the fall to deposit their eggs in slits in the 
needles (Heterick, 224). 
3%¢ Brown, A. W. A. SUMMARY REPORT OF THE OTTAWA SECTION Canad. Dept. 
Agr. Forest Insect Survey 1938, 7 pp., illus. 1988. [Processed. ] 
