INSECT ENEMIES OF EASTERN FORESTS 585 
young larva leaves the egg it spins a web about itself on the twig. In 
feeding it cuts off the needles near the base and feeds on the severed 
ends, drawing the needles into its web as it eats. The webs are en- 
larged from time to time, and when the larvae are full grown the webs 
may be 4 to 5 inches in length (fig. 170). The full-grown larvae drop 
to the ground and pass the 1 winter in cells in the earth, transforming to 
pupae “and adults in the spring, and thus complete one veneration 
annually (Zappe, 440). 
The full-grown larva of Neuwrotoma 
jasciata (Nort.) is about 84 inch in 
length. Prior to the last instar its head 
is dark brown or blackish, the body 
brown with a pinkish dorsal line, and 
the thoracic legs are slender and taper- 
ing. There is a single pai of rather 
similar leghke appendages on the last 
abdominal seoment, but otherwise the 
abdomen is “legless. The  last-instar 
larva is a deep green. This species is 
widely distributed and generally com- 
mon through the Northeastern States. 
The larvae feed gregariously on wild 
black cherry, building nests of webbing 
and frass on the small branches or 
shoots. They show a decided preference 
for young, small trees, and the dirty, 
brown nests present an unsightly ap- 
pearance. There is one generation an- 
nually. The adults emerge late in May 
and in June, and the females deposit the 
egos on the folhage. Apparently the 
ego laying extends over several weeks, 
as larvae may be found from the first 
of June through September. The full- 
grown larva burrows into the soil and. 
by cementing together particles of 
earth, constructs a cell in which it 
passes the winter as a prepupal larva. 
Laboratory experiments show that some 
of the larvae often remain in diapause 
one or more years. 
The plum web-spinning sawfly oes ae We, 
(Neurotoma inconspicua (Nort.)) oe- # pee tern ea 
curs throughout the Northeastern pine. (Courtesy Conn. Agr. 
States, and westward into the Dakotas, Expt. Sta.) 
and in Manitoba, Canada. The larvae 
feed on the foliage of the plums and sand cherries, and sometimes 
cause considerable injury. They are gregarious and web together the 
folhage, the webs being somewhat similar to those of the fall webworm 
(Hyphantria cunea). There is one generation annually and the winter 
is passed in the ground in a manner similar to that of V. fasczata. 
