57 



scales, from fifteen to thirty under each scale ; they are oval in form and of a red 

 colour. The larvse hatch early in May, and are also red. When first hatched the 

 young females move briskly about until they have selected suitable locations for a per- 

 manent abode, when they attach themselves thereto and remain fixed. The males are 

 less active, and often attach themselves to the leaves in the immediate neighbourhood 

 of the parent scales. This insect produces at least two broods in a year, perhaps more, 

 and is found throughout the United States from New York to Florida. 



The White Pine Saw-Fly — Lophyrus Ahhotii. 



This species belongs to the family of saw-flies, a class of insects which are said to 

 have greatly injured whole forests of pine in Germany. This American saw-fly is 



abundant in Indiana, Illinois, and Mis- 

 souri, and is generally distributed elsewhere 

 through the Northern and Western States 

 and Canada. Fig. 27 represents the insect 

 in its several stages. The larva is from 

 eight-tenths of an inch to an inch in length, 

 of a dingy white colour, with a black head, 

 and several longitudinal rows of black spots 

 along the body, and is found most numerous 

 in the autumn. When full fed they enclose 

 themselves in oval cocoons, which are some- 

 times spun up among the leaves on the tree, 

 but more frequently among the fallen leaves 

 and other debris on the ground. Within 

 the cocoons the larvae remain unchanged 

 until the following spring, when the pupa 

 is formed, from which the flies issue in about two weeks The male measures, when 

 its wings are spread, about half an inch the female two-thirds of an inch across. 

 The body of the male is black excepting the under side and tip of the abdomen, which 

 are yellowish. The female is of a honey-yellow colour, with the head and thorax a little 

 darker, the thorax with the abdomen being slightly marked with black. The wings are 

 transparent, with black veins. The larvae feed in flocks, and seldom leave a twig or 

 branch until they have completely stripped it. When approaching full growth they 

 consume a large quantity of food, and strip a tree of its leaves with wonderful rapidity. 

 When disturbed they have the habit of throwing back the head and ninder part of the 

 body, and if the tree or branch is violently shaken many of them will fall to the ground. 

 A large proportion of these larvae are destroyed by a parasitic fly. 



Fio-. 27. 



The Pine-boring Pyralid — Nephopteryx Zimmermani. 



In the months of June and July branches of the white pine often show that they 

 are suffering from the attacks of an insect by the pitch which exudes ; the wounds 

 usually occur below the insertion of the smaller branches near the top of the terminal 

 shoots. On cutting into the affected part, the injury is found to be caused by a small 

 larva which, when full grown, is nearly three-quarters of an inch long. The head is 

 shiny-brown, with black mandibles, the body blackish-green, naked, with a few black 

 dots on each segment, from each of which arises a single rather stout hair. The larva 

 devours the inner side of the bark, and making furrows in the wood, causes the exuda- 

 tion which, when excessive and continuous, especially in the case of young trees, some- 

 times proves fatal. In July the larva spins a thin, whitish, papery cocoon in the mass 

 of exuding pitch, which seems to act as a protection to both larva and chrysalis. The 

 chrysalis is smooth, and of a blackish-brown colour, and produces the moth in from ten 

 to fourteen days. The moth, when its wings are expanded, measures an inch or more 

 across. It is of a blackish-grey shaded with reddish, the hind wings are pale yellowish- 

 white, and the abdomen greenish ringed with dull white. The species is probably single- 



