Insects. 



8411 



singular variation ; the fourth joint is obscure brown at the apex, the 

 following joints are all fuscous, gradually approaching to a yellow 

 tinge towards the extremity. 



The thorax is shining black both above and below, cenchri clear 

 white, tegulee pale brown. Wings long and somewhat narrow, with a 

 yellowish tinge at the base, the remainder being transparent and but 

 slightly iridescent. The costal nervure is brownish, and the nervures 

 bounding the anterior portion of the anal cell are orange, all the others 

 black. The anterior portion of the anal cell is divided by an oblique 

 transverse vein ; the posterior wings have no middle cell. 



Both the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the abdomen are shining 

 black, but beset with extremely fine hairs ; the seventh and eighth 

 segments have a rather broad brown band on the dorsum. 



The coxae and apophyses are shining black, femora bright red, only 

 that those of the fore pair of legs are blackish at the base, the ex- 

 tremities of the femora of the hind pair being also somewhat blackish. 

 The tibiae of the first pair are entirely rufous, those of the second 

 white at the knee, rufous at the extremities, and in the last pair the 

 tibiae are clear white for half their length from the knee, thence to the 

 end black with a rufous tinge, more especially on the inner side. 

 Tarsi black, the first joint, and in some individuals the second, being 

 white at the base. In order to give an idea of the brightness of the 

 colouring in newly-taken examples, I have given a separate figure of a 

 hind leg, at 3 a, somewhat more highly magnified than the enlarged 

 representation of the female of this species in the same plate. The 

 length of the sawfly ranges between 8 and 9 mm., the expansion 

 being nearly 16 mm. 



The saw and ovipositor of the female are very simple and of a clear 

 brownish yellow. They are represented at fig. 4. 



I do not know where the eggs are laid, nor am I acquainted with 

 their appearance. It is not unreasonable to suppose that the female 

 deposits her eggs in apertures made by her in the young branches, 

 and that they remain concealed there during the winter. This being 

 so there would be but one brood. 



Anthomyia Beta, Curtis, and the Wurzel Crop. — The female lays her eggs in a 

 group on the under side of a wurzel-leaf. They are generally three in number, some- 

 times four, but rarely five or more. They are oblong and of a pure white. When the 

 eggs are hatched the grub begins his work of devastation, by mining into the leaf and 

 feasting on the inner rind. The leaf thus attacked quickly assumes a withered ap- 

 pearance, and looks as if blighted. When the grub arrives at maturity it drops from 



