386 



The Large Larch Sawfly. 



[OCT, 



the first advances " is neglected a plague may follow which no 

 man can cure. 



Previous History of N. Ei ichsoni. — There are references in 

 the forest literature of the Continent to the larvae of the large 

 larch sawfly as having been the cause of damage to larch in the 

 Harz Mountains, in Holland and in Denmark. The references are 

 chiefly antecedent to 1840 ; the most recent is from Denmark, 

 in 1902. The insect has been recorded in Western Europe, 

 from Sweden in the north to as far south as France. 



As regards Britain, Cameron * writes : " Neinatus Erichsoni 

 does not appear to be a common species. I have only seen a 

 specimen taken by the Rev. T. A. Marshall, of which I do not 

 know the locality. Mr. Dale records it from Glanville's Wootton." 

 Mr. C. O. Waterhouse, of the British Museum, courteously 

 writes to me : " We have only three examples of N. Erichsoni 

 in our British collection, and unfortunately they have no localities. 

 Two are from Cameron's collection, one from J. F. Stephen's 

 collection." Mr. F. V. Theobald, in Nature of September 20th 

 last, gives as localities, " near Esher, Wye, Great Staughton, 

 and Budleigh Salterton." Completer records would probably 

 'show a more extended distribution. 



Neinatus EricJisoni in America. — In the United States of 

 America this sawfly has been catalogued as one of the most 

 destructive forest insects, the larvae, in the North-Eastern States, 

 having at different times defoliated the larch. Until about 

 1882 the insect had not been regarded as troublesome. In a 

 Bulletin published in 1881, Neniatus Erichsoni yNd^s passed over, 

 but in his next Report,! Packard told how in late August, in 

 Maine, the caterpillars of this sawfly partially or entirely 

 stripped the American larch or Tamarack {Larix ainericana) 

 over a considerable area of swampy ground where the tree grew, 

 the ability to grow in such a habitat making the tree a valuable 

 one. The attack was continued in neighbouring parts in 1883, 

 when again many trees were stripped and fatally injured. 

 Similar infestation was reported from New Hampshire and 

 Massachusetts. Then in Northern New York an extensive area 

 of European larch was defoliated. Fletcher \ has recorded 



* " A Monograph of the British Phylophagous Hymenoptera," Vol. H., p. 57, 1885. 

 t Fifth Report of the United States Entomological Commission : " Forest Insects," 

 by Packard, 1890. + Canadian Entomologist, November, 1884. 



