396 



Pine Sawfly. 



proximity, each one being covered over with a gummy and 

 resinous secretion, and so protected from various enemies. This 

 resinous material is scraped from the leaves. 



The larvae hatch in from two to three weeks, appearing at the 

 end of May and in June ; by the end of June or in July they reach 

 their full fed stage (Fig. 3), and then pupate. The larvae are 

 nearly an inch long when full grown, and, like all the larvae of 

 this genus, they have twenty-two legs. They aie at first pale 

 green, almost whitish beneath, and with black sucker feet, but as 

 they mature they become dull brownish-green with dusky marks 

 above the prolegs, and with a dark brown head ; the sucker feet 

 are yellow with a brown line at the base. The first brood feed 

 for from four to six weeks, and then pupate amongst the 

 needles or in cracks and crevices of the bark, the pupa lying in a 

 cocoon of compact brown silk. These cocoons are very variable 

 in colour, some being almost black, others dull brownish-grey. 

 They are about a quarter of an inch long, hard and compact. 



In many cases these cocoons remain through the winter, but, 

 as a rule, they give rise to a second brood of flies in August and 

 September ; the progeny of the second brood spin their cocoons 

 mainly amongst the fallen needles, moss and heather beneath 

 the trees. These ground cocoons often occur in bunches, and> 

 like those of the first brood, are very variable in colour. The 

 larvae which make these cocoons do not enter the pupal stage 

 until the spring. As many as seventy have been found together 

 beneath moss and heather. When the sawfly is ready to 

 emerge it cuts a large circular slit in the top of the cocoon 

 and escapes. 



Several other sawflies attack conifers in this country, but 

 the only one recorded as doing damage is the Fox-coloured Saw- 

 fly [Lophyrus rufus), which did considerable harm in Argyllshire 

 to Scotch pines in 1890. Miss Ormerod found in the Argyll- 

 shire outbreak that plants two to six feet high were most 

 subject to attack. 



The adult female is reddish-brown, with black spots on the 

 thorax and with yellow to reddish-brown legs ; the male is 

 black with reddish-brown legs. It occurs on the wing in 

 August and September. One brood only appears to exist, and 

 is found in larval form from the end of May until the middle 



