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A New Enemy of Douglas Fir. 



[JAN., 



with a black-brown spot at the base of the first segment ; this 

 spot varies in size in different individuals and may be absent. 

 The projecting ovipositor is as long as the body and its sheath 

 is intense black. The coxae of the fore legs are yellow ; the 

 pulvillus on all the legs black. Under magnification, small 

 white hairs may be seen on the face, on the middle and hind 

 legs, and on the tibiae and tarsi of the fore legs, while black 

 bristles are present on the forehead, thorax, femora of fore legs, 

 and on the hind edges of the segments of the abdomen. 



The male is orange-yellow, and measures from 275 milli- 

 metres to 3 millimetres. The antennae are red-brown ; the 

 bases of the wings are black. The tarsi of the fore legs and 

 the whole of the middle and hind legs are reddish-yellow. The 

 abdomen is markedly compressed and is brownish-red above, 

 with a black longitudinal patch at its base. The hairing 

 resembles that of the female. 



Fig. C. — Larva, natural size and magnified. Fig. E. — Gnawing 

 mouth parts of larva, greatly magnified. 



So far as I know, the larva has not yet been described. It 

 is whitish in colour and legless. The segments are well marked, 

 and, indeed, the general appearance, including the wrinkled and 

 curled form, is strongly reminiscent of a weevil grub. The 

 marked horny head of the weevil grub, however, is absent. 

 Instead, in the Megastigmus larva each of the two chitinised 

 gnawing jaws is somewhat sickle-shaped, the two jaws remind- 

 ing one of a pair of callipers. The apex of each jaw is pointed, 

 and on the concave side is provided with prominent teeth. 

 These gnawing mouth-parts are red-brown or yellow-brown in 

 colour. Those shown in Figure E were drawn under a magnifi- 

 cation of about 750. 



Life History. — The flight-time of M. spet tnotrophus under 

 normal conditions in Scotland is from May onwards. The 

 females that have issued proceed to their egg-laying in the 

 young Douglas Fir cones. The insects may be seen at this 



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