THK YOUNG 



are placed under ver>' great disadvantage 

 in there being no work in the English 

 language to which they can refer for the 

 names of their captures. There are a great 

 many excellent lift histories translated into 

 the Zoologist and Entomologist, by Mr. May. j 

 from the Dutch of VoUenhoven ; but des- 

 criptions without figures, however good, arg 

 next to useless to the beginner. Those 

 known to Stephens, are described in the 

 seventh volume ofjhis "Illustrations," but 

 this work is bad to get, and useless when 

 you have got it. as in all probability the 

 species you want to name uill not be found 

 there Foreign works are. of course, 

 equally useless to most beginners, except as 

 far as the plates are concerned. There is. 

 however, one good thing to start with, and | 

 that is a catalogue of the British species 

 (1878), prepared by Dr. Cameron, for the 

 Glasgow Nat. His. Soc., from whom it may 

 be had for one shilling. In it 46 genera are 

 enumerated, containing 325 species. It is a 

 good thing to have a recent list of the 

 insects you wish to collect. 



In the larva state, most of the larger 

 Sawflies greatly resemble the lepidoptera, 

 but generally the head is rounder, larger in 

 proportion to the thickness of the body, 

 the eyes more distinct, and the legs 

 on the hinder segments are only abor- 

 tive, and insufi&cient for claspmg the food. 

 They feed on the leaves of various trees and 

 plants, clasping the edge of the leaf with 

 their pro-legs, and the tail curling under, 

 which habit serves at once to distinguish 

 them from the lepidoptera. Several species 

 are very common — too common in fact — 

 such as the Gooseberry grub {Xejnatus 

 ribesii.) These flies may be seen the first 

 warm days of spring, sporting about gardens 

 and the larva may be found later on upon 

 the gooseberry bushes. The " Black Jack " 

 {Athalia Spinarum), of the turnip is another 

 Sawfly grub, but seems to come more by 

 fits and starts. Some which infest fruit 



NATURA.LIST. 71 



trees are somewhat like small slugs. Others, 

 of the smaller species, mine leaves. One 

 {Cephus pygniiBus), penetrates the corn straw, 

 and sometimes does considerable mischief 

 to crops. Some form galls, like the red 

 ] bean-shaped ones, so common on willow, 

 which are produced by Nematus gallicola. 

 Thus, like the lepidoptera, and indeed all 

 other families or orders, they are greatly di- 

 versified in their habits. During the summer 

 lepidopterists generally find a lot of Sawfly 

 larvae. If they will just pick them up when 

 they see them, and send them to us, stating 

 the plant upon which they were found, we 

 will endeavour to use them in some way 

 for the general benefit of our readers. 



Another important family in the same 

 I order is the 



CYNIPIDiE. 

 In this group, too, there is no complete 

 work on the British species, the literature 

 being scattered though magazines, transac- 

 tions, &.C. In this group, too, we want 

 workers, and then the book will come ; as 

 soon as the demand is made somebody will 

 be found willing to meet it by writing a 

 monograph of the group, and. let us hope, 

 also by publishing figures. The oak-feeding 

 species that produce all kinds of oak galls 

 are fully described in the Entomologist, 

 vols. vii. to xi. 



The CvNiPiDJi: or gcUl flies lay their eggs 

 in buds, upon leaves, &c., and a woody 

 excrecence is produced in which the larva 

 lives and which grows as the larva grows. 

 The round marble-like galls found on oak 

 trees, and produced by Cynips kollari, are 

 well known, as also are the button-like 

 spangles on the underside of oak leaves 

 [Ncurotcrus). All the species are small, and 

 must be bred from the galls in order to 

 sufficiently determine the species. Some of 

 our young entomologists ought to begin to 

 study some of these insects, and not contin- 

 ually tread over the well-beaten track of 

 lepidoptera. 



