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The Apple Sawfly. 



eggs in the blossom of the apple and, in one case reported, 

 the pear. The insect was first described by King as Tenthredo* 

 testudinea (Berl. Mag. VIII., 60.30) ; Westwood described 

 the attack under the name Selandra testudinea in the 

 Gardener's Chro?iicle in 1848 (p. 851) ; a short account of it is 

 also given by Miss Ormerod in her little handbook on 

 Orchard and Bush Fruit Pests (p. 35). 



The larvae can at once be told from those of the Codling 

 Moth by the presence of six pairs of sucker feet, exclusive of 

 the anal pair, and by their creamy white appearance. More- 

 over, the damage to the interior of the fruit is different. The 

 Sawfly larvae eat out large cavities in the centre of the apple,, 

 and there is always a circular opening to the exterior even 

 when the larva is quite small. 



This damage, of course, checks the growth of the fruitlet,, 

 which soon falls ; when more mature fruit is attacked the 

 apples decay away, and on opening the diseased apples, large 

 black cavities are found in the interior, filled with "frass ,r 

 and one or more of the creamy white larvae. 



No one particular variety of apple seems to be preferred,, 

 but it has been noticed that low trees are most subject to- 

 attack. 



It is apparently a somewhat local insect, but where it does- 

 occur it often causes very serious loss. All the observations- 

 received recently have come from Surrey, Kent, Cambridge- 

 shire, and Bedford. It has been found in Middlesex and 

 Huntingdonshire. Westwood described an attack at 

 Hammersmith. It is also recorded from Hertford and the- 

 Manchester district. 



Life History. 



The female Sawfly is reddish-yellow with a black patch on 

 the head, another on the thorax, and with the dorsum of . the- 

 abdomen black ; the head and mid-division of the thorax are 

 minutely punctured ; the reddish-yellow antennae are dusky 

 in the middle. The legs are yellowish-red ; the wings trans- 

 parent, somewhat iridescent in the sun, with brown veins 

 and dark stigma, except at its end nearest the apex of the 

 wing, where it is yellow. In length the female measures 3 J 



