The Apple Sawfly. 



185 



to 3 J lines, the male 3 to 3J lines. It is the largest of the 

 British Hoplocampce, the members of which genus nearly all 

 live inside fruits or galls. One species, however, lives in the 

 rolled-down leaves of the rose [H. brevis), and has a green 

 larva, with forked spines, whilst all the other British species 

 are creamy yellow or nearly white in hue. 



The female appears in the spring, about the time the apple 

 blossom is bursting. During the present year they were first 

 noticed on the 10th of May ; in some years they have been 

 observed in April. 



The females may easily be taken on bright days sitting on 

 the apple blossom. They are there to deposit their eggs, 

 The ova are laid down below the calyx, seldom more than 

 one egg to each blossom, but as many as six larvae have been 

 found in one fruitlet. How many ova each female deposits is 

 not exactly known, the number probably depending upon the 

 state of the weather, for they will only lay their eggs during 

 bright days, and usually they are noticed between 9 and 2 

 o'clock, seldom later than 3 o'clock. 



The period of egg existence seems to be varied. Miss 

 Ormerod says that "from eggs laid on the 14th of May 

 caterpillars were hatching out on the 28th of the same 

 month." During the present year larvae appeared from 

 the eggs eight days after they were laid by females in the 

 open. 



Under certain conditions there may be two broods of this 

 insect, a spring and a summer brood. 



The larvae are creamy-white grub-like creatures, with a 

 dark brown head and a double black chitinous plate on the 

 upper surface of the anal segment when in their young 

 stages ; when mature they are about half an inch in length. 

 On the first three segments are six-jointed legs, on the fifth 

 to tenth are pairs of sucker feet, and on the last segment 

 another pair of sucker-feet. The dark anal plates do not 

 show so clearly in the adults, which are more of a mottled 

 grey appearance than the young larvae. 



These grubs burrow into the fruitlets and eat out large 

 cavities, often attacking apples when they are no larger than 

 cobnuts. Each of these large, irregular chambers communi- 



