Reports to various Correspondents . 87 
tli6 queen is dusky brown, with six rows oi tubercles, the whole body 
being' dusted with meal and the apical portion covered with long white 
fl Occident wool, these ieinales commence to lay then eggs as call) 
as the first week in March and continue to do so until the middle 
or end of April. I have even found them in May. 
The eggs (Fig. 16) are deposited in groups, each 
egg attached to the plant by a long pedicle. As 
many as sixty may be laid together, but more often 
I have counted between twenty and thirty ; the 
colour varies from yellow to green, dusky green, 
brown to black ; when each patch of eggs is finished 
they are covered with a peculiar silky substance. FlG - J 6 -— 0F 
The female remains by these eggs until they hatch, (Greatly enlarged.) 
which usually takes place towards the end of May 
and in the early part of June. The larch leaves will then be seen 
to be covered in places with small black moving specks ; these are 
the lice, or young Chernies. These lice wander about on the tender 
needles; they vary much in colour, for some are almost green in 
hue. They grow rapidly in warm weather and puncture the tender 
needles and so let out the resinous sap. Very 
often the presence of this pest is told by the 
needles bending or elbowing where the lice have 
been sucking, but this is not always so ; I have 
frequently seen the needles perfectly straight 
in spite of their repeated attacks. The lice can 
also produce a white silky substance which 
forms a covering to their bodies ; some years 
this white wool is produced much more plenti- 
fully than others. 
Towards the end of May a few lice have 
changed to pupie (Fig. 17), and by the middle 
of June most have done so. The pupal stage is 
dark slaty-grey, with tubercles from which 
numerous white threads appear. From the 
beginning of June into August the pupae 
give rise to imagines, which are all winged females — there being no 
male known. This winged generation (Fig. 18) is not as in most 
Aphides viviparous, but it is oviparous. The head and thorax are 
dark brown, the eyes bright red ; the abdomen varies from orange to 
brown, densely clothed with long white wavy fibres ; the wings are 
large and greenish. These females lay eggs which they cover with 
down and then die, their dried skins forming a covering over the ova. 
Fig. 17.— bough sketch 
of a pupa of Chcrmes 
laricis. 
(Greatly enlarged.) 
