PINE SAW-FLIES. 757 
77. The fir saw-fly. 
Lophyrus abietis Harris. 
Defoliating the leaves of the fir, spruce, as well as the pitch-pine; larvae similar to 
the foregoing, the flies appearing late in July and also early in May. (Harris.) 
The following account of the fir saw-fly is taken from Harris' 
Treatise : 
For some years past many of the fir trees cultivated for ornament in this vicinity 
have been attacked by swarms of false caterpillars, and in some instances that have 
fallen under my notice have been nearly stripped of their leaves every summer, and 
in consequence thereof have been checked in their growth and now seem to be in a 
sickly condition. My specimens of this kind of saw-fly, which were raised from the 
caterpillars in the summer of 1838, came out of their cocoons towards the end of July 
in the same year ; but I have also found them on pines and firs early in May. 
To this account Dr. Fitch makes the following comments: 
I suspect Dr. Harris's observations upon this species were not full, and that like 
the analogous saw-fly which we have noticed on the pine, No. 273, there are two 
generations of this species annually; for we are informed that the perfect insect 
appears in May, producing a crop of worms in June and July, from the cocoons of 
which the perfect insects come out the last of the latter month. But Dr. Harris sup- 
poses that most of these cocoons remain unhatched through all the hot weather of 
August and September and the winter succeeding, to give out the flies which appear 
in May. It is much more probable, however, that the flies all come out of their 
cocoons about the beginning of August, and, like the species we have seen on the 
pines, produce another brood of worms in autumn, wiiich has escaped the notice of 
Dr. Harris ; and it is these which lie in their cocoons through the winter and give 
out the flies w r hich are met with in May.* 
Young larva half grown.— Pale yellowish green, with a blackhead, no spots. 
Larger ones ready to pupate on pitch pine. Head black. Body a little d aller green 
than pine needles, with a broad paler longitudinal line. A diifuse paler subdorsal 
line, a broad pale green lateral line, and a dark line of scollops at base of abdominal 
legs. Thoracic feet black, interrupted with green at the joints, the abdominal feet 
pale green. The body not spotted. Head black, green near and above the labrum. 
Length 1 5 mm . The end of body curled up like a Nematus. August 8, they made 
pale cocoons between the leaves. 
The male saw-fly is smaller than the female, with broadly pectinated antennae, and 
is one-fourth of an inch in length ; body black above and brown beneath, legs dirty 
leather-yellow color. 
The female is* about three-tenths of an inch long; body yellowish brown above, 
with a short blackish stripe on each side of the middle of the thorax; body beneath 
and legs paler, of a dirty leather-yellow color ; antennae short, tapering to a point 
consisting of nineteen joints, and toothed on one side like a saw. (Harris.) 
78. Lophyrus (neither abietis nor abbotii!). 
Body of the shape usual in the genus. Head pale behind, with fine dark dots, 
and a dark median line connecting in front with a large black area between the 
eyes, inclosing asubtriangularpale spot. Labrum, jaws, and palpi black ; eye large, 
distinct, black ; antennae distinct, black. Body dark olive green, with a paler green 
dorsal stripe ; a subdorsal stripe of the same hue, below which is a broad even lateral 
olive-green stripe. Below this line and beneath, the body is greenish yellow. A 
* Lophyrus abietis ? on pitch pine, August 1, 1880. 
