- 
New York AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 347 
they are placed in rows on the midrib and larger veins as in the 
ease of the currant saw-fly, but more often the female makes a 
slit through the cuticle of the leaf and deposits her egg under- 
neath. The eggs are usually quite small at first but it has been 
observed that they gradually enlarge, probably by the absorption 
of moisture from the leaf tissue. 
The larva.— The larvee of saw-flies resemble caterpillars In gen- 
eral appearance, but can usually be distinguished from them by 
the number of prolegs, which in most cases is from 12 to 16, 
while true caterpillars, with one exception, have but 10.7 Also 
a common habit among saw-fly larvee consists in curling the pos- 
terior segments of the body about the stem or edge of the leaf 
upon which they are feeding. Other species are slug-like in ap- 
pearance. <A familiar example is the cherry slug which attacks 
the leaves of both cherry and pear trees. In still other species 
the larvee are smooth and free from slime or covered with spine- 
bearing tubercles. 
The pupa.— The pupa is enclosed in a parchment-like cocoon. 
Some species form them 2 or 3 inches under ground, while 
others prefer the surface of the ground or some point on the food 
plant a short distance above it. 
The adult The adult insect may be readily distinguished 
from other Hymenoptera by the broad head and thorax and the 
abdomen which broadly joins the thorax at its base. Other char- 
acteristics are found in the wings and the peculiar saw-like oviposi- 
tor of the female. 
\ 
HISTORY AND PRESENT DISTRIBUTION. 
But comparatively little is said about this species by the early 
writers on economic entomology. So far as the writer has been 
able to learn it is not mentioned as a European species. Among 
the earliest references to it is one by Harris in his “ Entomologi- 
2 Comstock’s Manual for the Study of Insects, p. 612. 
