On Woodcut XXIX. Fig. 1, is seen a figure of the Eosb called scientifically Hylotoma, rosce. The name Hylo- Saw-fly, toma is formed from two Oreek words, signifying ‘Woodcutter,’ and is therefore a very appropriate one.

In this genus the marginal cell is drawn out to a point, and

shape of the antennse differs in the two sexes. Those of the

male are nearly straight and hairy, while those of the the are smooth and tend to a club towards the ends. The female antenna of the male is shown on Woodcut XXIX. Fig. d. is a much smaller insect than those which have been

This described, as may he seen by the cross-mark immediately below The colour of the thorax is black, and that of the abdomen it. with an orange tinge during life. The upper bright yellow,

edge of the wing is black, and the tips are darker than the

centre. The larva of this insect may be known by having the

sides of each segment of the abdomen lengthened into a sort of

flap, which covers the pro-legs. This larva may be found on the leaves of the rose, with its body bent upwards, and sometimes even assuming a double curve.

The most superficial observer must notice that the insect which is represented on Woodcut XXX. Fig. 3, is a very curious one. It belongs to the same group of Saw-flies as the last-mentioned insects.

The male is remarkable for the structure of the antennae, which, as may be seen from the illustration, are not only feathered, but double, the divisions taking place at the scape or first joint. In the female the antenna is single and not feathered. The head and thorax of this curious insect are black, and its abdomen yellow. Its scientific name is Schizocerus pallipes. Both names are appropriate. The first is formed from the Greek words signifying ‘ Divided horn,’ and the second, which signifies Pale-footed, is given to the insect in consequence of the pale colour of its legs. The insect was first taken in Coombe Wood, by Mr. J. King, and has since been captmed sparingly. It still remains, however, a very rare insect.

Here must be mentioned the terrible Turnip-fly or Xigger { AthaLia spinarum) which is shown on Woodcut XXIX Fig 3 In this genus the insects have either nine or ten joints in the antennae, the third joint being a long one and the ends widening into an ill-defined club, as may be -seen . at Fig. /. In the wings there are two marginal and four subma^gial he reader will now see the cells! importance of these cells in the -ft I^^enoptera. .Many .persons seem to !hinWhT nk that neither number, shape, nor size is of the least conput in any number of cells and shape them as he likes The

the the cells, fells L '"5 shape of he can always tell at a glance whether the w^no's ft- - “y di-a^

The head of the insect is black, and so are the sides and base of the thorax, while the rest of the body is bright yellow. are translucent, and along the upper edge is a The wings streak of black. The larva of this insect is grey-black, and called the Nigger. It is always to be is therefore popularly localities where turnips are grown, but in certain found in some in vast numbers, and is one of the worst years it appears plagues that a farmer can fear. Somewhere about July, the by thousands, and make their way to the parent insects appear where they lay their eggs, using for the purpose turnip-fields, ovipositor which has already been mentioned. the saw-like has given great attention to these small Mr. E. Ne-wman and his description of them in the though terrible insects, ’ is so graphic that I cannot do better than ‘ Letters of Rusticus transfer it to these pages :

‘ These flies do not taste the turnips, but only come to them deposit their eggs on the under side on family business : they on the cuticle. In a very few days of the leaf, gluing them ; from the eggs had emerged the little they were hatched On August 9, these little creatures swarmed on caterpillars. over field after field, and found them all every leaf. I walked On Mr. Moline’s farm, at Old Pond, three in the same state. on a Saturday ; I showed them men were hoeing the turnips them that the turnips would be thin the enemy, and told without any hoeing ; however, they were enough by Monday, better.” On Sunday I could not farmer’s men, and “ knowed On Monday I was again in the get out so far as a turnip-field. the turnips were not. Since my last field at Old Pond, and from the face of the earth. The visit they had been swept as bare as on the day it had been sowed. land was everywhere for the eye to rest on. It was a There was no speck of green desolation ; and the black, crawling vermin wild and universal clustered in bunches on the that had caused the ruin were the skeletons of the turnip-leaves. ground, or lingering about more effective ; the mis of Egypt could have been No plague the blast a few days Some fields received

chief was complete. but all had it ; not one escaped, unless the

later than others, that these were unswedes, and it is remarkable

crop were history of thi^

‘ I will now give a somewhat more particular

blight. The egg is of an oblong form and pale colour, and is so firmly glued to the cuticle of the leaf that I have never been able to get one off without breaking it ; but when the egg is removed it leaves, or rather discloses, a wound in the cuticle of the leaf, and I have little doubt that this wound is made by the parent fly, in order that the egg itself may receive nourishment from the juices of the plant. This is perhaps a little hypothetical, but there is a fact which seems to require such an explanation, for the egg positively grows, while still to all appearance an egg. At the end of four days its bulk is nearly doubled, and by the ninth day, when the grub comes out, it is actually three times as large as when deposited.

‘ Directly the young Nigger is let out of the egg-shell, he begins eating away in right earnest. The first onslaught is generally made as near as possible to the spot where he was born, but after a day or two the edges of the leaf seem to be most favoured by his attentions, and here the whole family may be seen working with a will, their heads at the work of demolition, and their tails cocked up in the air. In an incredibly short space of time the green of the leaf is gone, and nothing is visible but the naked skeletons of veins, which the Niggers do not choose to consume. The colour of the grub is a dull lead colour, with a rather rough or wi'inkly skin, but without hairs ; and down each side, from stem to stern, is a paler line. Its length, when full grown, is between half and three-quarters of an inch. It has no less than twenty legs, six of which are placed in three pairs, very near the head. These six are long, hard, horny, and sharp-pointed, and with them the grub holds fast the edge of the leaf while he goes on devouring it ; the other fourteen legs are arranged in seven pairs along the body, and are soft and fleshy without any horny substance, and quite without sharp points. These legs are used when the grub is crawling; but while he is eating, and the tail, indeed the greater part of the body, is, as I have already said, cocked up in the air, they are quite unemployed. Sometimes, and especially when offended or in danger, the Nigger-grub coils himself up in a ring, holding the leaf very slightly by the first pair of legs, that pair next the head, and when touched in this state, falls directly to the ground, and there X lies as though

dead ; indeed, if not in a ring before, he almost always rolls himself into one when touched.

‘ When the Nigger has reached his full size — a period depending on the temperature of the weather and the supply of food, but averaging twenty days — he burrows in the earth, and there makes a little oval house, just big enough for his body, which has all at once become shorter and thicker : he then plasters the walls of this place with a sort of sticky varnish or glue, which he discharges at this time only ; he keeps on discharging and spreading this glue till he is quite surrounded with a strong, tough, and hard cocoon, the particles of earth being mixed with the glue, and the whole forming an admirable and perfect defence against wet or the attacks of insects. The period of his stay in this cocoon varies according to circumstances : if the weather is hot, it sometimes happens that the grub becomes a mummy-like chrysalis in ten days, and a perfect fly, and again on the wing, in five more ; but the greater part of the brood remain unchanged all through the autumn, winter, and spring. I have turned up the cocoons, and found the grub little altered even in May.

‘ Soon after this the change to a chrysalis must take place, and the change to a fly occurs, in average seasons, about the middle of July ; when this is accomplished, it moistens one end of its cocoon, so as to make it easy to come out, and then it climbs up through the earth and takes wing. But the plough and harrow, the operations of which are sure to follow the eating off of the turnip-crop, often turn up and expose the cocoons, so that, instead of being an inch or two below the surface, they are laid at the top. The system of crop rotation, however, serves to remove the fly of the Nigger from the food best fitted for its progeny ; and it often happens that the flies come to maturity in a field of ripening grain, the ears of which they mount, and, spreading their wings, float off in myriads to the nearest turnip-field.

‘ I find a hundred recipes for the destruction of these Niggers, all of which are moonshine except one, and this, for a wonder, is rational. It is this : buy an immense number of ducks, and turn them into your turnips, and they will devour the niggers by millions, and in a few days become as fat as butter. Thus two birds are killed with one stone — the ducks fattened and the turnips saved.

‘ When we get on a little farther with our inquiries into the history of animals, and especially such little things as insects, you may depend on it we shall find the best way to check the increase of any hurtful kind is to encourage any other animal, whether beast, bird, fish, or insect, that makes the injurious one its prey.’

Hand-picking has also proved serviceable, but I am not aware of any other plan that is of the least practical use in destroying this insect. The rule which Mr. Newman has laid down is a most admirable one, and is worth the attention of all cultivators of land, whether for farming or horticultmal purposes. The ‘Nigger ’ larva is shown on Woodcut XXIX. Fig. b.

There is a closely allied genus, called Selandria, the larvse of which are singularly unpleasant to the eye, as well as injurious to vegetation. They continually exude from the sides of the body a thick, sticky liquid, of a greenish-black colour, in which they are completely enveloped. This is evidently used as a means of concealment, for the larva does not move so long as daylight endures, but flattens itself to the object on which it is resting, and looks like a mere lump of unpleasant slime that has accidentally fallen upon the tree. In America these larvse go by the popular and expressive name of Slug-worms, and often do great damage to the peach, the plum, the cherry, the quince, and similar fruit-trees.

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