Next in order comes the insect which is shown on Woodcut It® name is Allantus acrophularice. ^ In this genus the abdomen is longer and more slender than in the preceding genera, the hind pair of legs are comparatively long, the clypeus is deeply notched, and the antenn® are rather slender, the third joint being longer than the fourth. One of these antennae is shown at Fig. g. The cells of the wings are formed like those of Athalia. These insects are very plentiful, and are decidedly pretty, the abdomen bein? coloured with bright yellow or green, the Wesent former hue prespecies the antenn® are rather short and thick, but in some they are much longer. There are between forty and fifty species of this large genus.

I he larva, which is shown at Fig. c, feeds upon the Figwort

(Sci'ophularia), from wliich the insect derives its specific name. It h is twenty-two feet, and varies much in colour after its changes of skin. When it is full-fed, it leaves the plant on which it has fed, and burrows beneath the soil at its root, making for itself a cell below the surface of the earth, but not spinning a genuine cocoon.

On Woodcut XXIX. Fig. 2, is a rather remarkable Saw-fly, called Croesus septentrioncdis. In this genus the antennae are composed of nine elongated and slender joints, as may be seen at Fig. e. The wings have one marginal and four submarginal cells, and into the second run two small nervures, called ‘ recurrent ’ nervures. The hind legs are large, and the first joint of the tarsi very large and flattened. There are many species of this genus, and the present species is a very pretty one. The head, thorax, and base of the abdomen are black and shining, and the rest of the body is bright red. The legs are black, diversified with many white patches, as seen in the illustration. The name Croesus is given to the insect in allusion to the golden red of the abdomen.

This is a very local insect, and though not generally spread throughout the country, is tolerably plentiful in places where it does exist. IMr. F. Smith tells me that he has taken it near Poole, feeding upon the alders that grew upon marshy ground. Mr. Doubleday has taken it in Epping Forest, feeding on the filbert. The larvae are partly gregarious, dull green in colour, and changing to yellow at the end of the spotted with black, When they are alarmed, they protrude from between body. the fore-legs a number of blackish tubercles, and withdraw has passed away. Like the larvae of them when the danger they roll themselves up if touched. When full-fed, the Cimbex, and constructs under the surface the grub seeks the ground, brown in colour, and very slight in texture. a small cocoon, is mentioned as one of the localities in which Darenth Wood larva of this species is shown at Fig. a. it is to be found. The

on Woodcut XXX. Fig. 2, belongs to

The fine insect shown this family, and is known as Tenthredo the typical genus of has the antennae long and slender, the

zonatus. This genus longer than the fourth. The wings have

third joint not being

two marginal and four submarginal cells, and the abdomen is

rather long and flattened. The present species differs considerably in colour, according to the sex, the male being

almost entirely yellow, while the female is black, with a

broad yellow band or zone across the body, as is seen in the illustration. The speciflc name zonatus, or banded, refers to this yellow belt in the female. The male is rather smaller than the female, but his inferiority in size is compensated by

the superior brilliancy of his colour.

Most persons who possess, or who take an interest in gardens, have noticed how liable is the gooseberry to be destroyed by a caterpillar-like grub. This is the larva of a Saw-fly called Nematus grossularice, an insect which is more pretty than it is agTeeable. The insects of this genus have nine joints to the antennse, and in the wings there are one marginal and four submarginal cells, into the second of which run two ‘recurrent nerves.’ The tarsi are not dilated.

When these larvaB take possession of the gooseberries, it is most difficult to extirpate them, and I believe that nothing but handpicking will answer the purpose. Mr. Waterton’s plan of ‘ dishing ’ the gooseberries, i.e., cutting away the centre and training the branches so as to radiate in the form of a hollow cone reversed, makes this operation much easier, as well as permits the gooseberries to be gathered without risk of pricking the fingers. As many as a thousand larv® have been found on a single gooseberry bush, and as there are two broods in a year, the mischief which they can do is almost incalculable.

Throughout their imperfect stages, these creatures are social, and their cocoons may be found in great numbers, attached to each other by their ends. The colour of the larvm is a smooth leaden hue, and across their bodies are many rows of tiny black hair-bearing warts. There are many species of this genus which feed upon various trees, and which do much damage not only in the orchard but in plantations, the willow, alder’ osier, &c., being specially snbject to their attacks.

a Sa ^ slightly magnified figure of a Saw-fly with rather curious habits. This is the Pin! Saw- ^lt (Zop Vus In this genus the male is always less than

the female, and may be distinguished by the form of the antennae. In the female these organs are comparatively simple, as is shown at Fig. e, but in the male they are deeply and doubly toothed, the teeth being very much longer on the inner than on the outer side. One of these antennae is shown on Fig. d.

In this species, the male and female also differ greatly in colour, the former being wholly black, while the latter is yellow, with a black head, and broad black-grey band across the middle of the abdomen. The comparative proportions of yellow and black vary much in different specimens. As its name imports, this insect feeds, while in a larval state, on the pine, and consequently is found more plentifully in the northern than in the southern parts of Europe. Happily, in this coimtry, it is rather a scarce insect, but in some of the pine-growing districts of Northern Europe it does considerable damage.

The larva which is shown at Fig. 6, is dirty yellow in colour, diversified with black spots arranged longitudinally. Like the larva of the Nemutus, it is social in its habits, and may be found in groups, numbering a hundred or so, upon the pine-trees, feeding upon the leaves. Their mode of eating the needle-like leaves of this tree is from tip to base, and has been graphically compared to the manner in which men eat radishes. When the leaves are finished, the larvae proceed between the young shoots, which they completely strip of their bark, and so proceed from one branch to another, rendering them as leafless as if the trees were dead.

Owing to the nature of their food, they naturally swallow a large amount of pure resin, and, if they are touched, they allow a drop of liquid resin to flow from their mouths. When they

are full-fed they proceed to envelope themselves in cocoons,

which are attached to the pine-leaves, and it is remarkable

that the cocoons of the female insects are larger than those^ of male. One of these cocoons is shown at Fig. c. I he

the

perfect insects make their appearance about May. Only a

very few British species of this genus are known.

Saw-fly which is represented on Plate IX. Fig. 4, belongs

The named Lyda, in which the larvae of the different

to a genus vary remarkably in their habits. In this genus the

species

antenniB are not feathered, and their joints vary in number from nineteen to thirty-six. There are two marginal and four suhmarginal cells, and the tibiae of the second and third pairs of legs have three spines. The name of the present species is Lyda hortorum, and it is a really pretty insect. The head and thorax are black, and the abdomen a very warm orange red. The wings are peculiarly shining. Mr. F. Smith tells me that it is a very erratic and uncertain insect in its appearance, being found in plenty one day, while on the next not a ■solitary specimen is to be seen. It is exceedingly active and difficult to catch, and while flying, its wings glitter in the sunshine as if they were made of burnished gold.

The larvae of this genus have no pro-legs on the abdomen, but at the end of the body are two jointed projections somewhat resembling the true legs of the thorax. In consequence of this structure, the movements of the larv® are slow and of a gliding character. The larvae are semi-social, and live in company after a very curious fashion. A number of them associate together upon a branch, each larva spinning for itself a separate case in which it lives, while the entire association is covered by a common roof formed of the leaves of a tree fastened to each other with silken webs. The larvae of some species of Lyda form their cases of leaves, which they roll up into a cylindrical form, and in which they live like the caddis-worms in their tubes.

We now come to a remarkable group of Saw-flies, which at fiist sight scarcely seem to belong to the same family as those which have just been mentioned. They are, indeed, so different in aspect that many systematic entomologists have formed them into a separate family, named Uroceridse, i.e. Horn-tailed Sawflies. In these insects, the saws are modified into a powerful boring apparatus, by means of which the female insect can drill a hole into solid timber, instead of merely cutting a groove in soft bark. The body is nearly cylindrical in form, but flatter in the males than in the females. The prothorax is elongated, and forms a sort of neck between the head and the thorax. The mandibles are strong and horny, though small; and the front tffiiae have one spur at the tip, and in the tibiae are flattened. males the hinder

On Plate IX. Fig. 7, is shown one of these remarkable Sawflies, called Sirex or Urocerus juvencus. The specimen is a male, so that the very long ovipositor is not shown. In this genus the neck is a very short one, there are two marginal and four sub-marginal cells, the maxillary palpi are very short, and the boring instrument is very long, and exterior to the body. The colour of the present species differs greatly according to sex, the male being black and yellow, while the female is a very deep violet, almost amounting to black.

I very strongly recommend any of my readers who may obtain a female Sirex to disengage the actual borer from its two-bladed sheath, and examine it with the aid of a microscope. A halfinch object-glass will give quite sufficient power. It is straight, stiff, and elastic, as if made of steel, and, if bent, will spring back to its proper form with the elasticity of a Toledo rapier. In form it somewhat resembles the instrument known technically as a ‘ rymer,’ except that the edges are rounded, and not square. But the borer possesses an auxiliary cutting apparatus which places it far above the rymer in point of efficacy. Even with an ordinary magnifying lens, it is easy to see that the end of the borer is developed into a sharp head very much resembling that of a boarding-pike, and that the outline of the shaft is broken into a series of notches.

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