The webspinning sawfly Cephalcia abietis L. is an important needle-eating pest infesting old spruce stands. In Thuringia the infested area is located in the low mountain range Thüringer Wald, Frankenwald and Vogtland. In the swarm year 1994 there were serious feeding damages in these spruce stands. The needle loss of some spruces was so high that within two years 20% of the trees were dead. After a three-year-diapause of the sawfly in 1997 occurred a swarm year of C. abietis again. Our investigations were carried out in order to be more able to assess the feeding behaviour. The results should help to improve the finding of decisions concerning pest control. The present study was carried out to estimate the effect of differently damaged spruces on oviposition and the feeding of the larvae.