Article beginning on page 235.
Psyche 5:235-237, 1888.

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August-December 1889.1
CALANDRIDAE.
Calandra remotepunctata Gyll.
Cossonus platalea Say.
SCOLYTIDAE .
Pityophthorus pullus Zimm.
PSYCHE.
Coccotsypes jalappae Letz. Detroit.
[Schwarz.]
Tomicus calligraphus Germ. Pine
regions. [Cook.]
Dendroctonus terebrans Oliv. Pine
regions. [Cook. 1
A SHORT CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF THE CYNIPIDOUS GALL-FLIES.
BY HOMER FRANKLIN BASSETT, WATERBURY, CT. It was reasonable to suppose that when
that most interesting field of research into the life history of the gall insects that re- lates to their agamic reproduction had
been opened, some one or more of our
young entomologists would have en-
tered upon the investigations that were
necessary, and long ago, have done for
our American what the German and
French entomologists have done for the
-
European species.
The writer, who so long ago as 1864,
published the first clue to the solution of the mystery of agamic reproduction
in the family of the cyni-pidae, has, un- fortunately, grown old without finding
the leisure to follow, very far, the fasci- nating field for discovery that then ap- peared before him.
I have, since then, done some frag-
mentary work in the way of describing
new species, and some work that I do
not yet despair of giving to the world in the hhape of a monograph of the cyni-
Mae, but the limited leisure I have
had and the uncertainty of being able to follow to results, any investigations or observations that demanded attention at
a definite time and place, has debarred
me from following what I still think,
one of the most interesting and impor-
tant branches of entomological study.
I have gathered a few facts, however,
and I beg to lay before the readers of
PSYCHE an account of a discovery I
made this last spring, partly in the hope that it may lead some one to go further
in the same line,-but chiefly, because
every discovery in science belongs to the world just as soon as its validity is estab- lished.
One of our most common gall insects
here in Connecticut is Callirhytis fati- lis, 0. S. The galls appear in early
summer, in great numbers on the leaves
of å?>uercu alba. They are in the form
of conical blotches, projecting from both surfaces of the leaf, but are more prom- PÌö 5 235-238 tpm.1903). ht~p://psyclÌönilclu org/5/5-215 html



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PSYCHE. [August-December 1889.
inent on the upper surface, and are
about one-fourth of an inch in diameter. Each gall produces three of four small
gall-flies that emerge about the first of July, copulating immediately and then
disappearing. Where they went no-
body knew, or seemed to know till I
found out their secret last spring.
Before the leaves appeared I. visited
a thicket of young oaks where I had
found these galls very abundant in past
years, hoping to find their progenitor-
whoever she might be-ovipositing in
the buds of these oaks-but I was too
early ; she had not begun her work.
But where was she napping at the time?
This question was not by any means a
new one to me.
The soft, sandy loam at the roots of a
clump of oak bushes,-softer because of
the effects of the frost that had but re- cently left it,-yielded to my fingers and I soon had one of the main roots laid
bare. Judge of the joyful surprise it
gave me to find the bark of this root a
solid mass of blister like swellings.
Removing a portion of it with my
knife I found it literally full of minute larvae, each imbedded in a mass of liv-
ing vegetable pulp, but so very small
and immature were these larvae that I
was certain that they could not arrive at maturity in season for egg-laying in the then swelling buds.
I uncovered other roots of this and
other clumps of oaks, always finding
more or less of the larvae in the bark, and at length, in some older blisters, I found yell grown cynipidous larvae, evidently
a year older than those first found, but still their maturity seemed too far off for the work to be done within the next few
days.
I collected on that and several close
succeeding days a quantity of bark con-
taining larvae, and, placing it in sand, and in a glass case, found after three or four days that several perfect gall-flies had come out. Within a week or so
quite a number appeared, but the bark
deprived of the sap of the tree, no longer furnished food for the young larvae and
they died.
That nature, provident against the
extinction of her children, in this case, keeps two generations in the larval state at the same time seems absolutely cer-
tain, and I feel nearly sure there are
really three ; that the larger larvae no- ticed will not appear until next spring, and that the perfect insects were in that state at the time I first found the galls. But I am asked :
How do you know
that these root gall-flies are the pro-
ducers of the fut/Z/s galls? Perhaps I
cannot convince the querist, but the
proof I have to offer is as follows :
Suffering in health from too close
confinement in my place of business
during the winter, as soon as the
weather would permit, I spent a part of
nearly every pleasant day in the open
air. I improved these hours in watching
my pets in the woods and thickets. I
found hundreds of gall-flies ovipositing in the buds of oaks of various species,
flies of several species, and one of these I found abundant on the low white oak
bushes. I captured many of them but
left unmolested far more than I cap




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August-December 188g.]
PSYCHE.
tured, marking the trees and the very
twigs on which they were at work.
Waiting till the leaves were fully grown I found these oaks bore futiZis galls in abundance, but no other species, and
comparing the flies I captured with
those I got from the bark galls found
them to be identical. Of their identity
there can be no doubt whatever.
But I am asked : Do they agree in
character with the flies from the futilis galls ? They do not ; and they would,
no doubt, be described as a different
species. They are many times larger
than the futilis flies, and there are
other points of difference. But this va- nation was to be looked for, developed,
as the two generations are, under con-
ditions so widely different.
Dr. Adler and other European ento-
mologists, who have followed the life
history of these insects more closely than I have been able to do, have found that
the two generations differ so widely that they have been classed, by those who
were not aware of their close relation-
ship, not only as two different species, but have actually been placed in different genera.
I name and describe this insect as fol-
lows :
CaZZirhytis dcis, Bass. (agarnous
form of N. futilis, 0. S.) Head
black and opaque, face, cheeks and
vertex with short, bristle-like hairs.
Antennae very short, with fourteen dis-
tinct joints ; the first joint short and thick, the second globular (scarcely
ovate) ; length of the third one-fourth
less than that of the two proceeding, the diameter of each from the eighth to the
fourteenth inclusive equals their length ; the last forms a very blunt cone. Color
of the antennae dark reddish brown;
changing gradually to a dull dusky
brown towards the apex.
Thorax black, the punctuation fine
and beautifully regular and even. Parap- sidal grooves extending throughout,
broad, shining lines over the base of the wings, a narrow but distinct median
line from the collare to the sc~~telliim and two parallel lines, one each side or the median line and in close proximity
to it, reaching half way from the collare to the scntelluin.
Scute1lui.n coarsely and irregularly
wrinkled, the fovae round, deep and
shining.
Abdomen large, black with brown
translucent edges ; second segment very
long and with a dense band of yellowish
white hairs on the anterior margin, the
third segment mostly, and the remaining
ones quite concealed.
Legs: trochanter black, the remain-
ing joints very dark cinnamon brown.
Claws black, simple. Wings large,.
hyaline ; principal veins pale brown?
others colorless ; radial area broad, the angle of the first transverse vein project- ing sharply into the basal portion ;
areolet very small and the lateral veins bounding it entirely colorless.
Length : body, .15 ; antennae, 09 ;
wings, .16.
Those taken in the act of ovipositing
are in all respects like those described except that the color of the antennae,
legs and wings is a trifle darker,--owing.



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238 Ps2THE. [August-December 1889'
no doubt, to the fact that thesb were ex- posed to the sunlight while the others
were not.
Females reared from fzttilis galls this
season are . 10 in length ; the wings .10 and the antennas .07 with thirteen joints only, with a partial suture on one side
of the terminal joint.
The median line on the thorax entire-
ly wanting ; the head less hairy but with a few scattered hairs on the thorax and
on the sides of the second abdominal
segment. The wing-veins are a darker
brown.
The galls are blister-like swellings in
the smooth bark of the roots of young
white oak trees, completely covering the root in some cases for the distance of
two feet or more from the tree.
NOTE.-A later examination of these insects in a strong light shows that the head and abdomen are really a very dark reddish brown. In ordinary reflected light they are easily taken for black.
ON A NEW SPECIES OF PEDIOPSIS.
BY EDWARD P. VAN DUZEE, BUFFALO, N. Y.
4
To the kindness of Mr. D. W. Co-
quillett of Los Angeles, California, I am indebted for the opportunity of examin-
ing a very interesting lot of Jussidae
from that locality. Among this material
is one insect that deserves special notice. It is a species of Pedio$sis closely al- lied to the eastern viridis, and still
more closely to the European virescens.
The colors are probably somewhat
faded, and possibly altered by an alco-
holic bath, but this will scarcely aftect the determination of the species. It
may be characterized as follows :
PEDIOPSIS OCCIDENTALIS n. sp.
Female.-Form of P. viridis, broader
and more robust than P. virescens.
Color dull greenish yellow, uniform ;
propleura with a black spot; antenna1
seta brown.
Length about 5 mm.
Face as in viresceq more distinctly
punctured than in viridis; front broader below at the base of the clypeus, which
is proportionately narrower, and the
lorae are much more tumid than in that
species or virescens; the clypeus is
broadly depressed entirely across the
apex, while in viridis this depression is confined to the narrow submargin on
either side before the lora, and is scarcely more extended than in the European
species. Antennae pale at base, setae
brownish. Pronoturn shorter and broad-
er than in either of the allied species ; the rugae are less distinct than in vire- scens, but more so than in viridis.
Propleura with a black spot. Ventral
plate as in virescens, shorter and broader toward the apex than in viridis, the tip emarginate, and the sides distinctly con-



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