2o8 The Scottish Naturalist. 



finds pseudo-galls formed of short and stunted shoots, the leaves 

 of which remain more or less closely imbricated and semi-con- 

 duplicated, fleshy, and yellowish-green in colour. They are the 

 work of a species of Aphis, named Brachycolus Stellarice Hardy. 

 The galls are found on the plants above-mentioned during the 

 summer ; but in autumn the insects migrate to different grasses. 

 I have found them on Holcus mollis and Agi ostis alba near 

 Aberdeen, and on these they form similar pseudo-galls. These 

 Aphides are widely distributed on the Continent of Europe, and 

 I have met with them on Cerastium near Beriren, in Norwav, and 

 in the Brenner Pass in the Tyrol, in which latter locality I have 

 seen the galls on the Stellar i a also. The insects are described 

 and figured in Buckton's " British Aphides" (vol. ii., p. 147, /. 

 Ixxxv., figs. 1, 2, and 3). They are usually numerous in each 

 gall, between the leaves. I have seen them only in the apterous 

 state. 



STELLARIA GRAMINEA L.— Some clumps of this plant 

 near Fortingall, in Perthshire, were found in the month of 

 September 1882, much attacked by mites (Phytoptus). Almost 

 every shoot was affected ; the leaves on its apical part and the 

 bracts on the flower-shoots becoming conduplicate, slightly swollen 

 and fleshy, with a yellowish tinge in the green colour as compared 

 with the normal condition. Each leaf becomes somewhat sickle- 

 shaped with the mid-rib along the convex edge, or spirally twisted 

 once or twice. The outer (i.e., lower) epiderm is little if at all 

 altered in structure, nor are the middle cells of the leaf much 

 changed ; but the cells of the inner epiderm become less marked 

 from those of the mesophyll, nor are hairs developed on them. 

 The mites are numerous in the folded leaves. Similar galls on 

 S. glauca have been described by Dr. Thomas from Brandenburg, 

 in Germany (GiebeVs Zeitschr, 1877,/. 362). 

 TTLIA EUROPAEA L., GRANDIFOLIA Ehrh. :— 



a. Nailgalls of a mite (Phytoptus), the galls being named 

 Ceratoneon extensum Bremi (Sc. A T at., vol. iv\, /. 203), sent me 

 from Dunkeld by Dr. White; abundant in autumn 1882 on some 

 trees between Aberfeldy and Kenmore, in Perthshire. 



b. Erineum tiliaceum Pers. (Sc. JVat., vol. v., p. 204), white hairy 

 patches on back of leaf ; the makers (Phytoptus) live among the 

 hairs. 



c. ? Erineum bifrons Lepell. S. Farg. of Fee's " Memoire sur les 

 Phyiericcs" p. 41, no. 32, is the work of a species of Phytoptus. 

 The galls are situated in the axils of the larger nerves of the leaf 



