NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 201 



be at times easily procurable, and require no further preservation 

 than to be secured in a parcel or bag, with the indispensable 

 precaution of being accurately labelled with the locality and 

 conditions under which they were found, whether in fresh, 

 brackish, or salt water, and at what depth. Such gatherings 

 seldom fail to be of great interest, and I need not say how proud 

 I am when I happen to be the fortunate recipient. 



II. — On a remarkable Lepidopteroiis Gall from South America. 



By Mr Peter Cameron. 



Mr J. M. Campbell has shown me some galls which he found 

 on a thorny plant near Watchman's Cape, Patagonia, and which 

 merit notice. Outwardly, in form and colour, these galls are 

 almost identical with the common oak-gall of Cynips Jcollari, but 

 are slightly smaller, have no tubercles, but have the outer skin 

 quite smooth, and, like our species, are formed on the leaf-buds. 

 Internally, however, the structure is very different, there being no 

 spongy mass as in C. kollari, the central cavity being very large, 

 occupying the greater part of the gall, and the outer rim is only 

 about a line thick, while its substance is of a firmer consistency, 

 not spongy as in our species. But the most curious thing in 

 connection with this gall is in the way by which the insect 

 escapes. In the Hymenopterous galls the flies simply eat out a 

 round hole in the side for their passage, and the substance eaten 

 out falls away in fine dust ; while the South American species 

 takes out of one side a circular piece of the same diameter as the 

 outer rim, this piece being thinner on the inner than on the outer 

 side, and it remains intact, so that it can be fitted accurately into 

 the hole again. These pieces are not all of the same shape, 

 some being oval, others oblong, while, more or less in all, 

 the outer edge has small indentations. It is further to be 

 noted that the holes are not all in the same position, some being 

 on the side, others in the apex. Internally, the surface is 

 smooth. 



Mr Campbell, unfortunately, has only pupae of the maker 

 of these galls, and they prove to be Lepidopterous. Several 

 moths have been reported as gall makers ; but the galls which 

 they raise are mere swellings, scarcely comparable to that 

 just described, which is as well formed as those of any of the 

 Cynipidae. 



