INSECTS OF THE PACIFIC 269 



Pacific coast. Three species occur in California, of which two are com- 

 mon and constantly met with. One {Termopsis augusticollis) is unusu- 

 ally large, and makes its communal nests in fallen pine-trees, telegraph 

 and telephone poles and other dry wood. I have found colonies con- 

 taining thousands of individuals in fallen trunks of the great trees of the 

 Sierran forest. 



Another group of interesting insects unusually well represented in 

 California are the gall-flies (Synipidae) which form the galls, or, better, 

 stimulate the trees to form the galls, on oaks. Seventy species of these 

 odd little flies have been listed for the state, and there are others in 

 Oregon and Washington, As each species has its own special kind of 

 gall, the oak-trees of the Pacific coast often bear a curiously variable 

 load of " fruit " besides the acorns. 



I should like to speak of some of the west-coast insects of unusual 

 appearance or pattern, the kind that catch the eye of the most casual 

 traveler, such as the giant, tarantula-killing, bronze-winged, blue-black 

 Pepsis wasp, that indulges in battles-royal with the big hairy tarantulas 

 and trap-door spiders, which themselves, though not insects, are near 

 enough related to them to warrant mention in any account of our insect 

 fauna. But I may not. I may not speak for them at all except to say 

 that California will match its insects against the similar fauna of any 

 other state for interest and opportunity for fascinating observation and 

 profitable study. 



