NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 321 



I get some types from Germany, the nomenclature being in a very 

 obscure condition. I may, however, take this occasion of saying 

 a word or two upon three species. 



Ph. nigricans, Kl. — It will, I think, be quite evident from the 

 analysis given here, that Klug and Thomson have described two 

 very distinct species, under the name of nigricans — 



Thomson (Hymen. Scand. i., 184). Hartig (Blattw., 259). 



Mouth piceous. Mouth pale brown. 



All the knees, anterior tibiae. Feet pale brown. 



and tarsi sordid yellowish 



white. 



Antennas as long as the head. Antennae as long as the ab- 

 domen. 



Body black. Body brownish black. 



Thomson's nigricans must therefore be re-named. 



The rasp and bramble leaf mining Phcenusa isj^umilio, Htg. = ruhi; 

 Boie — not Ph. pinnila, as stated by several British authors. Puniila, 

 according to Brischke, is an alder leaf-miner. 



Lastly, Ph, ulmi, Sundeval ; Healy (the Elm leaf-miner) = inter- 

 media, Thomson, lib. ciL, p. 186. 



One day last February, when looking for any insects that might 

 be out, in a field near Partick, in company with Mr J. R Watson, 

 one of our members, my attention was directed to the roots of a 

 grass (either Triticuni repens or Arrhenatherum avenaceum, I am not 

 sure which, having seen only the roots and young leaves), and on 

 cutting one of them open, I was greatly interested to find it 

 tenanted by a number of Hymenopterous larvae. My first con- 

 jecture was that they pertained to some species of Isosoma, the 

 only Hymenopterous genus known to form gall-like swellings on 

 grasses. In the following month, however, the perfect insects 

 made their appearance; and it was then seen that they belonged 

 not to the Chalcididae, but to the Cynipidee ; and futher examina- 

 tion, with the aid of the works of Hartig, Giraud, and Schenck, 

 convinced me that the insects were not only undescribed, but 

 also, that their habits exemplified a new and interesting phase of 

 gall-existence. 



With the eggs and early life of the larvae I am unacquainted. 

 In the roots which I obtained tenanted with mature larvae, from 



