180 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



however, Mr. Rose thinks it showed close resemblance, al 

 though smaller, to that produced from the seeds of 5". palmeri. 

 There is, therefore, good evidence that the insect develops 

 in the capsules of several different species of the genus Sebas- 

 tiania, if not in those of other closely-allied genera. The plants 

 differ not only in the general appearance and foliage, but in the 

 inflorescence and seed, and the following synopsis, prepared for 

 me by Mr. Rose, will prove interesting : 



SEBASTIANIA. A large genus of Euphorbiacese, of some forty species, 

 confined mostly to South America ; mostly shrubs ; rarely herbs ; leaves 

 alternate, entire or slightly toothed ; flowers monoecious ; the male 

 flowers forming slender terminal spikes at the base of which are 2 or 3 

 female flowers ; female flowers with small bract-like calyx, 3 to 5-parted ; 

 fruit a capsule, globular or 3-lobed ; the capsule separates in age into 3 

 cocci each of which contains one small seed which more or less fills the 

 cavity. 



Sebastiania bilocularis Watson. (Proc. Amer. Acad. XX, 374, 1885). 

 A shrub i to 2 feet high with upright slender branches, glabrous and with 

 light-gray bark ; leaves linear-oblong or narrowly lanceolate, I to 2 inches 

 long, obtuse to acuminate, abruptly cuneate at base, obscurely glandular 

 toothed ; ovary two-celled, with two stout revolute stigmas ; capsule 

 broadly ovate, acute, bi-coccous, about 5 lines long ; seed sub-globose, 

 3 lines broad. 



It grows in dry water courses on the hills and mountains of North 

 western Sonora, and has been reported from Lower California. 



Sebastiania palmeri Rose n. sp. iued. A loose-growing shrub, 5 to 8 

 feet high, or even sometimes 10 feet high, glabrous, with reddish bark ; 

 leaves narrowly-lanceolate to lanceolate, 2^ to 4 inches long, slightly 

 dentate ; ovary 3-celled, with 3 spreading slightly united styles ; capsule 

 oval, obtuse, 3-celled, 3 lines in diameter. 



Collected in various places in the mountains about Alamos, Sonora, by 

 Dr. Palmer in 1890. 



Sebastiania pringlei Watson n. sp. ined. A small shrub with spreading 

 branches and brownish bark ; leaves lanceolate i to 3 inches long, acumi 

 nate, obtuse at base, minutely toothed ; ovary 3-celled, with spreading 

 slightly united styles. 



Collected by Pringle in San L/uis Potosi, and in Sonora by Duges in 

 1890. 



It is difficult to say which of the species Mr. Barnes re 

 ferred to in his letter from which I have already quoted, but 

 the reference to the seed is somewhat misleading, and the refer- 

 erence to the pod containing from three to five seeds is also 

 somewhat ambiguous and probably erroneous. Bach of the 

 carpels contains one seed, which, when the fruit is young in 

 all probability fills up the entire space and the young Carpo- 

 capsa larva doubtless hatches from an egg laid externally on 

 the capsule and penetrates the same while it is yet quite 

 young, eating into the true seed very much as in the case of 

 the larva of the common Pea Weevil {Biuchus pisi.} The 

 plant described by Prof. Cox, whom I have quoted, corresponds 

 fairly well with S. pringlei. Dr. Palmer found that ,5". palmeri 



