1864.] 679 



Descriptions of several new species of CYNIPS. and a new species of 



DIASTKOPHUS. 



BY H. F. B ASSETT. 



QuERCUS RUBRA. A cluster of forty or fifty elongate-ovate galls on 

 a branch of a young red oak free. They are from three-fourths of an 

 inch to an inch in length., and a half an inch in diameter in the middle, 

 tapering to a point at the ends ; covered with a short., velvety pubes- 

 cence, and when dry., ridged like a melon ; the inside, a cork-like sub- 

 stance adhering closely to the larval cell., and divided lengthwise into 

 many parts like the dissepiments of the seed-vessels of various kinds of 

 plants ; monothalamous — the cell one-tenth of an inch long. 



C. q. formosa n. sp. 



9. Head black. Head and face finely and evenly rugose. Antennoe lb- 

 Jointed, yellowish-red, the terminal joints darker. The suture between the 14th 

 and 15th as distinct as the preceding ones; face with a short pubescence, the 

 hairs converging towards the mouth ; mandibles black, palpi yellowish-red. 

 Thorax black ; a few short hairs on the collare: mesoihorax : parapsidal grooves 

 distinctly marked, median line broad where it begins on the scutellum, but 

 gradually decreases and disappears just before reaching the collare; between 

 this and the parapsidal grooves two short lines beginning on the collar and ex- 

 tending half way to the scutellum. The thorax and pleurae are beautifully 

 ripple-marked with fine short transverse lines. This style of marking is distinct 

 from that of any of the species in my collection — thirty or more. The same 

 style, only coarser, is seen in some Chalcidians. Scutellum small, finely rugose, 

 the small fovese are smooth and shining. Legs bright brownish-red, except the 

 upper part of the femur, which is nearly black, and the black coxae. Abdomen 

 bright reddish-brown, with an extremely minute microscopic punctation : 

 sheath of the ovipositor a dark brownish-red. Wings hyaline, also the veins, 

 except the first and second transverse and the subcostal, which are a very pale 

 yellow; areolet large, equiangular, bounded on the inner side by entirely color- 

 less veins, radial area 02:)en. Length .12. % unknown. 



The flies have not yet left the gall (Nov. 25) though they have been 

 in the imago state for several weeks, and crawled about actively when 

 the galls were opened. They may be imprisoned by the hard dry gall, 

 but 1 am inclined to think, that, like some other species, they remain 

 in the galls in the perfect state thi'ough the winter and come out early 

 in the spring. 



