86 H. F. BASSETT. 



small areolet, tlK)Ugh reaching quite to it on the anterior side ; un- 

 gues two-toothed. Length : body, .21 inch. ; wings, .21 inch, (the 

 antennae broken.) 



I received this species from Mr. M. E. Hyams, of Statesville, N. C 



2. A. Palnieri u. sp. 



Two or three years ago I received from Mr. B. Pickman Mann a 

 very large oak apple gall which he had received from Dr. Edward 

 Palmer. It was written upon as follows: " Summit of Sierra Madre, 

 Chihuahua, Mexico. Winter 1885-86, Dr. Edward Palmer." 



It was the largest oak apple gall I had ever seen, and I kept it 

 very carefully, hoping to rear an insect from it, but none appeared. 



On this New Year's morning, 1890, I ventured to cut open the 

 precious gall, and was rewarded by finding in it the largest gall-fly 

 I have ever seen. The fly had eaten its way out of the larval cell, 

 and to the outside shell, but becoming discouraged, it had backed its 

 way into the cell again and died. In forcing itself back one of its 

 wings had been turned towards the head and so remained. 



It gives me very great pleasure to dedicate this remarkable species 

 to the discoverer. Dr. Edward Palmer. 



Gall. — This immen.se monothalamous gall is of a light yellowish 

 brown color, round, and measuring two and three-fourths inches in 

 diameter. The slightly uneven surface is polished and shining; 

 the shell is thin, but firm, and the interior of a soft, uniform, spongy 

 consistence throughout. The color is yellowish brown to almost 

 white at the centre ; the larval cell is oval, and measures three- 

 eighths by five-sixteenths in diameter, and is one-sixteenth of an 

 inch thick. The spongy substance immediately surrounding it is no 

 more dense than in other parts. 



Gall-fly.— Female. — Entire body black. Head: face unevenly wrinkled, ver- 

 tex and thorax deeply and irregularly wrinkled ; antennae black, very short, 

 thirteen jointed, first joint heavy, second short, third one-half longer than first 

 and second together, fourth one-half as long as the th'rd, the remaining short to 

 the last, which is a little longer than the twelfth ; mesonotum, two obscure par- 

 allel lines, and a line over the base of each wing and the faint parapsidal grooves 

 can only be seen in a side light, and they scarcely interrupt the general rugosity 

 of the surface; scutellum even more coarsely wrinkled than the other parts and 

 unique, in that it is considerably broader in the middle than on the anterior side 

 and is not only truncate posteriorly, but is really emarginate ; fovese large, rough, 

 with a low irregular line separating them and a high ridge bounding them later- 

 ally, the whole polished and shining. Abdomen black, second segment occupies 

 one-half of the whole, anterior half of this segment smooth and shining, and 

 with a few scattered hairs, the posterior half and the visible parts of the remain- 

 ing segments, all of which can be seen, distinctly and beautifully reticulated or 



