H. F. BASSET'J'. 333 



arranged along the sides of the midvein or principal veins, closely 

 sessile but not easily separable from them, and showing an indentation 

 in the lamina of the leaf where they grow, and a small, smooth ele- 

 vation on the opposite side. They are hairy or coarsely flocculent, 

 like the galls of N. floccosus B. The lateral diameter is about .10 

 of an inch ; the vertical .05. Denuded of the dense woolly cover 

 ing the gall, which is the larval cell, is smooth, hemispherical (some- 

 times oval) and .03 in the lateral diameter. They chiefly affect the 

 leaves at the ends of young oak branches. These leaves are gener- 

 ally curled and distorted, though this does not seem to result from 

 the attacks of the gall insect. I have these galls from Providence, 

 R. I., and Amherst, Mass., and for several years past I have found 

 them quite abundant in Waterbury, Conn. They resemble, individ- 

 ually, the galkof N. floccosus B., but are smaller and are confined to 

 the large veins of the leaf, mostly to the midvein, and they grow on 

 Q. alba, while N. floccosus is found on Q. bicolor. 

 All the gall-flies I have reared are females. 



The bead is broad and black. The antennae thirteen jointed, first and second 

 joints are black, the third to the thirteenth dusky brown, slender and of equal 

 length, the first joint is short, the second larger and ovoid. The thorax smooth. 

 The scutellum smooth, shining, a curved groove, but no fovea? at its base. The 

 scutellum is smoother and more polished than the mesonotum — this is unusual, 

 if not unique. Abdomen compressed, smooth and black. Legs dark brown, with 

 pale joints. Tarsi dusky. Ungues black. Wings large, hyaline; veins pale. 

 Cubitus slender, not easily traceable. Areolet large, but the veins bounding it 

 laterally scarcely visible. Radial area open. Body .05, antenna? .04, wings .04. 



While there is a close resemblance between this species and X. 

 floccosus B., I hesitate to pronounce the differences merely varietal. 

 I do not care to become a species maker, founding new species on 

 slight variation ; but until the history of our Cynipidse is better 

 known, it will be impossible to determine, in some cases, what are 

 true species and what are only varieties. 



Neuroterus exiguus n. sp. 



After the discovery of a species of Neuroterus in my boxes of 

 Andricus exiguus, I made at least three trips to West Rock to dis- 

 cover the home of the new species, sure that the galls of the two 

 were not identical. The study of an unlimited amount of material 

 revealed aments that were of abdormal size, some of them two or 

 three times the ordinary diameter, some with nodular enlargements, 

 but all more or less hidden in the florets. After repeated efforts I 

 finally found some of the Neuroteri in these galls and the mystery 



TRANS. AM. ENT. SOC, XXVI. JULY 1900. 



