56 R. OSTEN SACKEN. 



the different shape of the gall means, is a mystery to me. Until this 

 is solved, I propose to call the gall Quercus noiha, in order to distin- 

 guish it from the other. It may be that the flics themselves, upon , 

 closer examination, would show some specific differences. Both galls 

 excluded their flies between the 20th and the oOth of May. 



III. — CYNiPS QUERCUS ECHINUS, n. sp. — (From California). 



Echinus-shaped, ptnki.sh red gall of hardened gallic acid, on the 

 leaves cf Quercus ar/ri/olia. 



The gall, fastened to the underside of the leaf, consists of a globular 

 body, covered with numerous pointed processes, which are not much 

 shorter than the diameter of the body of the gall, the latter being from 

 0.2 to 0.3 of an inch. The inside of each gall contains a single insect 

 in a small cavity. 3Ir. W. M. Gabb, to whom I am indebted for this 

 gall, discovered it in Placer Co., California, in the low hills of the 

 Sierra Nevada. According to his statement, the galls, when fresh, are 

 of a bright scarlet, a little lighter at the tip of the processes. The 

 substance of this gall is hard and brittle, consisting apparently of 

 pure gallic acid. This gall belongs, therefore, to the same class with 

 that of equips quercus tubicola, 0. S. In both cases the leaves bear- 

 ing the galls are not deformed at all, and the galls, when detached, 

 leave hardly any trace behind them. 



These galls reached me from California quite fresh, and in cutting 

 some of them open I found the Cijnips still alive. They seem to be- 

 long to the genus Cjjnips in Ilartig's restricted sense. 



Cynips quercus echinus, n. sp. — 9 0-14 of an inch long. Brown, mixed with 

 reddish-brown; head, thorax, antennae and feet with a grayish jmbescence. 

 Head reddish brown more or less darker in the middle of the front and vertex; 

 antennte brown, somewhat stout; 14-jointed, the third joint long and slender, 

 the following gradually decrease in length up to theSth ; the 6 last joints short, 

 subequal. Thorax reddish brown, with a dark brown stripe in the middle, and 

 two similar lateral stripes which are abbreviated in front; scutelhim ellipsoi- 

 dal, brownish. Abdomen brown, shining, hind margin paler; basal part of the 

 second, largest, segment densely pubescent on the sides ; this segment is sub- 

 triangular, the following ones project very little beyond it; ventral valve with 

 a tuft of yellow hairs. Feet reddish brown, mixed with darker spots. Wings 

 subhyaline; stout veins clouded with brown, especially the transverse vein 

 above the areolet, which has a distinct brown cloud upon it; tip of the radial 

 vein expanded into a brown dot; a brownish, elongated cloud in the anterior 

 half of the cubital area; two or three small, indistinct streaks of the same color 

 in the posterior half of the same area; another pale cloud in the next following 

 area, below the areolet: and still another on the anal vein, close by its usual 

 interruption. 



