1907 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 105 



United States. Among tliem were Professors Lintner, Hagen, and Riley. 

 I brought tlie insect under tlie notice of the meeting. No one present professed 

 an acquaintance with it, except Dr. Wm. Saunders (see 13th An. Rep. Ent. 

 Soc. of Ont. p. 10); but Dr. Riley, from the description given, and the speci- 

 mens shewn, pronounced it to be a species of Diplosis. 



I then wrote to Dr. Williston, sending him particulars, and asking him 

 for information He very kindly replied, furnishing me with references to 

 a number of species of Cecidomyia, and adding : 



"It is probable that your species is not one of these, but new. Still I 

 should examine the subject as far as possible. At all events its life's his- 

 tory is interesting, and worthy of immediate publication. L. vitis is the 

 only species in which the imago and complete life history are known." 



Acting upon Dr. "Williston's suggestion, I sent the life-history of the 

 insect, with illustrations to the "Canadian Entomologist." 



They appeared in the December number of the magazine (Can. Ent. 

 Vol. XIV, p. 237), together with a confirmatory statement from Dr. Saun- 

 ders, the editor. The number was printed January 10th, 1883. 



On the 27th of February, 1883, I received a kind letter from Dr. Hagen, 

 who said, with reference to D. grassator — specimens of which I had sent 

 him : "The fly is, I think, a Cecidomyia. I think it is not sure that it be- 

 longs to Diplosis. At least the reticulations of the wing differ in having the 

 median veins straight, and the fork at the hind margin wanting. You will 

 see in Osten Sacken's Catalogue, that the museums do not possess this type 

 for Cecidomyia. I have gone through the literature, and find, till now, 

 that your species is not described." 



D. grassator is not a gall-producer like certain Cecidomyians spoken of 

 by Walsh and Riley. 



Its larva* do not extract sap from galls as do those of C. alhoviftata, 

 Walsh. 



They do not feed on fungi, like those of D. coniophago, Winnertz. 



They have not horny hooks at the tip of the abdomen like those of C. 

 populi, Duf. 



They are not white, like those of D. caryce, O.S. 



They do not go under ground to pupate like those of Lasioptera vitis, 

 O.S. 



The pupa has not two oblique processes from the anal end, like that of 

 the Lucopis mentioned by Riley. 



The imago has not violet-blue spots, nor are tibiae and tarsi annulated 

 with black, as in D. maccus, Loew. 



It is not brownish-black with white hairs like that of C. (Diplosis) Pini, 

 De Geer, 



Its thorax is not blackish above with a golden pubescence as in Lasiop- 

 tera vitis, O.S. 



I think I may sav with all confidence, that my account of the insect, 

 with the notes of Drs. Hagen and Saunders, and the illustrations given af- 

 ford sufficient specific distinction for the recognition of the insect. 



If D. grassator had been carried to France with the American vines in- 

 troduced by the Duchess of Fitzjames, the loss to the Gironde, amounting to 

 1100,000,000, might have been lessened, and the vineyards ultimately saved. 



In the next family, the P^ilicidce, Packard and others have placed the 

 Fleas. These creatures, though they have no wings, are shown by the form 

 and habits of their larvae, to be rightly placed. Of their many species two 

 are very well known — Pulex irritans, Linneus, the Human Flea, and Cera- 

 topsylhis serraticeps, Gervais, the Cat and Dog Flea (Fig. 38). 



