44 THE REPORT OF THE No. 19 



meridionalis , Felt, was reared a number of years ago from Siphonophora 

 Liriodeivdri. Aphidoletes cucumeris, Lintn., undoubtedly preys upon tlie 

 melon louse, Aphis gossypii, Glov., though when it was described by the 

 late Dr. Lintner as a Diplosis, it was supposed to be responsible for a bud 

 gall. Another species of Aphidoletes, bred from the melon aphis and 

 probably A. marina, Felt, was recently received from Prof. C. P. Gillette 

 of Colorado, accompanied by the statement that it was particularly destructive 

 to plant lice in the Insectary and was not uncommon out of doors, attacking 

 different species of plant lice. The genus Mycodiplosis, Rubs., is zoophagous 

 and it is gratifying to note that M. acarivora. Felt, preys upon the red spider 

 infesting the Citrus trees of California. 



The above is sufficient to show that the food habits of this group are of 

 interest to the economic entomologist. We now propose to gvie some brief 

 notes respecting the habits of various members of this family. The 

 Campylomyzarise include a considerable number of forms most frequently 

 found in forests or in association with decaying vegetable matter. The very 

 characteristic genus Joanissia, Kieff., presumably breeds in decaying 

 vegetable matter, since Kieffer records rearing several species from decaying 

 wood, tufts of moss and mold covering a fungus. Members of the genus 

 CaTnpyloinyza, Meig., are rather common in woodlands. One species, C. 

 lignivora, Felt, was reared in considerable numbers from the fungous affected 

 heart wood of pine. The long, yellowish larvse evidently eroded the tissues 

 to a considerable extent, as the cavities inhabited by them were more or less 

 filled with extremely fine wood flour. C. pinicorticis, Felt, was bred from 

 galleries of a Scolytid in pine. Campylomyza coprophila, Felt, was obtained 

 from manure, while C. dilatata. Felt, was reared from a vial containing elm 

 seeds and debris. One species, Campylomyza. pomifJ,ora.', Felt, occurs 

 commonly in early spring about blossoms of cherry and shadbush. The 

 peculiar Miastor americana, Felt, was taken on either beech or chestnut 

 leaves. Several species of Brachyneura, Pond., have been reared, B. eupa- 

 torii, Felt, being obtained presumably from an oval swelling on the stem 

 of thoroughwort Eiipatorium perfoJiatnm,, and another, B. vitis, Felt, was 

 reared from a jar containing the familiar Lasioptera mtis, 0. S., gall on 

 grape. 



The Lasiopterarise is a very characteristic group, the members of which 

 appear to invariably ' undergo their final transformations within the tissues 

 of the host plant. The peculiar Clinorhyncha seems to be restricted to the 

 blossoms of certain compositae, ■ since C millefolii, Wachtl., occurs in 

 apparently normal florets of Yarrow, Achillea millefolium, while C. eupa- 

 tori-florm, Felt, may be obtained from similar flowers of thoroughwort 

 Eupatorium perfoliatum. Baldratia, Kieff., is another exceedingly inter- 

 esting genus, since most of its species breed in the peculiar, apparently 

 fungous affected blister galls so common on aster and solidago. The sixteen 

 ppecies reared are divided about equally between species of aster and 

 solidago. A few forms have been obtained from comparatively normal leaf 

 tissues, and one interesting species bred from small, oval galls on aster 

 leaves recognized simply by a slight elevation on the under surface. Mem- 

 bers of the genus Lasioptera and Neolasioptera- occur almost exclusively in 

 stem galls on herbaceous plants and in subcortical galls on woody plants. 

 The irregular eccentric stem gall of Lasioptera titmifica, Beutm., on solidago 

 is an excellent type of one form of gall, while the irregular subcortical gall 

 on Cornus, made by Neolasioptera cornicola, Beutm., illustrates the other. 

 The species of both genera winter, so far as known, within the gall, those 



