88 Journal New York Entomological Society. fVoL xxx. 



Eggs have been commonly and regularly found in fall under natural 

 field conditions so that there is no doubt but that oviposition in fall is 

 normal for this species. ^ In order to secure further evidence, how- 

 ever, certain experiments in burning over small areas of goldenrod 

 in fall were carried out with a view to determine whether galls would 

 develop upon the new shoots in spring in the burned-over areas. This 

 was done in two seasons (during November) and resulted in the 

 burning of the old goldenrod stems and leaves in restricted areas 

 which had been abundantly infested with galls that year. The new 

 shoots which grew in the burned-over areas did not develop galls 

 the following spring, while the new shoots of adjacent areas not burned 

 over did develop galls. These experiments may be commonly sub- 

 stantiated on a large scale in North Carolina where fires sweep through 

 woods and about their edges. Goldenrod shoots growing out the fol- 

 lowing spring are inevitably free of galls in the burned-over areas 

 if the burning has been thorough. Moreover, it is further apparent 

 that spring overflows or freshets of streams prevent the eggs in the 

 territory covered by the freshet from hatching, by drowning the young 

 larvae in the eggs or perhaps by covering them with mud. The writer 

 has had occasion to observe during summer after an overflow in 

 spring, that goldenrod in the area not covered by the freshet was 

 infested with galls while the flooded area showed the goldenrod free of 

 galls ; the line of high water was identical with an imaginary line 

 between the gall-free and infested areas of goldenrod. 



Embryonic Development: Immediately after deposition the eggs 

 begin to develop. Under Ithaca, N. Y., conditions this requires about 

 26 days while in North Carolina the period is lengthened to about 

 35 days. The overwintering egg therefore contains a fully formed 

 larva partially coiled within the egg shell. 



The question of parthenogenesis in Gnorintoschema has been raised 

 by Patterson who figures ^ a section of an egg of salinaris which he 

 states was deposited by a female not associated at any time with 

 males. Apropos of this, some of the writer's experiments along this 

 line with gallcesoUdaginis may be of interest. Unfertilized females 

 were upon several occasions separately caged, and frequently they 



1 This is certainly the time for the species in Vermont, New York and 

 North Carolina. 



2 hoc. cit. 



