l886.] NEW-YORK MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 61 



reach of danger. The stalks are alike in size, and the material 

 of which they are composed resembles in appearance the product 

 of the silk-worm. I have not been able to find in books any 

 satisfactory explanation of this egg-depositing process." 



Mr. Beutenmiiller : " It would seem that at present no one 

 knows how these stalks are produced." 



The President : " I have always supposed that the stalks 

 were composed of a substance similar to the glutinous matter 

 employed by insects sometimes for covering the egg mass. The 

 stalks must be strong, for they support their burdens of eggs 

 through rains and winds and all the vicissitudes of the weather. 

 I have seen as many as twenty eggs in a cluster." 



Mr. Braman : " I have found them attached to a culm of grass, 

 seven or eight of them in a row, nearly one-quarter of an inch 

 apart." 



A PARASITE ON THE GALL OF THE SWAMP-ROSE. 



The President said : " I have brought for exhibition a parasite 

 found on the gall of the swamp-rose — a hymenopterous insect 

 of the genus Torynius. Its species I do not know. There are 

 a great many species which have not yet been determined. I 

 submitted this parasite to Prof. Riley, of Washington, for 

 identification. He has not yet determined its species. Six at 

 least of these parasites were taken by me from this one gall. 

 The gall {Rhodites bicolor, Harris) is very beautiful in its young 

 and fresh state. It is as large as the fruit of the wild goose- 

 berry, being about half an inch in diameter, and has spines one- 

 third of an inch long projecting in every direction from its 

 surface. When young and before its maturity it is very often 

 cream-colored, shading into a vermilion. After maturity it 

 changes to a dark-brown color. 



"The parasite is remarkable for its long, stout ovipositor and 

 for the extreme beauty of its colors." 



The President exhibited and described a wooden case, de- 

 signed by himself, the purpose of which was to hold in a small 

 compass, without pressure, a considerable number of such plant 

 specimens as would be injured if confined in the ordinary col- 

 lection cases where they would be subjected to pressure. 



Mr. William E. Damon was elected an Active Member of the 

 Society. 



