PHYTOPHAGOUS EURYTOMA FROM NEW ZEALAND. 115 



of Cyuipidae from which M. dorsalis, F., has been bred, and of 

 six from which M. stigmaticans, ¥., has been reared. 



The whole subject of these plant-feeding Chalcids is well 

 worth the attention of entomologists, alike from an economic 

 and biological point of view. In the following paper I give the 

 description of a new species of phytophagous Eurytoma from 

 New Zealand, the life-history of which has been worked out by 

 Mr. F. W. Hilgendorf, of Lincoln College, Christchurch, New 

 Zealand. The insects live in the seeds of the Black Wattle 

 {Acacia deciirrens), which, although now common and thoroughly 

 naturalized in New Zealand, is in reality a native of New South 

 Wales. Mr. Hilgendorf writes mc : — " In the autumn of 1909 

 I found every seed of a certain tree occupied by a grub, and now 

 in November (i. e. the spring of 1909-10) each grub has given 

 rise to the Chalcid referred to. There were no other insects than 

 these among those hatched out." 



Eurytoma acacia, sp. n. 



Black ; the knees, tibiae, and tarsi rufo-testaceous, the head, 

 thorax, and legs thickly covered with white pubescence, the head and 

 thorax strongly umbilicately punctate, the abdomen smooth and 

 shining, the female antennae stout, smooth, bare, and shining, as long 

 as the head and thorax united, the third joint a little enlarged, longer 

 than the fourth, a little roundly narrowed towards the base and apex 

 the last slightly longer and narrower than the penultimate. Wings 

 hyaline, the nervures and stigma black. Female and male. Length, 

 3 mm. 



The centre of the face is shining, finely, weakly, sparsely punc- 

 tured, the sides opaque, rugosely, slightly, obliquely striated, the 

 striae not very clearly defined or separated. Centre of front depressed, 

 smooth, shining, the depression wider than long, the sides stoutly 

 margined, and there is a stout keel down the centre. Apex of clypeus 

 broadly rounded. Parapsidal furrows moderately distinct, shallow. 

 Abdominal petiole short, distinct, not much longer than wide. Meta- 

 notum with the punctures running into reticulations, the top broadly 

 rounded. The sides of the scutellum are reticulated, but not so 

 strongly as the apex above is rugosely punctured ; the apex above is 

 more coarsely punctured than is the base. Alar nervures stout, the 

 post-marginal vein thinner than the others, and extending clearly 

 beyond the stigmal. 



The male has the antennal joints clearly, rather widely separated 

 above, the separations almost forming incisions ; the joints of the 

 flagellura are somewhat thickly covered with stiff black hairs, most 

 of which are as long as the joints. The abdominal petiole is longer 

 than it is in the female, being more than twice longer than wide, and 

 a little longer than the hind coxae. 



