208 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



limited through parasitism. Dr. Mayr has established seven 

 species amongst the Syiiergi and TorymidcB alone, viz.: — 

 Synergiis albipes, H., S. facialis^ H., S. radiatus, Mayr, 

 Callimome ahdominalis. Boh., C. incertus, Foist., C. regiuSy 

 Nees, and C. auratus, Fonsc. These all appear on the wing 

 at about the same time as, or a little later than, the Spathe- 

 gaster. There is a fact of some interest (as pointed out by 

 Mayr) noticeable in the parasitism of C. incertus, as he 

 received specimens, which he was unable to separate, as 

 follows : — seven bred from Bathyaspis aceris, three from 

 S. haccarum, four from S. nervosa, and seventeen from 

 Cecidoniyia circiuaus galls. Now if these thirty-one speci- 

 mens were specifically equal, their inhabiting both oak and 

 maple galls is certainly aberrant; and, further, one of the 

 oak species is dipterous. Respecting C. auratus (== appro- 

 pinquans, Ratz.), Mayr says: — "In one well-authenticated 

 case I have found the larva of this species sucking a pupa of 

 S. haccarum.^'' I have myself seen this on many occasions, 

 and succeeded in breeding the Callimome from the opened 

 gall some six or seven times. This is by far the commonest 

 parasitic inmate of these galls in Britain ; it appears about a 

 fortnight later than the gall-maker; both are very readily 

 bred, owing to the rapidity of their metamorphosis — a 

 striking contrast to Neuroierus. There is an opinion 

 prevalent amongst American entomologists that many, if not 

 all, oak CynipidcB are double-brooded, and that the two 

 broods produce galls distinct from one another. Although I 

 cannot think that this holds amongst European species, there 

 is a link wanting in the life-history of this gall now under 

 notice. It is at present only known for about one month out 

 of the twelve : e.g., in 1872, for which year I have the fullest 

 record, I noticed no gall before the 6th May, and the last 

 Spaihegaster bred, out of some hundreds, emerged on 3rd 

 June ; possibly three weeks would be an average for the time 

 elapsing between the first noticeable appearance of the gall 

 and the emergence of its maker. Now the question is what 

 is its state during the eleven months from June to May ? 

 The imagos are certainly short lived, and I think it may be 

 doubted whether the next year's buds are suflSciently matured 

 to receive the egg, laid as it is in both fruit and leaf gems. 

 The close observation ol any catkin-gall producing species 



