236 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



doubt that the Acari must have attained their position by 

 climbing up the legs of the dragonfly when at rest: probably 

 they did not quit it till the dragonfly died, or perhaps they 

 died with it, so firmly were they fixed. He remarked that 

 the history of the Acari was involved in much obscurity, for 

 it appeared by no means certain that all those existing could 

 ever gain access to dragonflies; just as in the case of the 

 bed-bug and the human-flea, where there must be myriads 

 that never have an opportunity of tasting human blood. He 

 further noticed that, at the meeting of this Society on the 1st 

 of August, 1864, he exhibited a dragonfly from Montpellier 

 similarly attacked, and it was recorded as Diplax striolata 

 (Tr. Ent. Soc, 2nd series, vol. ii., Proc. xxxvi.). This was 

 an error, the insect being D. meridionalis, which seemed to 

 be particularly subject to attack. 



Nematus gallicola, Steph. — Mr. Smith read the following 

 note : — " This is one of the commonest species of sawfly 

 found in Europe; it is the maker of the well-known red 

 galls so plentiful on leaves of different species of willow. 

 The galls are, as Mr. Cameron observes in his communication 

 to the ' Scottish Naturalist,' somewhat local, but they are 

 extremely abundant in many situations. I have on many 

 occasions collected large quantities of leaves, more or less 

 covered with galls, and have bred many hundreds of the 

 flies — all proving on examination to be females. Mr. Cameron 

 observes, in the paper alluded to, 'The male is quite unknown 

 to me ; and this appears to have been also the case with 

 Hartig.' Last spring I collected, in the London district, a 

 quantity of the galls, placing them in a large flower-pot 

 half-filled with garden mould. The larvaj soon quitted the 

 galls, and buried themselves in the mould for the purpose of 

 undergoing their transformations. About a month after this 

 the flies began to issue forth, probably to the number of from 

 five to six hundred : among this number I had the satisfac- 

 tion of finding two males. This sex closely resembles the 

 female; but has a narrower body, longer antennae, and the 

 tip of the abdomen is pale ; the abdomen is also narrower, 

 and not, as in the female, widened towards the apex. This 

 season 1 have repeated my experiment, and have obtained a 

 single male out of several hundreds of flies. Mr. Cameron 

 further observes : ' In all probability they, like Cynips (ligni- 

 cola) Kollari and other Cyuipidae, propagate without the aid 



