AiiL;ii>t — Sepiouilier [^'^4. 



PS re HE. 



mt) 



the kiiulncss of Professcir W. G. Fallow . 

 was evidentlv of the same opinion, for 

 his specimens bear only tiiese two names, 

 though some of the hxst named species 

 occur on Solidag'o. and one, on Aster 

 gracilis, agrees very well with the de- 

 scription of R. hifrons. Schweinitz. 

 also, says of the three so-called species 

 •'Tres species antecedentes memorabilcs 

 inter se affines sunt."'' The fruit of 

 all is unknown. Like that of other species 

 oi Rkytisiiia . it does not de\ elop on the 

 living leaf, and I have been unable to 

 look for it on the fallen leaves late in 

 autumn or on the approach of the fol- 

 lowing spring. Possiblv. when found, 

 it mav ofler a means of distinguishing 

 the so-called species more satisfactorih- 

 than can be done at present. Both spe- 

 cies are widely distributed over the east- 

 ern third of the continent, from the (iulf 

 .states to Xew Brunswick. 



The discussion of these objects from a 

 botanical standpoint may appear to 

 some readers imnece.ssarv in an entomo- 

 logical journal, but no account of them 

 would be complete without it. Turn- 

 ing, now. to the entomological side of 

 their history, it remains to be said that 

 several entomologists have bred from 

 them one of the gall gnats — Cecidomvia 

 carbonifera Osten Sacken. I. myself, 

 have obtained the adult insects from 

 what I have called R. astcris. and they 

 are to be seen in some of the specimens 

 in the Curtis herbarium, which have 

 been broken. The Osten Sacken types, 

 in the Museum of comparati\e zool- 

 ogy, would also undoubtedly be referred 



^ Svn, fuiig;. jVm. bor., /. r.. p. 241. 



to this species b\ a ni\ cologist. With 

 the form on Solidago laiiceolata I ha\e 

 been less successful, having nex'er ob- 

 tained the imago from it ; but in the 

 summer of iSSi, while at Woods HoU, 

 Mass.. where this form was exceedingly 

 common. I examined several hundred 

 specimens on this plant, by breaking 

 them open, and in every instance a liv- 

 ing lar\a. evidenth' a cecidomyid. and 

 apparently Cecidomvia carho)iifera. 

 was fountl ill the substance of the gall, 

 \\ here it hn in a minute cavity. So far 

 as I know, therefore, both insect and 

 fungus are alwa\s present in these galls, 

 to w hichever species they are referred. 

 While the slight convexity of the young 

 gall is explained by the groA\th of the 

 fungus, the hemispherical enlargement 

 in many cases, especially on asters, seems 

 to be caused b\ the insect, and these very 

 thick spots, so far as I have examined 

 them, always contain fully grown in- 

 sects. 



The first published intimation that 

 these spots on Aster and Solidago are 

 not simply insect galls or simply fungi, 

 that 1 have noticed, is by Mr. W. R. 

 (icrard." who. doubting their fungoid 

 nature, sent specimens to Mr. C. V. 

 Riley, and was told that (at least so far 

 as the forms on Solidago are concerned) 

 they are the galls of C. carbonifera . 

 Professor C. H. Peck also makes a sim- 

 ilar statement in one of his later reports 

 on New York fungi.'' Interested in the 

 subject by these notes. I have examined 



5 Bulletin Torrey bot. cluh, Oct. 1S76. v. 6, p. 114 

 [Psyche, Rec, no. 2404]. 



■: 20 Rept. N. Y. Cah. nat. hist., p. Si. 



