38 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Our ash-trees in Yorkshire have this year been affected by a 

 Cecid larva that causes sausage-like swellings in the midribs of 

 the leaflets. Bremi of Zurich figured the galls in his Mono- 

 graph in 1847, though he did not rear the gnats. The reddish 

 larvffi lie ensconced in the sausage-like gall, two or three in 

 continuous succession. When full-fed in September and October 

 the gall splits longitudinally, and they drop to the ground, 

 burrowing into the soil. I hope to rear the gnats next year 

 about the time the ash puts forth its leaves. The name of the 

 Cecid is Diplosis hetularia. I reared this year, in fair abundance, 

 Ceeidomyia veronicce from terminal galls of F. serpyllifolia. 

 The economy of the larva is identical, the terminal leaves of the 

 shoots being inspissated, and adapted to the rearing of the 

 offspring. I had some hope that the respective occupants of 

 the nidus might be distinct, but Dr. Meade pronounces them 

 identical. The densely hairy pouch of V. chamcedrys resolves 

 itself into a perfectly smooth pouch in V. serpyllifolia, as 

 might naturally be expected. 



Everyone must have noticed, in his walks in the country, 

 the leafy bosses on the top shoots of our quickset hedges. 

 These contain several larvae of the C. cratcegi. The metamor- 

 phosis is mostly external, though occasionally the larva pupates 

 within the boss itself, as Mr. Fitch remarks. I have not yet 

 reared this Cecid, though recorded years ago by Walker. I 

 hope to be successful in the spring of next year, probably in 

 April. The leaves are thickened by the ovipositing of the 

 gnats, and thus made to supply food and shelter to the reddish- 

 coloured larva, which feeds otherwise unprotected within the leafy 

 tuft. Numbers pupated in my glass-topped box among the soil. 



Another Cecid I have often tried to rear, but unsuccessfully, 

 is the C. urticce which is so commonly noticed in our lanes and 

 hedgerows in the earlier stage of existence. The metamorphosis 

 again is external, and hence the difficulty of rearing the gnats. 

 The colour of the larva is green, I believe, in all the stages of 

 its growth. I have tried another process of treatment this year, 

 and hope to succeed, as it has not unfrequently been bred in this 

 country, as well as in Europe. I naturally look for it in the 

 spring months. These tiny gall-gnats need constant care in the 

 rearing of them, more especially of those that pupate in the soil. 

 With those that pupate in the gall itself it is mostly otherwise. 



Fulwitli Grange, Harrogate, December, 1884. 



