204 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



as from the beginning of October of last year till the middle 

 of Decen)ber the ground was well strewed with the fallen 

 crop, and every acorn examined invariably showed gall 

 presence, and commonly contained larva?, — white, thick, and 

 fleshy, — but which, though apparently perfectly healthy and 

 filling their cells, still (on July 11th) gave no sign of passing 

 into a state of pupation. 



The galls correspond in so many points with the description 

 of those of Anciricus glandium, given by Mayr (translated 

 on the opposite page), that I conjecture them to be 

 similar, and the greater distortion of the acorn in the 

 specimens before me merely to be the result of the whole of 

 the interior of the acorn being occupied by the gall-cells, 

 instead of only a portion (as in his figured specimen); and 

 the larvae also coincide with those mentioned in the long- 

 period elapsing before development. 



It is remarkable that the acorn and the bud-galls should 

 both occur, as far as at present seen, on these two trees, 

 and no other, and the departure of the insect from the 

 acorn-gall (in the case of some specimens on the Quercus 

 cerris) having taken place apparently just before the time 

 when the eggs for the bud-galls would (conjecturally) be 

 deposited, suggests whether further search may not give an 

 instance of the alternations, now considered proved by 

 various observers. 



I should add that since writing the above I am indebted 

 to Herr von Schlechtendal (to whom I had forwarded speci- 

 mens) for his opinion that the bud-gall corresponds with 

 that of Aiidricus circulans of Mayr. 



DESCRIPTIONS OF OAK-GALLS. 



Translated from Dr. G. L. Mayk's ' Die MitteleuroiJiiiscbon Eicbengallen.' 



By Edward A. Fitch. 



(Continued from p. 18:(.) 



91. Spatheyasler iflandlforinis, Giraud. — Tiiis gall appears 

 at the beginning of .May on the fertile flowers of the Turkey 

 oak. In the early stage it greatly resembles a normal fruit 

 bloom, and it is almost impossible to recognise it. By the' 

 middle of May it becomes more or less rosy, and soon begins 

 to get much larger than the ordinary fruit; gradually the 

 galls swell to the size of a pea, or even a hazel nut ; the 



