new or little known British Ilymenojotera. 109 



careful to put in only the Crassulus larvae. The strange 

 insect had such a great resemblance to the common gall- 

 maker {Nematus peclunculi,OY Avhatever its name may be*), 

 Avliich forms the hairy pea-shaped galls on Salix aurita, 

 that I thought it was a stray specimen which had got in 

 with the other larvfe by mistake, but still I could not 

 identify it as the gall-making species to my satisfaction, 

 and so I left the matter to be cleared up by renewed 

 investigation. 



The enigma has now been cleared up by that acute 

 investigator of the habit of insects, Mr. J. E. Fletcher, who 

 succeeded last year in rearing four specimens out of larvse 

 living in the rolled-down leaves of Salix viminalis, so that 

 I must have mixed np the larvas of Nic/ro-lineatus with 

 those of the commoner species. 



Apart from the above-mentioned specimen, I have been 

 acquainted Avith Nigro-lincatus since June, 1876, when 

 I captured it among osiers on the banks of the Severn 

 above Gloucester. I never could identify them with any 

 of the descriptions. I sent a specimen over to Professor 

 Zaddach, who returned it as being unknown to him. 

 Still I did not venture to describe it, but inserted it in 

 my " Catalogue of British Tenthredinid^," vmder the 

 name of Nif/ro-lineatus. Now, however, that its habits 

 are known, it may be described without any hesitation. 



Leaving the total diversity of habits aside, the gall- 

 making JV. pedunculi (the species having the greatest 

 resemblance with it), may be known from Nifjro-lineatus 

 by the absence of any white on the pronotum apart from 

 the tegular, by the somewhat longer and thicker antenna^, 

 those of the $ being especially thicker, the 3rd joint, 

 too, being nearly as long as the 4th ; the mesonotum is 

 more shining and not so punctured, while the 3rd sub- 

 marginal cellule is longer, and the 2nd recurrent nervure 

 interstitiate or nearly so. 



Then it differs widely from all the leaf-rolling species 

 known. N. leucostictus, Htg., and N. crassulus, Dbm., 

 having the stigma and legs almost imicolorous, besides 

 differing widely in form, Avhile N. xanthog aster, Foers., as 

 the name denotes, has the body marked with yellow, while 

 the stigma is yellow and the scutellum punctured. 



Neither Mr. Fletcher nor myself knows anything about 

 the larva beyond its leaf-rolling habits, but I hope to be 



See Fauna of Scotland, Hymen, i. p. 43. 



