﻿318 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 102 



vol. 3, pp. 460-462, figs. 1-5, 1737) says he reared a brown fly with 

 four wings, similar to those he had reared from oak but with slight 

 and sufficient differences to indicate it is a distinct species. This 

 brief characterization of the maker of the gall validates the name that 

 Linnaeus gave to the species in 1758. He himself evidently had not 

 seen the maker, for in Fauna Suecica, p. 386, No. 1520, 1761, he says 

 of the gall "insectum tamen non dum vidi" (however, I have not yet 

 seen the insect). 



Kieffer makes two misstatements when he writes (loc. cit.) : "Linne 

 hat zueret aus den Gallapfeln von Glechoma hederacea den Erzeuger 

 erhalten, und denselben Cynips glechomae genannt ; die Beschreibmig 

 lautet: ''fusca thorace villoso.'' Fauna Suecica 1761, pag. 386, Nr, 

 1520." Reaumur, in France, was the first to rear the maker. The 

 phrase "fusca thorace villoso" does not occur in the reference that 

 Kieffer cites. There is in Geoff roy (Histoire abregee des insectes qui 

 se trouvent aux environs de Paris . . ., vol. 2, p. 203, No. 20, 1762), 

 the statement, "Cynips totus fuscus, thorace subvillosus. Sa coleur 

 est brun et noiratre; son corcelet est un pen velu." Then, in 1787, 

 Fabricius (Mantissa insectorum . . . , vol. 1, p. 252) , in what is merely 

 a key to species in each genus, shortens this to "fusca thorace villoso,'' 

 to distinguish glechomae from the preceding species in his key. 



The sides of the pronotum are pubescent and the mesoscutum is 

 bare. In 1841 Hartig described adults he had from Foerster as having 

 a shining mesonotum and makes the comment that '"'"Cynips glechotnae 

 Lin. (fusca thorace villoso) muss notwandig ein andere Insect gewesen 

 sein, da die Brust nichtsweniger als behaart ist." He does not name 

 it, however. He takes the three Latin words to be a condensed 

 description instead of a mere phrase to separate it from another species. 

 This Hartig- Foerster material is what Foerster in 1869 made the type 

 of his genus Liposthenes. 



Latreille also (Histoire naturelle generale et particuliere, des 

 crustaces et des insectes . . . , vol. 13, p. 207, 1803) reared the maker 

 and described it as very black, smooth, shining — the same insect 

 that Hartig and Foerster examined. In 1898 Kieffer gave a new 

 name to this species, calling it Aulax latreillei, and in 1910 (Das 

 Tierreich, Lief. 24, p. 6(58) it appeared as a species distinct from 

 glechomae Linnaeus from Sweden (sic), its gall not distinguishable 

 from that of glechomae. Aulax latreillei is listed as from Britain, 

 Germany, France, Austria, Italy, and North America. 



If the above reasoning about the Latin phrase is correct, then Kieffer 

 was not justified in giving a new name to the Hartig-Foerster- 

 Latreille material, and the name latreillei should go into synonymy. 

 There is only one species making the characteristic gall on Nepeta in 



