INSECTS OF THE PACIFIC COAST 



species of these odd little flies have been listed for 

 the state, and there are others in Oregon and Wash- 

 ington. As each species has its own special kind of 

 gall, the oak trees of the Pacific Coast often bear a 

 curiously variable load of "fruit" besides the acorns. 

 I should like to speak of some of the West Coast 

 insects of unusual appearance or pattern, the kind 

 that catch the eye of the most casual traveler, such 

 as the giant tarantula-killing, bronze-winged, blue- 

 black Pepsis wasp, that indulges in battles royal 

 with the big hairy tarantulas and trap-door spiders, 

 which themselves, though not insects, are near 

 enough related to them to warrant mention in any 

 account of our insect fauna. But I may not. I may 

 not speak further at all except to say that the Pacific 

 Coast will match its insects against the equivalent 

 fauna of any other region for interest and oppor- 

 tunity for fascinating observation and profitable 

 study. 



REFERENCES 



ESSIG, E. O. 



1913. Injurious and beneficial insects of California. Calif. 



State Commission of Hortic., Monthly Bull., vol. 2, 

 nos. 1 and 2. (A revised edition is to appear in 



1915.) 

 WOODWORTH, C. W. 



1914. Guide to California Insects. (The Law Press, Berke- 



ley), 360 pp., pis., illus. 

 WRIGHT, W. G. 



1906. The butterflies of the west coast of the United States. 

 (W. G. Wright, San Bernardino), pp. vti-J-257, 940 

 col. figs. 



146 



