236 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
doubt that the Acari must have attained their position by 
climbing up the legs of the dragonfly when at rest: probably 
they did not quit it till the dragonfly died, or perhaps they 
died with it, so firmly were they fixed. He remarked that 
the history of the Acari was involved in much obscurity, for 
it appeared by no means certain that all those existing could 
ever gain access to dragonflies; just as in the case of the 
bed-bug and the human-flea, where there niust be myriads 
that never have an opportunity of tasting human blood. He 
further noticed that, at the meeting of this Society on the Ist 
of August, 1864, he exhibited a dragonfly from Montpellier 
similarly attacked, and it was recorded as Diplax striolata 
(Tr. Ent. Soc., 2nd series, vol. ii., Proc. xxxvi.). This was 
an error, the insect being D. meridionalis, which seemed to 
be particularly subject to attack. 
Nematus gallicola, Steph.—Mr. Smith read the following 
note :—“ This is one of the commonest species of sawfly 
found in Europe; it is the maker of the well-known red 
galls so plentiful on leaves of different species of willow. 
The galls are, as Mr. Cameron observes in his communication 
to the ‘Scottish Naturalist,’ somewhat local, but they are 
extremely abundant in many situations. I have on many 
occasions collected large quantities of leaves, more or less 
covered with galls, and have bred many hundreds of the 
flies—all proving on examination to be females. Mr. Cameron 
observes, in the paper alluded to, ‘The male is quite unknown 
to me; and this appears to have been also the case with 
Hartig.’ Last spring I collected, in the London district, a | 
quantity of the galls, placing them in a large flower-pot 
half-filled with garden mould. The larve soon quitted the 
galls, and buried themselves in the mould for the purpose of 
undergoing their transformations. About a month after this 
the flies began to issue forth, probably to the number of from 
five to six hundred: among this number I had the satisfac- 
tion of finding two males. This sex closely resembles the 
female; but has a narrower body, longer antenne, and the 
tip of the abdomen is pale; the abdomen is also narrower, 
and not, as in the female, widened towards the apex. This 
season I have repeated my experiment, and have obtained a 
single male out of several hundreds of flies. Mr. Cameron 
further observes: ‘In all probability they, like Cynips (ligni- 
cola) Kollari and other Cynipide, propagate without the aid 
