Vol. XXviiiJ ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 39I 



(Fitch). This species forms a bladder-Hke gall on the under 

 side of the leaves of Rhus glabra and these galls seem not to 

 develop until late summer. 



Galls collected on July ist in Virginia are still very small and 

 not yet well developed. In galls at this time can be found 

 the stem mother of the gall and from two to a dozen or more 

 young. By the first week in August the galls are considerably 

 larger and contain several hundred insects, many of them in 

 the earlier pupal instars. By the end of August the galls 

 often reach one inch in diameter and if they are opened wiK be 

 found to contain large numbers of alate insects, and it is not 

 until the early fall that these alate forms usually leave the 

 galls. The may be found flying at the last of October. The 

 galls contain from 60 to 70 per cent, of tannin, an amount 

 nearly equal to that of the Chinese galls. 



Walsh (1866), in studying this species, erected the genus 

 Melaphis with rhois as type and in this description refers to 

 the Chinese galls, stating that "It would be very interesting to 

 know whether the plant lice found in them are generically 

 related to ours." 



In the collections of the Bureau of Entomology there are 

 numerous specimens of the Chinese galls and an examination 

 of them has shown that many still contain their inmates. On 

 mounting, these alate forms are found to agree in general 

 characters with rhois Fitch and quite easily fall in the genus 

 Melaphis on the distinct shape of the stigma, etc. 



It will be seen also that the methods of life of the two 

 species, chincnsis and rhois, are very similar, the alate forms 

 leaving the galls in the fall. What becomes of these forms 

 seems to be unknown and the writer has been unable to 

 determine this for rhois. 



Considering the similarity in structure, the similarity in life 

 history and the fact that both species occur upon plants of 

 the same genus, as well as the fact that these two species are 

 quite different from other species in the tribe, it would seem 

 that there is no good reason for keeping them in different 

 genera. In such case Melaphis is the generic name that must 



