7330 Insects. 



Note on Dinarda Maerkelii, Sfc. — In June and August of this year I was cun- 

 siilorably gratified l)y the discovery of Dinard.i Macrkelii, in the nests of the wood- 

 nnt, in the neighbourhood of Killiekraiikic. At the hitcr date the insect was emerging 

 from its pupa. In the same nests were found Moinolota flavipes and H. aneeps, 



Thiasopliila ? Lcptacinus Formicetorum, Dcudrophilus pyginoeus, Euplectus 



Karslenii ; and in the same wood, under leaves, Myrmedonia humeralis. Some 

 smaller Brachelytrous ereatures also occurred, but they require further investigation. 

 — lioberl IJislop ; Blairlodge, Falkirk, November 24, 1860. 



A few Observations on Cynips Idgnicola and C. Radicis. 

 By Fredkkick Smith, Esq. 



In the year 1H57 1 felt desiroas of satisfying myself as far as pos- 

 sible, by my own observations, of the truth of the o])inion at that 

 time put forth, by more than one eminent entomologist, that in the 

 genus Cynips there is only one form of sex ; in other words, that in 

 the gcnns Cynips there is no male ! 



In order to carry out my experiments, I obtained from Devonshire 

 a large supply of the galls of C. Lignicola, somewhere about a bushel 

 and a half; every gall was tenanted by the Cynips, or its parasite 

 Callimome devoniensis. About the beginning of April, 1858, the 

 Cynips began to issue from the galls, and continued to do so up to 

 the end of May, at which time I could not have obtained less than 

 twelve thousand examples, and many hundreds of its parasite. 



By examining the galls daily during the progress of the develop- 

 ment of the flics, I was enabled to examine the whole of the latter, 

 and to satisfy myself that all of this iujmense number were females, 

 1 also placed about sixty galls in as many separate boxes, and when 

 the Cynips came out I carried them to difTerent localities in the vici- 

 nity of London, ])lacing them upon low oaks in woods and hedges. 

 In the month of August I revisited the various localities, and in about 

 eight cases out of twelve 1 found galls formed upon the very trees on 

 which I had placed the Cynips, but none in their vicinity. From 

 these galls I again obtained the Cynips, and this brood I also placed 

 in isolated situations ; and again I found galls formed in about the 

 same proportion as in the previous instance. In neither of these cases 

 could there have been any connexion with the male sex, unless that 

 sex be of microscopic dimensions. 



In 1859, and also during the present season, 1 have obtained a 

 number of galls of the gregarious species, Cynips Radicis of Fabri- 

 cius ; this gall is sometimes as much as two inches in diameter, and 



