Report of the State Ento3iologist. 147 



The Chalcid Parasites of Cecidomyia BETOLiE Winn. 



From some galls of the above species of the transformed seeds of the 

 catkins of white birch, Betula alba, received from Mr. Peter Inchbald, 

 of Fulvrith Grange, Harrogate, England, three species of Chalcid 

 parasites were obtained, which, being submitted to Mr. Howard of 

 the Agricultural Department at Washington, were determined, gener- 

 ically, as Toryvius sp., 9j Tetrastichus sp., and Entedon s-p. — one female 

 and five males. The galls were kindly sent that they might give me 

 their Cecidomyian inmate for comparison with our native species^ 

 but not a single one was disclosed. The parasites emerged during 

 April sixteenth to April twenty-seventh. 



Some infested catkins, which had been collected by me during the 

 month of October 1886, also failed to give any of the producing insects, 

 probably from having been deprived of moisture during the winter 

 and spring, as Mr. Inchbald has stated in his letter to me, that they 

 require moisture for their development and need to be sprinkled with 

 water occasionally. Some galls, gathered in Albany on March twenty- 

 first, which had begun to disclose their imagines on May fifth, also 

 gave out quite a number of Chalcid parasites, the first of which made 

 their appearance on April twenty-eighth. Others emerged about the 

 middle of May, and continued to appear until the twenty-fifth of 

 June — the last date recorded. They were quite numerous. As it 

 would be of no little interest to compare these with the European 

 parasites above noticed, they were also sent to Mr. Howard for his 

 examination, who returned the following answer: 



" They are different from those bred from the English s]pecimens. It 

 will probably be necessary to found a new genus of the Pteromalince 

 for them. In some characters th^y come close to Mei'isus, of which 

 Professor Riley has bred and described two species from Cecidomyia 

 destructor [Proc. U. S. National Museum, viii, 1885, pp. 413, 416] but the 

 metanotal and claval characters separate them from this genus." 



Isosoma hordei (Harris). 



The Joint-worm Fly. 



(Ord. Hymenopteka: Fam. ChalcididjE.) 



Harris : in New Eng. Farmer, ix, July 23, 1830, No. 1, p. 2 (original descrip- 

 tion) ; Treat. Ins. New Eng., 1852, p. 441; Ins. Inj. Veg., 1862, pp. 

 551-561 (as Eurytoma h.) ; Ent. Corr., 1869, p. 361 {Ichneumon h.). 



Fitch : in Trans. N. Y. St. Agricul. Soc, xxi, 1862, pp. 830-851 ; 7thEept. (in 

 6th-9th Eepts.) Ins. N. Y., 1865, pp. 144-165, pi. 1, fig. 1 (as Eurytoma 

 tritici, E. hordei, and E. secalis). 



