CYNIPS. Ill 



Genus Cynips. 



Cynips, Linne, Syst. Nat., Ed. xii, p. 917 ; Hartig, Zeits. f. 

 Ent., ii, p. 185; Mayr, Genera, p. 28. 



Abdomen from the third segment covered thickly with silky pubes- 

 cence, this being also the case with the legs, head, and thorax. Head 

 dilated behind the eyes. Parapsidal furrows distinct, nearly parallel. 

 Scutellum broader than long, and with two foveae at its base, these 

 being closed internally by a shai-p ridge. Antennas 14-jointed (in our 

 species) ; stout, the second joint longer (in our species) than broad. 

 Claws on anterior tarsi bidentate. Radial cellule elongate, lanceolate 

 at apex, open at fore-margin. Agamic. 



This genus is well known by the rich silky pubes- 

 cence on the abdomen, that organ in the other genera 

 being glabrous. It is further distinguished by being 

 unisexual. The species are the largest known among 

 the gall-making group. Of the eighteen European 

 species described, only one, G. Kollari, is native. One 

 European species (G. conifica, Htg.) has the antennae 

 13-jointed. 



The genus Aphelonyx, Mayr, has the abdomen silky 

 haired, but it differs from Cynips in having the 

 anterior tarsi with the claws entire, the antennas 

 longer and more slender, the parapsidal furrows not 

 complete, the scutellum as long as broad, and with an 

 entire transverse fovea at its base. 



So far as we at present know, all the species of 

 Cynips are agamous, and only exist in the agamic 

 condition, the spring bisexual generally found in 

 Andricus, &c, being unknown. The genus contains 

 the largest species in the family, their galls also 

 being, at least for the monothalamous galls, the 

 largest. The majority of these remain attached to 

 the buds until they drop off from the effects of the 

 weather. In them the insects remain for the greater 

 part of the year unchanged. As in Andricus, many of 

 the species cannot be separated in the imaginal state ; 

 but the galls are very distinct, and not a few of them 

 very striking in appearance. Eighteen European 



