REPORT OP THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



357 



month, w ith the sutures of the clypeus slightly brown and the anterior angles of the 

 head distinctly so ; labrum, antenna, 'and palpi white; mandibles yellowish at base, 

 becoming blackish toward tip. Ocelli black Cervical shield somewhat paler than 

 the head, almost colorless anteriorly, its median line scarcely paler, without any 

 markings except a brownish or blackish wart a little in front above the stigma. Anal 

 plate of same color. Stigmata extremely small, except first and last pair, oval and 

 pale brown. Piliferous. warts only about one-half the size of stigmata, very pale 

 brown and polished, each supporting a line hair of a faintly yellowish color, of which 

 those on the posterior row of warts are much the longest, and are directed forward. 

 Similar long hairs are also on the head, thorax, around the margin of the anal 

 plate, and along the sides of the body. Legs coucolorous with body. 



Pupa. — Average length 7 m,n ; brownish-yellow; stigmata brown. A dorsal, dark 

 brown, transverse band anteriorly on last joint. Tip broad, almost straight, having 

 a small tooth at each angle, ana along its inferior edge four fine yellowish-brown 

 bristles twisted and directed forward. Abdomen shallowly punctate. 



In the series of American Phycids this species naturally follows 

 indiginella, and it is at once distinguished from this, from juglandis 

 Le Baron, and from fallouella Ragonot, its nearest European ally, by 

 the obsolescence of the triangular costal patch. 



Mr. Grote, in his last " Check List of North American Moths," has 

 suppressed Acrobasis Zeller and referred this little group of Phycids to 

 u Phycis Haw." He has also made juglandis a variety of indiginella. 

 Both acts are totally unjustifiable, and illustrate the general untrust- 

 worthiness of his work. Phycis, as a genus, was founded by Fabricius, 

 and Haworth's Phycis comprised nearly all the species of the family, 

 and the name has long been abandoned in modern more exact classifi- 

 cations, while the full descriptions, figures, and larval histories of 

 indiginella and juglandis in our Fourth Report on the Insects of Mis- 

 souri (pp. 38-43) prove beyond all question the specific value of both. 



There is a Nephopteryx vacciniella Zeller on Vaccinium uliginosum in 

 Europe, and for this reason we have dropped the conventional termina- 

 tion in the name of our species. 



THE LARGER WHEAT-STRAW ISOSOMA. 



(Isosoma grande Riley.) 



Order Hymenoptera; Family CnALCiDiDiE. 



[Plate VII, Figs. 2, 3 ; and Plate VIII, Figs. 3, 4.] 



While the phytophagic habit in the genus Isosoma, as exemplified 

 in the common joint-worm, has of late years been fully accepted and 

 considered proved in this country, it still meets with objectors in 

 Europe, who maintain, on the general principle of unity of habit in the 

 same family, that it must be parasitic. While we felt no doubt on the 

 subject ourselves, we yet deemed it desirable to get such absolute 

 proof, by watching the oviposition of the female and the development, 

 from the egg on, as could not be controverted, and would leave no pos- 

 sible room for any further question in the matter. We therefore par- 

 ticularly instructed one of our field agents, Mr. F. M. Webster, to care- 

 fully make the necessary field observations, and it will be seen from 

 his report, which follows, that he has succeeded in doing so. We may 

 here mention that our own previous observations on Isosoma tritici, in 

 which we have examined the larvae of various ages invariably feeding 

 in the stalk with no sign of other insect that it was feeding on, were, 

 in our judgment, amply sufficient to settle the question ; but Mr. Web- 



