Kinsey: Studies of Cynipidx 



111 



shagreened, entirely and rather closely hairy; foveas distinct, usually 

 well separated; abdomen smooth, not at all reticulated, finely punctate 

 only on the edg-e of the last segment, moderately hairy, longer than high 

 in some varieties, not as long as high in others, the second segment not 

 covering more than half the area; cubitus more or less complete, faint 

 or practically lacking at the basalis in some varieties; length 1.5-3.5 mm. 



GALL. — Similar to those of most species of the genus. Swelling 

 up to 20. mm. in diameter by 70. mm. long, usually much smaller; the 

 larval cells distinct, more or less imbedded in the wood, usually not 

 completely surrounded by wood, never separable. On white oaks. 



RANGE. — California and Oregon. Apparently confined to the 

 Pacific Coast states. 



I have grouped the following varieties into one species be- 

 cause they are all so closely related that further subdivision is 

 not logical (as discussed under diminuens) ; because they all 

 occur on white oaks in the Pacific Coast region, and are abun- 

 dantly different from the black oak varieties of the same 

 region. The most closely related varieties I have yet seen 

 are the white oak varieties from the Rocky Mountain region, 

 here treated as species frequens. In no case are these vari- 

 eties as generally dark in color, or the abdomen as naked as 

 in frequens. But inasmuch as in most other respects vari- 

 eties of both groups are so similar, it must be borne in mind 

 that frequens and chrysolepidicola are closely related, if they 

 should not be considered one species. 



The insects emerge very early in the spring, from Febru- 

 ary 7 in southern California to April 7 in Oregon. New galls 

 were found in some instances at about the same dates, too 

 soon to have been produced by the insects then emerging, sug- 

 gesting the possibility of the species having an alternate gen- 

 eration which takes a full year for its growth. The galls are 

 abundant wherever white oaks occur, each variety being con- 

 fined as far as known to a single species of oak, and where 

 that oak ranges over more than one faunal area there will be 

 as many varieties of the insect. 



It is unfortunate that the first variety described was 

 named chrysolepidicola, which wrongly defines the habits of 

 most of the varieties. If P. congregatus (Ashmead) should 

 prove to be the bisexual generation of any of these varieties, 

 that name will take precedence for this species. 



