Kinsey: Studies of Cynijjidx 



115 



later collections the galls showed some of the adults to have 

 emerged earlier. The Alpine, Sorrento, and Santa Catalina 

 records are based on galls alone ; from all the other localities 

 I have the insects. Galls of this variety were in several in- 

 stances confused in collecting with galls of variety alutaceus, 

 the two growing together on the very same trees and twigs. 

 But a fine series of diminuens insects was bred from a pure 

 collection of slender galls from Descanso, and large series of 

 alutaceus were bred from pure collections of inflated galls 

 from Upland, San Jacinto, and the Santa Catalina Island; so 

 I do not believe I have connected the insects of these two vari- 

 eties with the wrong galls. 



In its color, size, smoother mesopleurse, elongate abdomen, 

 and more or less discontinuous cubitus, the insect shows 

 closest relationships to kelloggi. It differs from kelloggi in 

 having incomplete parapsidal grooves, no median groove, and 

 a somewhat larger areolet. The smaller, more slender gall, 

 regularly of smaller diameter, is quite unlike the gall of any 

 other Pacific Coast variety in the genus, altho individual 

 galls of other varieties will occasionally resemble this gall. 

 As far as known the insect inhabits only Quercus dumosa, oc- 

 curring over a remarkably wide range, at least from Palo 

 Alto to Descanso, a distance of about five hundred miles with- 

 out apparent variation. I am not at all certain that all of 

 this area should be considered one faunal zone. It may be 

 that only the Q. dumosa fauna remains southern as far north. 

 At any rate I do not find variations in material of this vari- 

 ety from this wide range. Alutaceus, another variety of this 

 same species, also occurs on the same oak over the same range. 

 In all of my abundant material I do not find gradations be- 

 tween the two. It will be questioned whether these two vari- 

 eties, not separated by host or geographic isolation, should not 

 be considered distinct species. It is true that the galls are 

 very distinct, alutaceus galls being very similar to those of 

 practically all of the other varieties I have included in this 

 species. Diminuens galls suggest those of some of the vari- 

 eties of Plagiotrichus elongatus Kinsey, of Texas; but the 

 adult is related to the other California insects rather than to 

 the Texas insects. Altho alutaceus is close to diminuens 

 in some characters, it nevertheless differs in other important 

 regards, as listed under alutaceus, closely resembling the 

 pugnus-atricinctus group of varieties. One cannot properly 



