THE CHALCIDIANS. 
551 
part of the Chalcidians, it may seem singular that any 
doubt should exist in regard to others of them. There 
are, however, some kinds which have been thought to pro¬ 
duce galls themselves, instead of being the parasites of 
gall-insects ; certain species wearing indeed the form of a 
Chalcidian, but appearing to have the habits of a Cynips. 
These species belong to the genus Eurytoma^ which, though 
arn'ceino; in structure with the Chalcidians, Professor Xees 
von Esenbeck was inclined to place among the CvNiPiDiE, 
because he took them to be gall-makers. Mr. Westwood* 
controverts this opinion; and Dr. Ratzeburgf considers it 
as founded upon error. It may nevertheless be correct, if 
there be no mistake in the result of observations made 
upon the insects, called barley-straw insects and joint- 
Avorms, that produce gall-like swellings upon the stems of 
barley and of wheat in this country. 
In the years 1829 and 1830 several communications were 
published in the eighth volume of Fessenden’s “ New Eng¬ 
land Farmer,” J respecting a disease of barley-straw, pro¬ 
duced by the punctures of insects. The first account of 
this disease that has fallen under my notice is contained 
in an extract from a letter, dated August 16th, 1829, from 
the Honorable John Merrill, of Newburyport, to Mr. Fes¬ 
senden ; wherein it is stated, that the barley, in tlie neigh¬ 
borhood of Newburyport, yielded only a very small crop; 
on some farms, not much more than the seed sown. Most 
of the stalks 'Avere found to have a number of small Avorms 
Avithin them, near to the second joint, and had become 
hardened in the part attacked, from the interruption of the 
circulation of the sap. During several years previous to 
this date, the barley crops, in various parts of Essex and 
Middlesex Counties, Avere more or less injured in the same 
Way; and in some places the cultivation of this grain Avas 
* Modern Classification of Insects, Vol. II, p. 161, note. 
t Die Ichneumonen der Forstinsecten, I. 172. 
t Pages 43, 138, 217, 299, 330, and 402. Also Vol. IX. p. 2, and Vol. X. p, 11. 
