492 
[March 
not a single gall on it so far as I could discover when it was bare of 
leaves. The alfected limbs and twigs perish before the next season. 
Gtall-fly, Cynips q. podagrae n. sp. ? (= C. q . punctata Bassett ?) 9 Black. 
Head with the face and vertex very finely rugose, the face almost aciculate and 
in certain lights with whitish pubescence. Palpi rufous, tips often darker. 
Antennae dull rufous at base, gradually deepening to a dull, dark brown at 
tip, 14-jointed, the last joint J longer than the preceding. Thorax opaque be¬ 
fore the scutel, occasionally a little polished, with no perceptible general sculp¬ 
ture under the lens except a few very fine rugosities in front close to the col- 
lare. Three acute longitudinal dorsal striae, the outer ones converging on the 
scutel and often with an almost microscopic row of punctures adjoining their 
inner edge, the middle one with a short stria on each side of its tip ; another 
short longitudinal stria above the origin of the wings. Collare rather finely ru¬ 
gose. Scutel rather finely rugose or almost confluently punctate, with two deep, 
hemispherical, basal pits. Abdomen highly polished, black in the dried speci¬ 
men, in the living immature insect shining piceous, the 2nd joint occupying 
about i its lateral surface with the upper edge describing a circular arc of about 
30°. “Ventral valve” thin, yellowish-subhyaline or piceous, unarmed, its tip in 
an angle of about 60°. “Dorsal valve” large, prominent and hairy. Ovipositor 
occasionally reposing in the “ventral valve.” Legs dull rufous or pale reddish 
brown, the hind femora almost invariably dark brown, and all 6 tarsal tips 
brown. Wings hyaline, veins moderately coarse, tinged more or less with 
brown. Areolet distinct and large. Radial area open and 3—3i times as long 
as wide. Length 9 *10 —Ab inch. 
Twenty-three 9; % unknown. April 18—20, I had 51 9 9 come 
out from last year’s galls and many more in the few succeeding weeks, 
without a single S amongst them. It is remarkable that Mr. Bassett 
also reared 100 9 9 punctata without a single % . Yery near 
indeed to that species, which was reared from somewhat similar galls 
on the Red oak instead of the Black oak, but differs by the vertex 
being rugose and the face rugose and pubescent, not simply “ pubes¬ 
cent,” and on the other hand by the thorax before the scutel not hav¬ 
ing its general surface “ finely and beautifully punctate,” even under 
an excellent double lens. It is possible, however, that Mr. Bassett 
may refer to microscopic punctation, though he says nothing to that 
effect, and says nothing either of the obvious sculpture of the head.* I 
I have since received eight specimens of punctata from Mr. Bassett. The 
only perfectly constant character that separates punctata from podagroe is that 
the lower part of the abdomen in the former is decidedly “reddish brown” as 
described, instead of “black” as in all the dried specimens of the latter. Indi¬ 
viduals of both forms have the peculiar “stump of a vein” on the second traus- 
