Macrodiplosis niveipila

Macrodiplosis erubescens

Polystepha symmetrica

Caryomyia aggregata

Phylloteras poculum (agamic)

Dasineura pudibunda

Cecidomyia niveipila n. sp.

Deformation of oak leaves, consisting of a large fold with a white pubescence on the inside. It begins very early in the spring on the young leaves of the white oak and other kinds of oak. The egg is probably deposited on the upper surface of the leaf, on one of the ribs. The irritation caused by the larva produces a fold or cavity in the leaf, lined inside with a white pubescence. The under side of the leaf shows on the corresponding spot the swollen rib, which is pale green, bordered on both sides by the same white pubescence. The galls, according to their size, contain more or less larvae, sometimes ten or more. When this deformation is very large, it involves the whole leaf, which is folded in two along the midrib, the under side forming the outside of the fold, and showing the swollen ribs with the white pubescence in their intervals. On the 25th of May I found some of the galls considerably grown, thick, and swollen; their pubescence was of the brightest white; the larvae they contained were also grown, plump, white. Other galls, on the contrary, had grown but little, and appeared sickly or withered. They contained no larvae at all, or their inmates appeared yellowish and sickly. 

Cecidomyia erubescens, n. sp.

Folded margin of an oak leaf, tinged with red. This deformation seems to resemble that of Cecidomyia quercus on the European oaks. Occurs in the spring.

Cecidomyia symmetrica, n. sp.

Hard red gall on the leaves of different kinds of oak, small and round (between 0.05 and 0.1 in diameter) when single, but more commonly assuming an irregular shape by the coalescence of a number of them. 

I find them chiefly and in large numbers on leaves of Quercus falcata in autumn. They sometimes invade almost the whole surface of the leaf, and have exactly the same size and shape on both its sides. The single round galls contain one larva, the compound ones a number of them, depending on the size of the gall, but each in its own compartment. The red substance of the crust shows many cracks, when the gall is ripe, and is easily detached. Under it is a harder, almost woody, yellowish substance. When the dry leaves with such galls fall to the ground, the red part of the crust generally crumbles away in part, partly it is found erect, forming a jagged fence round the gall. Such galls are generally empty, the larvae having perhaps gone under ground, although one of the specimens which I brought home was inclosed in a delicate cocoon inside of the gall.

These galls, as I remarked before, protrude symmetrically on both sides of the leaf. On other kinds of oak, especially the quercitron oak (Q tinctoria [velutina]), I found similar galls, but on the upper side of the leaf only, without the corresponding excrescence on the under side. Those I brought home were abandoned by their larvae, which went under ground. Thus I am very uncertain about the identity of both galls, as well as about the habits of the insects. As all these galls were found with larvae late in autumn, it is evident the fly escapes very early in the spring. 

Caryomyia holotricha n. sp [partial synonym for a variant]

I have observed two modes of occurrence of these galls; either they are scattered in numbers, as many as a hundred on the same leaflet, or they grow in a row along the midrib of the leaflet; in the latter case they are generally larger, and being packed close together, assume an irregular shape. It is very probable that these two forms belong to two different species, and in this case I would retain the above name for the first form. 

Cecidomyia poculum, n. sp [mistakenly identified as a midge gall]

The so-called oak spangles (Fitch, Hop., vol. II, No. 40), small, circular, somewhat saucer-shaped scales, from 0.1 to 0.2 in diameter, reddish or purplish, covered with a white efflorescence, attached to the leaf by a short pedicel, common in autumn on different kinds of oaks, are generally found empty. In the beginning of August I found a similar gall, yet succulent and greenish, on the post oak {Q. obtusiloba [stellata]), and inside of it a small whitish larva having all the appearance of the larva of a Cecidomyia, although, on account of its minuteness, I did not succeed in discovering the breast-bone. Dr. Fitch is in error when he states that these palls are " perfectly the same" as those noticed by Westwood, Introd., II, p. 130. The European galls of this kind are pilose externally, as stated by Westwood and figured by Reaumur (Mom., vol. Ill, Tal). XL, f. 13); the American ones, at least those which came under my notice, are smooth. 

Cecidomyia pudibunda n. sp.

Fold on the leaf of the hornbeam (Carpinus americana), tinged with red on the outside. It is generally situated between two of the side ribs, and runs, therefore, obliquely towards the central rib. Inside of this fold I found, on the 15th of June, exceedingly small whitish larva ; when magnified they appeared semi-transparent, with an orange spot about the middle of the body, and with numerous short, erect bristles ; the head is distinct, as well as two short antennae; although I did not perceive the breast-bone, I have no doubt, from the appearance of these larvae, that they belong to this genus. 

On the North American Cecidomyiidae