Lasioptera solidaginis

I am indebted to Mr. Edw. Norton for the communication of several specimens of this *Lasioptera*, reared by him in a box which contained a number of galls on the stalks of *Solidago*, all resembling more or less the common gall of *Trypeta solidaginis* Fitch. [= *Eurosta solidaginis*] By a careful examination of these galls and their contents I attempted to discover from which of them the *Lasiopteræ* had escaped. Although this attempt remained fruitless, and I did not find, as I had expected, any exuviae of the pupa of the midge, I will nevertheless communicate some facts, which resulted from my examination, and may be useful for future observers. I soon perceived that the galls could be separated into three groups...
[goes on to describe the heterogenous nature of the galls he received, which included some not made by *Eurosta solidaginis*.]
...
Does *Lasioptera* produce a gall for itself, very similar in appearance to the gall of *Trypeta* and therefore, perhaps overlooked by me, or taken out of the box, before it reached me? Or does it colonize the galls of *Trypeta*, after they have been abandoned by their original owner? Or else, before the escape of the latter, the larvæ of both species living in company? All three cases are not without precedent in the history of *Cecidomyiæ*.


Lasioptera reared from a gall on the golden-rod