Antron quercusnubila (agamic)

Andricus quercusutriculus (sexgen)

Andricus quercuscalifornicus (agamic)

Loxaulus quercusmammula (sexgen)

Callirhytis pigra (sexgen)

Neuroterus floccosus (agamic)

Cynips quercus nubila, n. sp.

Galls: Densely hairy, sub-globular or hemispherical clusters of galls on the under side of leaves of an unknown species of oak; always on the midvein. When fresh the hairs are of a fine deep crimson, but fade somewhat in drying. At the base they are yellowish white. The galls in each cluster grow from the same point on the leaf, and the clusters are from one-half to one inch in diameter, and contain from one to five or more galls or larval cells. The cells, denuded of their covering of hairs, are nearly globular, tapering, however, to an obtuse point at the end attached to the leaf, and they measure from three-sixteenths to nearly or quite half an inch in diameter. The shell is about .02 of an inch in thickness (thicker than this at the base, however) and is very hard and brittle when dry; it contains no larval cell, and its inner surface is slightly roughened as if gnawed. 

These galls, in their dense hairiness and in their size and outward appearance, resemble closely those of C q. tenuicornis n. s. from the same locality; but while in this species the larval cells are separate, in tenuicornis they are enclosed in an envelope of a dry porous consistence. The fine crimson color, seems to be a constant character of C q. nubila, and the insects from the two galls are widely different. 

Cynips quercus utricula, n. sp.

Globular, monothalamous galls on the petioles and leaves of Quercus alba. Thin-walled, .15 of an inch in diameter, green or purplish, pubescent. Sometimes entirely preventing the development of the leaf, and appearing on the end of the short petiole. Sometimes found on the end of a vein in a partially developed leaf, and more rarely surrounded by the lamina of the leaf. In the last case it appears on both sides of the leaf, but is most prominent above. It contains no larval cell. In size and in structure it resembles C. q. vesicula found on the same oak, but it is several weeks later and the insects differ materially. The flies appear early in June, and are of both sexes. 

This species is often quite abundant in the limited space where I have found it. In describing the galls I should have added that the larva is not enclosed in a larval cell.

Habitat.--CT

Andricus quercuscalifornicus

Polythalamous, sessile on the branches of the Californian White Oak. Sub-globular, but varying much in form and size. A common form is what may be termed balloon-shaped, the upper part perfectly globular, the lower tapering more or less to the sessile base. They often occur of a long compressed oval form : these are placed longitudinally on the branch and the length is two or three times their breadth or thickness. Those of this form are often of monstrous size, being ten or twelve inches in their greatest circumference. 

The globular galls are from one to two inches in diameter. In color, they are of an opaque white. They are usually smooth, but specimens occur that have a more or less warty surface, and others are found that have slight yellowish-brown ridges. Internally are of a uniform, dense cellular structure, and the not very numerous larval cells (from one to a dozen) lie closely embedded in this cellular substance.







Cynips quercus mammula, n. sp.

Galls: Hard woody knots at the base of the young shoots on thrifty young white oak trees, Q alba. They affect both the lateral and terminal branches, and as they are of a hemispherical form, and of large size when compared with the branch which always grows out of their summit, they suggest the name above given. They are polythalamous, and the larval cells are arranged as though the eggs had been deposited around the bud before the leaves appeared. The white, thin-walled larval cells are imbedded in woody tissue from which it is almost impossible to detach them. The galls formed around the lateral buds are from one-half to three- fourths of an inch in diameter, but those around the cluster of terminal buds are often an inch in diameter, and instead of a single branch, several are often found growing out of a single gall. They do not seem to affect the growth of the branches the first year, but must seriously injure the tree the following year when the perforated galls begin to decay. This species was very common last year in a thicket which I have searched for galls every season for the last fifteen years without discovering it. The flies are of both sexes and they leave the galls in July. 

Cynips pigra, n. sp.

The galls of this species answer perfectly to Baron Osten-Sacken's description of C. q. tumifica. They are large irregular swellings on the midrib of the leaves of Q. tinctoria [velutina], always on the under side and usually on the lower half of the leaf. Sometimes two distinct galls are found on the same leaf. Their presence is only indicated on the upper surface by a widening of the midrib and a slight depression of the leaf at that point. They are often an inch in length and in the middle half an inch in diameter, tapering more or less towards the ends. They are of a dense cellular tissue, with the woody fibre of the midrib along the axis. The cellular portion contains a large number of larval cells, which are inseparable from the enveloping substance. Having discovered a young oak nearly all of whose leaves had these galls upon them early in June last year, I made frequent visits to it to watch the development of the larvae. Quite sure that they would prove to be Cynips q. tumifica, I expected to find the insects fully matured early in July, but at that time the larvae could scarcely be seen in the soft, immature vegetable cells that surrounded them, and it was late in autumn when the perfect insects made their appearance. This extremely slow development suggested the specific name. The gall flies are all females, and differ widely from C. q. tumifica O S. 

Cynips floccosa, n. sp.

The late, terminal leaves of the thrifty shoots of young oaks of the species Q. bicolor are often thickly dotted on the under side with small hairy, or rather woolly, galls, sometimes as many as two hundred being found on a single leaf The leaves are sometimes quite small, and in such instances the galls become nearly or quite confluent. They measure, including their woolly covering, about .15 of an inch across, but divested of this, only .05 or .06, and each contains but a single larva. The larva is free, having no larval cell. The galls are hemispherical, and attached by their flat side to the leaf, and they show on the upper surface only as small, smooth, flat, shining blisters. They are so much infested by inquilines and other parasites that all attempts to rear true gall flies from them proved fruitless for many years. I, at length, succeeded in rearing in the spring a considerable number of true gall flies from galls collected the October preceding in Northern Ohio, Only females have yet been reared, and these minute creatures will be found, no doubt, like other and larger ones that live over winter in the galls, to be only of one sex.

New Species of Cynipidae