Connecticut: New Haven (Champlain, Walden); Waterbury (Bassett). New York: New York City (Beutenmuller); Staten Island (W. T. Davis). New Jersey: Fort Lee (Beutenmiller); New Brunswick (J. B. Smith). Illinois: Algonquin (Nason). Iowa (Beutenmuller). Michigan: Lansing (Gillette).
Neuroterus noxiosus form vernalis, new name
Plate XXIX, Figures 14 to 16
Female.—Head, thorax, and abdomen mostly black; antennae yellowish, shading into brown toward the tip; areolet rather small; length about 1.5 mm. Head: black, shading into rufous brown on the lower half of the face and on the mouthparts; finely coriaceous to punctate; antennæ 13-(14-)jointed, yellowish, shading into brownish toward the tips. Thorax: black, or piceous black, finely coriaceous; without more than very faint traces of anterior parallel lines, parapsidal grooves, etc.; scutellum black, finely coriaceous, separated from the mesonotum by a deep, distinct, arcuate groove. Abodmen: black or piceous, smooth and shining, shrivelling on drying, angulate in outline; the second segment about only one-third as long as the whole of the abdomen. Legs: light golden yellowish, the middles of the femora, the hind coxae and tibiae, and the tips of the tarsi dark brown; hairy. {{smallcaps|Wings: long, clear, the veins light brown in color, areolet moderately small; cubitus reaching the midpoint of the basal vein; radial cell long and narrow, open (rarely in small part closed on the margin); the first abscissa of the radius angulate, the apex of the angle above the middle of the vein and without a very distinct projection into the radial cell. Length: 1.2-1.7 mm.
Male.—Similar to the female, but with legs and antennae entirely yellowish; antennæ 14-jointed, the third joint curved; the first abscissa of the radius showing a slight projection into the radial cell; abdomen small, petiolate; length, 1.0-1.4 mm.
[Redescription made from a large amount of New England material which was compared with the types.]
Galls.—Irregular clusters of woody swellings (Figs. 14 to 16) of the stems, petioles, and leaves. Polythalamous. The whole mass roughly about 20×40 mm. in diameter or less, inseparable from the plant; fist-like, the separate parts woody, indicating the separate leaves or parts of leaves involved, and bearing a small portion of deformed leaves; these parts are united by the deformed petiole, or by a fused mass of petioles or young twigs. The gall is bark-colored, or tinged with a glaucous bloom. Internally the larval cells are crowded closely together, the cells very distinct but not separable from the surrounding woody tissue. On the young growth of Quercus Prinus and Q. bicolor.
Cotypes.—Cotype females, males, and galls in The American Museum of Natural History, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and the Museum of Comparative Zoology.
When Bassett first described this species he gave detailed descriptions of the galls of the two generations and noted differences in sizes of the adults. T he specific relations of the two generations had been arrived at through the field observation of the alternate abundance of the two forms of galls and the close similarity of the adults of the successive generations. The tremendous abundance of this species locally often gives abundance opportunity for observations. Gillette, Beutenmüller,
