(sometimes this species causes a noticeable gall), A. tumida (not known previously except from well-developed galls), and still other species which I shall study further before describing. In going over museum material of the same sort I have found the species here described to be very distinct from bicolor.
It is very likely that there are, still in existence today, many distinct species of Cynipidæ of primitive relationships and not yet discovered because of their hidden locations in plants. It promises to prove very profitable if we search widely-for these wasps among herbaceous plants which have their dead stems persisting throughout the winter, especially pithy stems of Composites of many genera. Though Lactuca has proved the most heavily infested thus far, it is very likely that other plants are also thus attacked.
Aulacidea annulata, new species
Plate XX, Figures 3 to 5
Female.—Antennæ golden brown, the second joint almost black; abdomen bright red with two black bands dorsally at the base; areolet small; first abscissa of the radius slightly angulate; length 3.5 mm. Head: black, the mandibles rufopiceous, their tips black; coarsely aciculated, the aciculations radiating somewhat from the mouth; face with a prominent, broad median elevation; entire face covered with grayish hairs. Antennæ 13-jointed, brownish with a reddish tinge, joints three to thirteen longitudinally striate, slightly pubescent, first joint bright red or rufous, second joint and basal half of third joint piceous or black. Thorax: entirely black; mesonotum punctate, covered with short, grayish hairs; parapsidal grooves distinct, smooth, reaching the pronotum; median groove distinct, rather deep, extending one–third or more of the way to the pronotum; anterior parallel lines distinct but not deep, extending one-third or more of the way to the scutellum; lateral grooves distinct, about as long as the median groove; scutellum rugoso-punctate, the two foveæ large, shining, but not smooth; the pronotum, lower edge of the mesopleuræ, and metapleuræ densely hairy; the mesopleuræ shining, deeply aciculate. Abdomen: bright red, shining, two-thirds of the second segment dorsally and basally, and the dorsal and anterior half of the third segment almost or quite black; abdomen very finely and microscopically punctate, a very few hairs at the base of the second segment laterally, at the top of the seventh segment, and on the ventral edge of the hypopygium; the abdomen large, about oval, with the second segment very short, no longer than the third, these two segments together only a little more than one-half the total length of the abdomen. Legs: golden to reddish brown, the coxæ bright red or slightly suffused with piceous, the hind femora darker than in the other legs, the last tarsal joints in part and all of the tarsal claws dark brown or black; legs entirely punctate, pubescent. Wings: clear; all the veins dark brown; areolot usually small or lacking but variable in size; cubitus apparently not reaching the basal vein, but a colorless trace of the vein may in certain lights be seen extending the rest of the way to the basal vein; radial cell entirely closed; first abscissa of the radius quite arcuate but with a suggestion of an angle or rarely an actual projection at a point slightly above the middle. Length: about 3.5 mm., and all of the cotypes are remarkably uniform in length.
