Page:The Gall Wasp Genus Cynips.pdf/100

 ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION. Kieffer, 1901, Ann. Soc. ent. France 1901: 435. Dryophanta Schlechtendali, n.sp. Surface finement bosselée, sans poils vésiculeux; galle conique. Sur Q. pedunculata (von Schlechtendal, 1891). Diffère de D. verrucosa, selon Schlechtendal, par les pattes d'un jaune sombre.

Translation. Dryophanta Schlechtendali, new species. The surface of the gall finely embossed, without vesicular hairs; the gall conical. On Quercus pedunculata, according to Schlechtendal 1891. The insect differs from Dryophanta verrucosa, according to Schlechtendal, in its dull yellow legs.

All that is known of this insect is contained in Schlechtendal's record of its occurrence in Ober-Lausitz in Germany, and in the description quoted above. Kieffer, however, was forced to group the bisexual forms of the entire subgenus Cynips in the key of his 1901 monograph, with the statement that the insects are indistinguishable; and Dalla Torre and Kieffer had to do this in the 1910 volume of Das Tierreich. Even Mayr (1882) stated he was not able to distinguish the insects. If these authors were ignorant of the differences that actually exist between these bisexual forms in the subgenus, I question their authority to distinguish an insect (schlechtendali) which they had never seen! It is, moreover, to be noted that the legs of the forms similis and verrucosa among European Cynips are already a dull yellow and light piceous, and are not to be distinguished from schlechtendali on this character. Unless authentic material of schlectendali is actually in existence, there seems to be no useful purpose served in keeping this name out of the list of unrecognizable binomials in Cynipidae.

There are more or less detailed histologic studies available for the galls of all the species of European Cynips. In summary it may be noted that Fockeu's study (1889, Hist. Galles: 23) showed there are common histologic structures in the galls of folii, longiventris, and divisa, again bearing witness to the natural affinities of the group. These common characters in the galls of the three are: (1) Slight irregularities on the surfaces. (2) Occasional stomata in the epidermal coverings especially basally. (3) Lack of starch in the parenchyma in the agamic galls of Cynips [this needs verification!] altho it is present in Neuroterus galls, and the presence of an abundance of tannin. (4) The presence of branching, cylindric, or prismatic cells in the parenchyma. (5) Fibro-vascular bundles massed in places to form networks similar to those