Page:VCH Cornwall 1.djvu/280

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A HISTORY OF CORNWALL ORTHORRHAPHA NEMATOCER4 PULICIDAE 1 Pnlex irritans, L. No comb-like process on chin or pronotum ; general fasciatus, Bosc. Comb of about eighteen teeth on pronotum ; on brown rat, Trun avium, Tasch. Comb of about twenty-eight teeth on pronotum ; on a fowl, Trun ; W '. Cornwall melis, Walker. Comb of about eighteen teeth on pronotum ; on a badger from Baldhu sciurorum, Bouche. Comb of about eighteen teeth on pronotum ; on a squirrel from Kea serraticeps, Gerv. Comb of about sixteen teeth on chin and of about twenty teeth on pro- notum ; on dogs and cats erinacei, Bouche. Comb of about four teeth on chin and one of six on pronotum ; on a hedge- hog from Kea gomocephalus, Tasch. Comb of five or six teeth on each side of face and one of about twelve on pronotum Hystrichopsylla obtusiceps, Rits. Comb of about twenty teeth on the chin, of over forty on pro- notum, with combs on sixth, seventh, and eighth segments ; on a mole from Nance, Trun Typhlopsylla musculi, Duges. Comb of about eight teeth on chin, and of about twenty on prono- tum ; on house mouse, Truro gracilis, Tasch. Comb of three or four teeth on each side of the head, and one of about eighteen teeth on pronotum ; none could be found on moles from the Truro district, but the species was well represented on a mole from Menhentot CECIDOMYIDAE* Lasioptera rubi, Schrk. Galls not uncommon locally on bramble stems throughout the county and at Stilly Cecidomyia betulae, Winn. Characteristic galls formed from the male catkins of the birch ; locally common in the east of the county and near St. Agnes bursaria, Bremi. The pretty little galls abundant almost everywhere on the leaves of ground ivy crataegi, Winn. Solitary galls formed from tuft of leaves at summit of upright shoots of haw- thorn; common throughout the county, especially in 1902 destructor, Say. In 1886 the appearance of the Hessian Fly in Great Britain caused consider- able alarm among agriculturists. The summer form of attack upon the growing straw was recorded from the Penzance and the Liskeard districts, but the insect did not appear to spread, and speedily died out 1 The list of Cornish Pulicidae was drawn up by the Truro Agricultural Students in 1901 exactly as it stands.

  • With few exceptions the presence of the following Ceci-

domyid species in Cornwall has been established by the identifi- cation not of the insects themselves, but of the galls they pro- duce. Only those county gall-makers are recorded that are described and figured in Connold's Brithb Vegetable Galls, as the published accounts of the other species were inaccessible to the writer. ORTHORRHAPHA (continued) NEMATOCERA (continued) CECIDOMYIDAE (continued) Cecidomyia lathyri, Frfid. Apical galls on Lathyrus pratensis found at Scawstvater, September, 1901, and at Bodmin, July, 1903 marginemtorquens, Bremi. Galls formed by re- flexed margins of leaves of common willow not uncommon near Truro rosarum, Hardy. Pod-like galls formed from simple folded leaflets of the dog-rose, very com- mon in 1901, but scarce during the last two years saliciperda, Duff. Roundish and irregular galls often common near the apex of the sallow twigs throughout the year ulmariae, Bremi. The tiny gregarious globular galls abundant on leaves of meadow-sweet at Pencalenick, June, 1904 urticae, Ferris. Galls on almost every part of the common nettle, abundant at Millook in 1905, and occasionally found in quantity on nettle patches throughout the county veronicae, Vallot. The terminal green leaf- formed galls covered with long white hairs extraordinarily abundant almost everywhere on Germander speedwell violae, F. Lw. Galls formed from unrolled base of leaf lamina on dog violet, common in occasional clumps Diplosis botularia, Winn. Long slender galls on mid-rib of the leaflets of the ash, widespread and locally common pyrivora, Riley. This is the deadliest enemy to pear cultivation in Cornwall, though it does not seem to have been noticed in the county till thirteen years ago tremulae, Winn. Galls on the petioles of aspen widely spread but local tritici, Kirby. The wheat midge. This seems to have been a much more serious pest in the county twenty or thirty years ago than it is at present. No attack on an extensive scale has been recorded since systematic obser- vations were undertaken seven years ago, but wheat heads are occasionally sent in from the east and middle of the county containing numerous lemon or orange coloured cecidomyid larvae sometimes just inside the outer glumes, at other times on the young ovary. It is pre- sumed these belong to this species, but the insect itself has not been submitted to a compe- tent authority for identification Hormomyia annulipes, Hart. Pilose yellowish-orange gregarious galls abundant on the upper surface of the leaves of a beech tree at Boitmin in July, 1901 capreae, Winn. Coalesced greenish-yellow galls not uncommon on the under-surface of the leaf of the sallow fagi, Hartig. Small gregarious glabrous galls of a yellowish colour, bright red at the apex, on the upper surface of the leaf of the beech, found somewhat sparingly at Launceston millefolii, Lw. Small irregular pedunculated green galls on the leaf segments and midrib of yarrow, widely spread, but not usually plentiful 228