278 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



A DECORATION OF GOLDEN-ROD GALLS. 



rather weakly about for a time, takes its 

 first awkward flight. It is a pretty brown 

 fly in shape similar to the house fly but 

 with mottled wings. 1 had never seen 

 one until I hatched the first one out. 



The rose, raspberry and oak gall flies 

 are more like minute wasps and in the 

 case of the rose and raspberry galls which 

 are covered with a mossy growth a num- 

 ber of flies hatch from each gall. These 

 are all Hymenopterous or four winged 

 while Solidaginis is Dipterous or two 

 winged, and they do not pupate. 1 there- 

 fore worked a little scheme to observe 

 them. I sliced a gall carefully exposing 

 several little chambers each with its grub 

 and glued over all a thin microscopical 

 cover glass so that the development was 

 easily watched. It was most interesting 1 

 to see those little grubs become little 

 wasps ; to see the eyes show up black, 

 then the head, then to see the wings form 

 and finally to let the tiny insect out into 

 a covered lamp chimney and feed it with 

 sugar solution. After they are out a few 

 hours they show rapid changes in the 

 matter of growth and the loss in the 

 abdomen of the grubby, squirmy look. 

 The ovipositor marks the females and is 



like a little hair sticking out behind, very 

 "sting" looking. These little insects have 

 graceful antennae which are very motile 

 and altogether they are pert, lit looking 

 little fellows. 



( )n the willows of certain varieties, 

 winter finds certain swollen dry buds 

 very like pine cones in appearance and 

 from these hatch a gall gnat, a dipterous 

 insect again, but very small with long 

 narrow wings, more like a mosquito. 



This is no effort to describe all the 

 galls T have collected but I suggest that 

 the study of galls is exceedingly inter- 

 esting and very easy and they should be 

 collected between now and early spring. 

 I have placed in my collection the gall 

 and beside it the gall insect of each kind 

 I have found and consider them one of 

 my most interesting exhibits. They can 

 be arranged in "Riker" mounts too, as 

 1 have Solidaginis with a normal gall, an 

 opened gall, showing pupa, and unde- 

 veloped fly, and an imago or adult. 



Be careful to kill or remove inmate 

 of exhibition galls before mounting or 

 you will keep discovering lively little 

 uninvited additions to your collection, 

 as I did. 



