Habits of a Cynipideous Parasite, 491 



— 24. &carabse N us hordeola appeared. — 25. .Ephemera vul- 

 gata appeared ; elder tree flowered. — 29. Viburnum O'pulus 

 and Rosa canina (wild) flowered. — 30. Viqaq. sylvatica (garden) 

 flowered. — 31. iliyosotis palustris (wild), Digitalis purpurea 

 (wild), and Rosa, spinosissima (wild) flowered ; Chrysis ignita 

 appeared. 



June 1. Hipparchitf Janhvz* and Hepialus hiimuli appeared ; 

 .Rosa Donidna (wild) flowered. — 4. Acacia (RobinzVz Pseiid- 

 Acacm) flowered. — 5. O'rchis maculata and bifolia flowered. 



— 8. Wheat in ear; Vno statices appeared. — 9. iEosaarven- 

 sis (wild) flowered ; PygaeVa bucephala appeared. — 10. Pha- 

 lae v na (Pyralis) urticata appeared. — 14. Glowworm shone. — 

 19. Pontic cardamines last seen. — 24. Cuckoo last heard. 



— 28. Phalae^na chaerophyllata appeared. 



I am, Sir, yours, &c. 

 Allesley Rectory, Aug. 15. 1833. W. T. Bree. 



I 



Art. IV. Notice of the Habits of a Cynipideous Insect, parasitic 

 upon the Rose Louse (A" phis rbsce); with Descriptions of several 

 other parasitic Hymenoptera. By J. O. Westwood, Esq. F.L.S. 

 &c. 



The family Cynipidae, corresponding with the Linnaean 

 genus Cynips, is remarkable for the singular powers which 

 the insects composing it possess of distorting various vege- 

 table substances, by raising tubercles and warts, of various 

 sizes and forms ; or, as they are termed, galls. These are the 

 result of wounds made by the female fly in depositing her 

 eggs in the plant; the internal substance of these protube- 

 rances being destined for the support of the future grubs. 

 These galls, which are often of a surprising size when com- 

 pared with that of the minute creatures which produce them, 

 have attracted the attention of naturalists of every age, as well 

 as of the merest observer of nature from early childhood. In- 

 deed, it is (or, at least, was, in that part of the country where 

 I received the early part of my education) one of the venture- 

 some feats of our schoolboy days, to mount to the topmost 

 branches of the oak, for the purpose of getting oak galls (or, 

 as we termed them, oak apples) to stick in our caps on that 

 joyous half-holiday, 



" The twenty-ninth of May, 

 Royal-oak'Day." 





* The earliest appearance of this insect that ever came to my know- 

 ledge : for the most part, it is seldom seen before the middle or end of 

 June : once only I have noticed it so early as the 7th, and once on the 9th. 



