HAWTHORN WEEVIL. 339 



went througli its regular changes, and appeared in the form 

 of a small greyish-brown beetle of the weevil family. The 

 most remarkable circumstance in the case in question, was 

 the apparent inability of the grub to construct a fresh cell 



Gall of the Hawthorn Weevil, drawn from specimen, a, Opened to show the grub. 



after the first was injured, — proving, we think, beyond a 

 doubt, that it is the puncture made by the parent insect 

 when the egg is deposited that' causes the exudation and 

 subsequent concretion of the juices forming the gall. 

 These galls were very abundant during the summer of 

 1830. (J. R.) 



A few other instances of beetles producing galls are re- 

 corded by naturalists. Kirby and Spence have ascertained, 

 for example, that the bumps formed on the roots of kedlock 

 9r charlock {Sinapis arvensis) are inhabited by the larva^ 

 of a weevil (^Curculio contractus, Marsham; and Rhynchoenus 

 assimilis, Fabr.) ; and it may be reasonably supposed that 

 either the same or similar insects cause the clubbing of the 

 roots of cabbages, and the knob-like galls on turnips, called 

 in some places the anbury. We have found them also in- 

 festing the roots of the holyhock (^Alcea rosea). They are 

 evidently beetles of an allied genus which form the woody 

 galls sometimes met with on the leaves of the guelder-rose 

 (^Viburnum), the lime-tree {Tilia europwa), and the beech 

 (^Fagus sylvatica). 



There are also some two- winged flies which produce 



