346 



INSECT ARCHITECTURE. 



wliicli SO very much resemble them, that before dissection 

 we should not hesitate to consider them as such, and predict 

 that they formed the nidus of some species of insects. In 

 more instances than one we have felt so strongly assured of 

 this, that we have kept several specimens for some months, 

 in nurse-boxes, expecting that in due time the perfect 

 insects would be disclosed. 



Pseudo-Gall of the Bramble, drawn from a specimen. 



One of these pseudo-galls occurs on the common bramble 

 (Eubus fridicosus), and bears some resemblance to the bede- 

 guar of the rose when, old and changed by weather. It 

 clusters round the branches in the form of irregular 

 granules^ about the size of a pea, very much crowded, the 

 whole excrescence being rather larger than a walnut. We 

 expected to find this excrescence full of grubs, and were 

 much surprised to discover, upon dissection, that it was 

 only a diseased growth of the plant, caused (it might be) 

 by the puncture of an insect, but not for the purpose of a 

 nidus or habitation. (J. R.) 



Another sort of excrescence is not uncommon on the 

 terminal shoots of the hawthorn. This is in general irre- 

 gularly oblong, and the bark which covers it is of an iron 

 colour, similar to the scoriae of a blacksmith's forge. AVhen 

 dissected, we find no traces of insects, but a hard, ligneous, 

 and rather porous texture. It is not improbable that this 



