HYMENOPTERA. 



123 



Spiculiferca, and the Tube-bearers, TubuUferce ; the 

 former consists of Gall-flies {Cynipidce), the Ichneumons 

 {Ichneumonidce), the Evamida\ Chalcidida\ and the 

 Proctotrupidw ; the latter the Ruby-tails {Chrysididce). 

 The Dart-bearers are parasitic on living insects, the 

 Tube-bearers are supposed to be parasitic in the nests 

 of other Hymenopterous insects. The Gall-flies nre 

 the authors of the oak-apples, so much sought after by 

 school-boys on the 29 th 

 of May (King Charles 11. 

 day) ; the currant-like 

 balls on the long catkins 

 of the oak, and the round, 

 hard, smooth, marble-like 

 galls, not known in this 

 country some thirty years 

 ago, but exceedingly com- 

 mon now on young oak 

 trees. The insect which produces this last named gall is 

 the Cynips Ugnicola, so called from the hard woody 

 structure of the gall ; by some entomologists it is called 

 the Cynips Kollari, after a German naturalist. I first 

 noticed this gall in Devonshire about the year 1858 ; 

 I had not noticed it in Warwickshire where I was then 

 living, nor did I see it in Shropshire till about the year 

 1862. Now it is common in every field and hedgerow. 

 In the gall of the Cynips Kollari, generally within the 

 very centre will be found at the proper season of the 

 year a single white grub, snugly hid in its dark recess ; 

 on assuming its perfect stage, the little insect gnaws its 

 way out into the world of light. The small round 

 holes that may be seen on the surface of the gall, 



a. Gall Nuts. 



h. Gall Nuts of Cynips Quercus folii. 



