ORDER VI.—VEIN-WINGED INSECTS. 235 
erally very small, having a curved neck like a hunchback, 
short antennz, a short, almost triangular hind body, four 
colorless wings, and a piercer or ovipositor, as thin as a 
hair, which it most resembles, and by which they make a 
hole in the soft parts of plants, into which they deposit 
their eggs. ‘These punctures in“the stems, leaves, or buds 
of plants produce a swelling of the wounded parts, which, 
by the irritation of the sucking maggots issuing from the 
eggs, accumulate the sap, and rapidly increase in size, be- 
coming spongy, or pulpy, or hard within. It is curious, but 
it is a fact, that each egg grows larger after it has been de- 
posited in the plant, and sometimes doubles its size before 
the larva issues from it. 
These excrescences, called galls, are in reality monstros- 
ities, though they generally present a very fine appearance, 
so nearly resembling fruits or flowers as to be mistaken for 
them; but, instead of seeds, they contain the larve of in- 
sects, which feed upon the juices flowing from the wound 
they have made in the plant. 
The most common protuberances, or galls, are those 
found on oak-trees, called oak-balls, and those brought from 
Tripolis, Smyrna, Aleppo, and Mosul, which are extensive- 
ly known in commerce as a dye-stuff. But we also see 
green, yellow, or red galls, of the size of grapes, upon sev- 
eral other kinds of plants. Upon the leaves of willows we 
often find them resembling warts; and the branches of the 
honey-suckle (Azalia nudiflora) are covered with yellowish- 
green galls of a spongy texture, which, with all the maggots 
in them, are greedily devoured by many ignorant persons. 
It is very easy to ascertain whether there are such larvee in 
a gall or not by cutting it open; and if the insect has al- 
ready made its exit there will be a hole left in the gall. 
We have received a number of valuable insects, natives 
of that State, from Professor D. S. Sheldon, of Iowa Col- 
lege, at Davenport, and among others two nests of Gall- 
