PESTS OF THE GAI^DE^'■. 141 



state within the gall, or hedeguar, as it is called, eating their way through 

 it to the open air, and emerging in thsir winged state. Several species of 

 these gall-flies are found together ; as Aylax Brandtii, and some others. 

 No production of nature seems to have puzzled the old naturalists more than 

 the galls produced by these creatures. Some asci'ibed their origin to spon- 

 taneous generation ; others^ finding eggs and larvae in the middle of a 

 substance without external orifice, inferred that they had been deposited in 

 the earth, and drawn up with the sap through the vessels of the plant to a 

 certain height, where they stopped, and, being now hatched, produced gall- 

 nuts ; others, like Redi, ascribed the origin of the larvae found in the bedeguar, 

 and other gall products, to the same soiu-ce as the fruits and flowers. 



325. Among the saw-flies, so called from the females possessing a saw-like 

 apparatus at the extremity of the body, Cladms d->fforviis measures a sixth 

 of an inch in length, black and shining in body, with dirty yellowish-white 

 legs. It feeds upon the leaves of various kinds of roses ; the caterpillars are 

 found feeding on them in the beginning of July, remaining in the pupa state 

 a fortnight or three weeks, when they appear as perfect insects. 



326. The little weevil {Balanimcs Brassicce) is also fond of the petals of the 

 rose, riddling them thi'ouefh with small holes. While these two species feed 

 on the petals, the little beetle eb'gethes jEneas) attacks it for the sake of the 

 pollen, and the leaf-cutter bee uses its delicate leaf to line the cells of which its 

 nest is composed. The brilliant little moth Microsetia antefohdla, which does 

 not measure more than the sixth of an inch in the expansion of its fore wings, 

 deposits its eggs within the substance of the leaves, from which the full- 

 grown grub eats its way through the dried surface, and crawls down the stem 

 until it reaches a place of safety, where it can form its cocoon. 



327. The ;;ear-^-ee is likewise subject to the attacks of several species of Lepi- 

 doptera. Saw-flies, and Aphides. Among the Lepidoptera, the beautiful moth 

 Zeuzera fyrena, with its antennae feathered on each side, is furnished with aa 

 elongated telescope-like ovipositor, with which the female deposits the egg% 

 to a considerable depth in the crevices of the bai-k of the tree. The perfect 

 insect appears in July, and the caterpillars in August, when they immediately 

 burrow into the wood of the tree. In September they moult, and in the 

 following June they are full grown. Sparrows are the gardener's best ally in 

 destroying this insect in the perfect state. Several other small Lepidoptera 

 are injurious to the pear ; Argyromyges scitella, one of the Tincidse, deposits 

 her eggs on the under surface of the leaves towards the end of May. The 

 young larvae penetrate the under cuticle, and feed on the fleshy parenchyma, 

 leaving the surfaces untouched, giving the leaf a flabby and blistered appear- 

 ance. The Chaumontelle is said to be particularly subject to the ravages of 

 this creature. In the beginning of autumn the leaves appear to be most 

 affected. 



328. Another species, Fcedisca angustiorana, though more commonly found 

 on apricot-trees, has also been found on the pear and other trees ; it is dis- 

 tinguished by a fine delicate web, which it spins round the stamens and 



