in HERMIT HOMES 95 



sensation they produced on the palate in the days 

 gone by. 



Cynipidae are not the only insects that originate 

 galls. In the beetle group some of the weevils pass 

 their early stages in swellings brought about by the 

 parents. The Cecidomyia in the order Diptera, the 

 saw-flies, the aphides, the moths, and many more are 

 likewise gall-makers. 



No form of habitation can be simpler and more 

 natural than the burrow, and when it is made 

 in seeking for, or in eating, food, the point seems 

 to be reached at which simplicity of design can 

 go no farther. Many an insect that to see is to 

 admire fragile, beautiful in brilliant colour, soaring 

 in the air, exulting in the sunbeams indebted to its 

 own exertions, has passed the previous portion of its 

 life thus hidden in the interior of a tree trunk, a 

 branch, a leaf, or a root, even in fruit or in the earth, 

 feeding greedily on its surroundings or upon any 

 prey that might come within its reach. In these con- 

 cealed situations it has entered upon its etherealised 

 winged state, and become equipped for its higher 

 position and purer atmosphere. 



Of this nature are the homes of the larvae of one of 

 the wasp-like moths, Sesia apiformis. These cater- 

 pillars are pale in colour, and at a glance one judges 

 them to be wood-eaters. The eggs are laid on the 

 bark of poplar trees, and when hatched the young at 

 once make their way into the interior of the trunks, 

 and eat out tunnels of considerable size for no less a 

 period than two years previous to their metamor- 

 phosis into chrysalides. For this labour the grubs 



