ORDER VI. VEIN-WINGED INSECTS. 235 



erally very small, having a curved neck like a hunchback, 

 short antennas, 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 larvae 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 nudiflord) arc 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 larvae 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- 



