TWO FAIRY SPONGES 41 
And now the prosaic entomologist proceeds to 
supplant fact for fancy. This gall-fly is a sort of 
cousin to the wasps, but what we would call its 
sting is more than a mere sting. Like a sting, it 
seems to puncture the bark or leaf, and at the 
same time probably to inject its drop of venom ; 
but at the same time it conveys to the depths of 
the wound a tiny egg, or perhaps a host of them. 
One gall-fly is thus a magician in chemistry, at 
least, for no sooner are these eggs deposited than 
the wounded branch begins to swell and form a 
cellular growth or tumor about them, the charac- 
ter of this abnormal growth depending upon the 
peculiar charm of the venomous touch to one a 
tiny coral globe, to another a cluster of spines, to 
another a curved horn, and to our cynips of the 
white or scrub oak a peculiar globular, spongy 
growth which completely envelops the stem, some- 
times to the size of ,a small apple. In its prime 
it is a beautiful object, with its fibrous, glisten- 
ing texture studded with pink points. But this 
condition lasts but a few days, when the entire 
mass becomes brownish and woolly, which fact 
has given this insect the common name of " wool- 
sower." 
And now we must lose no time if we would 
follow its history to its complete cycle. If we 
put one of these faded sponges in a tight-closed 
box,, we shall in a few days learn the secret of its 
