450 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS, 



by supposing that to the same vegetative soul by which 

 fruits and plants are produced, is committed the charge 

 of creating the larvae found in galls a ! An instance truly 

 humiliating, how little we can infer from a man's just 

 ideas on one point, that he will not be guilty of the most 

 pitiable absurdity on another ! 



Though by far the greater part of the vegetable ex- 

 crescencies termed galls, are caused by insects of the 

 genus Cynips, they do not always originate from this 

 tribe. Some are produced by weevils belonging to 

 Schuppel's genus Ceutorhynchus ; as those on the roots 

 of kedlock (Sinapis arvensis), which I have ascertained 

 to be inhabited by the larvae ofCurculio contractus Marsh., 

 Wiyncluznus assimilis, F. From the knob-like galls on 

 turnips called in some places the anbury, I have bred 

 another of these weevils, (Curculio pleurostigma. Marsh., 

 Rhynchcenus sulcicollis, Gyll.) and I have little doubt that 

 the same insects, or species allied to them, cause the 

 clubbing of the roots of cabbages. It seems to be a bee- 

 tle of the same family that is figured by Reaumur 5 , as 

 causing the galls on the leaves of the lime-tree. Others 

 owe their origin to moths, as those resembling a nutmeg 

 which Reaumur received from Cyprus c -; and others 

 again to two-winged flies, as the woody galls of the this- 

 tle caused by Trypeta Cardui d 9 and the cottony galls 

 found on ground ivy, wild thyine, &c. as well as a very 

 singular one on the juniper resembling a flower, de- 

 scribed by De Geer e , all which are the work of minute 

 gall-gnats (Cecidomyia, Latr.). Some of these last con- 

 vert even the flowers of plants into a kind of galls, as 



a De Insectis, 233 &c. b Reaum. iii. t. 38. f. 2, 3. 



u Ibid. iii. 448. d Ibid. 455. e De Geer, vi. 409. 



