36 TRIBES OF THE 



That we always call the Gallflies, 

 Or iu Science Cynipsina. 

 These most wonderful formations, 

 Nurseries of Gallfly larvae. 

 Little white and footless maggots. 

 Are not built by skiU instinctive 

 Of the quiet pent up inmate. 

 Or its winged and wandering parent, 

 But are merely strange distortions, 

 Caused by buoyant sap diverted 

 From the true and proper channels ; 

 Yet how uniformly fashioned ! 

 How alike in size and figure 

 Those each kind of fly produces ! 

 How unlike to every other ! 

 AU the Gallflies are small insects. 

 With antennae very simple, 

 And with bodies flattened sideways, 

 And divided in the middle 

 Into nearly equal portions. 

 Called the abdomen and thorax ; 

 And the female has a borer. 

 All GaUflies, indeed, are female, 

 With which instrument she pierces 

 Leaves or tiny twiglike branches, 

 Laying eggs within the fissure ; 

 Her clear vsings are almost rayless. 

 And her feet are all fivejointed. 



