HYMENOPTERA. 223 



without forming a club, and consist of from thirteen to fifteen joints*. 

 The palpi arc very longf. The ovipositor is convoluted spirally in 

 the interior of the abdomen, and has its posterior extremity lodged 

 in a groove of the venter. 



The Gallicolae form the genus 



Cynips, Lin. 



Geoffroy distinguishes these Insects by the improper name of Dip- 

 lolepif, and calls Cynips certain Insects of the following family com- 

 prised by Linnaeus in his last division of the Ichneumons. 



These Insects seem to be hump-backed, having a small head and a 

 thick and elevated thorax. Their abdomen is compressed, carinated 

 or trenchant inferiorly, and truncated obliquely, or obtuse, at the ex- 

 tremity. That of the females contains an ovipositor which seems to 

 consist of a single, long, and extremely slender or capillary thread 

 convoluted spirally near the base or towards the origin of the venter, 

 and of which the terminal portion is lodged under the anus between 

 two elongated valvulse, each of which forms a semi-scabbard or 

 sheath for it. The extremity of this ovipositor is grooved, and has 

 lateral teeth resembling the barbs on tlie head of an arrow ; with 

 these the Insect widens the aperture it has effected in different parts 

 of plants, for the purpose of receiving its eggs. The juices of those 

 plants are diffused in the wounded spots and form excrescences or 

 tumours called galls. The one most commonly known, or the gall- 

 nut, Aleppo gall, is employed with a solution of the sulphate of iron 

 to produce a black dye. The form and solidity of these protu- 

 berances vary according to the nature of the parts of the plants that 

 have been wounded, such as the leaves, petioles, buds, bark, roots, 

 &c. Most of them are spherical ; some resemble fruits, such as the 

 galles en poinme, galles en groseilles, galles en pepin, galles en nejie, 

 &c. Others are fibrous or hairy, like that called the hedegitar, 

 mousse clieveliie, &c., which is observed on the wild Rose-trees. 

 Some of them resemble artichokes, others mushrooms, &c. &c. The 

 eggs enclosed in these excrescences increase in size and consistence, 

 and finally produce larvse destitute of feet, but frequently provided 

 with mammillae in place of them. Sometimes they live there so- 

 litarily, and sometimes in society, feeding on their internal parietes 

 without interfering with their development, and remaining five or six 

 months in this condition. There also some undergo their metamor- 

 phosis, to effect which others issue forth and descend into the eartli 

 where they remain till their final change is completed. The round holes 

 observed on the exterior of the gall intimates the exit of the Insect. 

 Several Insects of the following family are also sometimes found in 

 it, but this has been by destroying the natural inhabitants, of whose 



* Accoidine; to the sex; thirteen ia the female I baliec, the same uumber in the 

 female Figites, and fourteen in the males ; fourteen in the female Cynips, and 

 fifteen in their males. 



+ The maxillary palpi usually have four joints, and the labials three, of which the 

 last is rather the thickest. 



