224 INSECTA. 



doniicil they have taken possession, in the manner of the Ichneumons. 

 Certain species are apterous. One species deposits its ova in the 

 pollen of the earliest of the wild Fig-trees. The modern Greeks, in 

 pursuance of a method transmitted to them from antiquity, pierce 

 several of these figs, and place them on their late bearing trees of the 

 same genus ; the Cynips soon leave their old dwelling and come out 

 loaded with the fecundating dust, insinuate themselves into the eye 

 of the fruit borne by the latter, fecundate its seeds, and accelerate the 

 period of its maturity. This operation is termed caprification. 



Ibalia, Lat. lllig. — Sagaris, Panz. — Banchus, Fab., 

 Where the abdomen is strongly compressed in all its height, and is 

 formed like the blade of a knife ; the antennas are filiform. The 

 radial cell is long and narrow ; the two branchials are very distinct, 

 and comj)letely or entirely closed, and the two first cubitals are very 

 small *. 



FiGiTEs, Lat. Jar., 

 Where the abdomen is ovoid, thickened and rounded superiorly, 

 or simply compressed and trenchant beneath ; and where the antennas 

 are granular and gradually enlarge. There is but one complete 

 brachial cell, the radial is very distant from the extremity of the 

 wing, and the second cubital is wanting |. 



Ctnips, Lin. — DiPLOLEPis, Geoff., 

 Or Cynips proper, where the abdomen is similar, but the antennae 

 are filiform and not granular. There is also but one complete cell at 

 the base of the superior Avings; there are three cubitals, the first of 

 which is proportionally larger than in the Ibaliae ; the radial is 

 equally elongated. 



C. qallce tinciorice\ Diplolepis gallce tinctorice, Oliv,, Voy. en 

 Turq. Very pale fulvous; covered with a silky and whitish 

 down, with a blackish-brown and glossy spot on the abdomen. 

 In the round, hard, and tuberculous gall fovmd on a species of 

 Oak in the Levant, which is employed in commerce. By break- 

 ing this gall we may frequently obtain the perfect insect. 



C. quercus penduncidi, L. ; Reaum., Insect., Ill, xl, 1 — 6. 

 Grey, Avith a linear cross on the wings. It pierces the blossoms 

 of the male flov/ers of the Oak, producing round tumours which 

 resemble little bunches of fruit. 



C. rosce, L. ; Reaum., Insect., Ill, xlvi. 5 — 8 ; and xlvii, 1 — 4. 

 Black; legs and abdomen, the extremity of the latter excepted, 

 red+. 



* Lat., Gen. Crust, et Insect., IV, p. 17. The maxillary palpi, according to my 

 former observations on this genus, have but five joints, whilst those of the Figites 

 and Cynips have but four. 



t Lat., Gen. Crust, et Insect., IV. p. 19, and Jurine. 



X For the other si^ecies, see Linnaeus; Oliv., Encyc. IM^thod., article DipJolepe ; 

 Lat., Hist. Gen. des Crust, et des Insect., XIII., p. 206, and Gen. Crust, et Insect., 

 IV. p. 18; Jurine and Panzer on the Hynseuoptera. 



Dr. Virey has published seme new observations on the galls produced by these 

 Insects, from a MS. memoir of the late M. Olivier. 



