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 



