OAK-GALLS. ICHNEUMONID^. 163 



which are found on the borders of the Dead Sea, and which 

 have been said " to appear outwardly tempting to the eye, but to 

 turn to ashes on the lips," are nothing else than galls of a softer 

 consistence, produced from the same Oak by the attacks of 

 another species of Cynips. The " oak-apples," again, of our 

 own country, are large galls found upon the young shoots ; the 

 leaves sometimes produce, besides the larger galls, a multitude 

 of little spangled discs, of a reddish colour, which contain the 

 larvse of a small species of Cynips ; the parts of fructification are 

 sometimes attacked by a species, the galls of which hang on the 

 catkins like a bunch of currants ; and the root produces a large 

 woody gall, inhabited by a species of Cynips, of which 1100 

 individuals have been found in a single gall. The Oak is by no 

 means the only species of vegetable infected by these insects ; 

 but a larger number of Gall-flies appear to be restricted to it 

 than to any other plant. The Rose is subject to the attacks of 

 one species, which causes the flower-bud to be developed into a 

 gall in a very curious manner. An insect, considered as belong- 

 ing to this family, deposits its eggs in the seeds of the most 

 forward wild figs of the Levant. The modern Greeks, following 

 a custom handed down to them by their forefathers, fasten seve- 

 ral of these fruits among the later figs ; and the insects escaping 

 from them, covered with pollen, make their way into the unfer- 

 tilised fruit, and thus contribute to its maturity (BOTANY, 673). 

 This operation is termed caprification. 



690. The family of ICHNETJMONID^E may be regarded as 

 peculiarly characteristic of the Entomophagous section. The 

 female Ichneumon deposits her eggs, by means of her sharp- 

 pointed ovipositor, only in the bodies of other insects, chiefly 

 the caterpillars of Lepidoptera, or the larvse of the Phytiphagous 

 section of Hymenoptera. Some of them have a very long ovipo- 

 sitor, which is used to insert the eggs into the bodies of Cater- 

 pillars that live beneath the bark, or in the crevices of wood ; 

 whilst those in which this instrument is short, place their eggs 

 in or upon the bodies of caterpillars, to which they can obtain 

 easier access. They do not confine themselves to these situa- 

 tions, however ; but employ for the same purpose the eggs or 



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