190 NATURAL HISTORY. 



colored ants (formica fusca), force their way within, and 

 steal away their larvae and pupae. Having a sufficient 

 number, they make slaves of them by shifting all the 

 domestic duties of the republic upon them, never work- 

 ing themselves. The amazons, a lazy race, as the others 

 are industrious, can not live without these slaves, as, 

 some say, they can not build their own dwellings or 

 provide suitably for their pupae. 



The Gall ^Vasps (vespa gallicolas cynips) are small 

 fly-shaped insects, which lay their eggs in the leaves or 

 pedicles of various plants. In order to form a proper 

 receptacle they first make an incision in the outer cover- 

 ing of the stem or branch, in which they deposit their 

 eggs ; the fluid thus accumulating in the wounded part, 

 forms excrescences of a nut-shape, which, as the eggs 

 give birth to the larvae, increase in size. These small 

 rudiments live on the juices of the plant, and when 

 developed, bore small round holes into the gall, through 

 which they escape. The form and solidity of these galls 

 vary according to the nature of the parts of the plant 

 where they are formed. Many are found on the oak and 

 other forest trees, as well as on rose bushes, where the 

 mossy covering of the excrescence gives it a handsome 

 appearance. The well known gall apples or nuts, from 

 which ink is made, are the excrescences found on the 

 gall apple oak. They are best plucked before they are 

 ripe, that is before the insect has perforated them ; after 

 this they are not fit for the dyer's use, as they are hol- 

 low and lighter-colored. The first gathered and best 

 arc called black or green gall nuts ; the last collected 

 are inferior, and known as white galls. The insects that 

 escape from them are called 



The Gall Nut Wasps (cynips gallos tinctoriae) and are 



