THE OAK-APPLE GALL-WASP 



virgin-female, male and female insects are brought 

 forth. The male of this generation has wings, the 

 female is wingless. Mating takes place, and when this 

 is over, the wingless female crawls down the bole of 

 the tree up which her mother ascended before her, and 

 makes her way below ground to the roots. Having 

 safely found her way there, she proceeds to puncture 

 the roots, lays an egg in each hole she makes, and then 

 dies. These eggs eventually hatch into wingless females 

 as already described, and there is no male issue in what 

 we may call the root-gall-generation. The larvae in 

 both forms of gall are well shielded inside their snug 

 retreat, and do not emerge until such time as the hour 

 has arrived when it is best, or most essential, for them 

 so to do. The adult in both generations is a small 

 insect very rarely seen, but in spite of its stature, the 

 results produced on oak trees are often prominently 

 displayed during early Summer when the spongy ex- 

 crescences are to be seen. With the exception of the 

 author's old friend, the late Edward Connold of never-to- 

 be-forgotten memory, and Mr. E. W. Swanton, few 

 British Entomologists have specialised in galls and their 

 producers. There is ample scope and a wide field 

 here for the young worker, as the many other galls upon 

 the oak, the curious fibrous growth upon the wild rose, 

 and a great many others are at present imperfectly 

 described, and deserve far more attention than they 

 have received. The prominent bird-like " nests " upon 

 birches, commonly called witche's-brooms, may have 



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