508 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



the woody tubercle can be laid open in several directions, and 

 then proves to be a congeries of cells fused together into one 

 mass, and varying from four to twenty in number, acccording to 

 the size of the insect. Perhaps, on an average, ten cells may be 

 reckoned in each knob. 



In many of the cells the perfect insect may be found, the death 

 of the rose-branch, and the consequent deprivation of sap, having 

 so hardened the walls of the cells that the inmates have been un- 

 able to make their way out. In other cells may be seen certain 

 odd little objects, amber-colored, hard, shining, and appearing to 

 the unaided eye to be nearly spherical. They are about as large 

 as dust-shot. For a long time I could not satisfy myself about 

 them, not being able clearly to ascertain whether they were de- 

 ceased insects or merely hardened sap. That they were probably 

 of insect origin was evident from the fact that they were always 

 found in cells which had no opening, and from which the insect 

 had not escaped. 



At last, however, one of them happened to lie on the paper so 

 that it could be well illuminated, and then the whole mystery was 

 unfolded. These strange little objects were the pupae of the in- 

 sects, which had died in the cells, and shriveled up into the singu- 

 lar forms which have been described. 



The cells are of different sizes, some being more than ten times 

 as large as others. The superior dimensions of the cell seem to 

 be obtained at the expense of the walls, so that the large cells can 

 be broken by the finger and thumb, while the small cells can not 

 be opened without the knife. 



The insects themselves are equally variable, some being mere 

 dots of shining blue and green, while others are about as large as 

 the common red ant of the gardens, but with plumper bodies. In 

 consequence of these two facts, the large, strong-jawed insect can 

 easily make its way through the comparatively thin walls of the 

 large cell in which it was inclosed, while the small and necessarily 

 weak-jawed specimens are utterly unable to pierce the walls of 

 their cells, which are so thick that they must bore a hole equal in 

 length to that of their whole body before they can escape into the 

 air. Consequently, the great mass of the insects that are found 

 in the cells are the small specimens, the larger having made their 

 escape. I find that on an average twenty small insects are thus 

 found in proportion to one of the larger kind. 



Nothing is easier than the rearing of insects from this as well 



