512 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



which the larva would in process of time be developed. The 

 task of rearing the perfect insect from the gall is exceedingly 

 difficult, the minuteness of the species and the peculiar manner in 

 which the development takes place being two obstacles which re- 

 quire a vast expenditure of care and patience before they can be 

 overcome. 



Supposing a branch containing a number of infested leaves to 

 be placed in water and surrounded with gauze, it will die in a 

 week or two, and yet there will be no sign of an insect. If the 

 branch be kept until the winter has fully set in, the desired in- 

 sects will still be absent, and the experimenter will probably 

 think that his trouble has been thrown away. The real fact is, 

 that the little insects are not developed until the spring of the 

 following year, and that they pass through their stages of the 

 pupal and perfect forms after the leaves have fallen, and while 

 they are still lying on the ground. 



Mr. F. Smith, who has given so much time and research to the 

 history of the Hymenoptera, has discovered the insect that in- 

 habited the galls to be Cynips longipennis, and has remarked that 

 the perfect insects do not make their appearance until the month 

 of March. 



We now pass from the British galls to those which are found 

 in various other countries. A few of the more interesting exam- 

 ples are figured in the accompanying illustration. 



Should the reader have the curiosity to examine for himself 

 the structure of the British galls (as I trust he will do), he will 

 find that when he cuts a juicy specimen, such as that of the leaf 

 gall, his fingers will presently be stained with purple-black. He 

 may wash his hands as much as he likes, but he will not wash 

 away the stain, which soon looks as if it had been produced by 

 spilling ink on the hands. There is reason for such an appear- 

 ance, inasmuch as the staining liquid is really ink, though of a 

 paler hue than that which is used for writing. A- little lemon- 

 juice will soon discharge the color, and then the soap and water 

 will remove the last remnants of the stain. 



Ink is made by mixing a solution of the sulphate of iron (prop- 

 erly called green vitriol or copperas) with a decoction of certain 

 oak galls. Perhaps I may mention that a " decoction" signifies 

 water in which any substance has been submitted to boiling heat, 

 but not dissolved. Tea, for example, is, when properly made, a 



