THE BEETLE GALL. 521 



but not quite so closely as is usual in the case of leaf-rolling cat- 

 erpillars. On opening them up, there was no caterpillar to be 

 seen, the centre being occupied with a roundish, brown-colored 

 woody substance, similar to some excrescences made by gall in- 

 sects (Cynips). 



" Had we been aware of its real nature, we should have put it 

 immediately under a glass, or in a box, till the contained insect 

 had developed itself; but instead of this, we opened the ball, 

 where we found a small yellow grub coiled up, and feeding on 

 the exuding juices of the tree. As we could not replace the grub 

 in its cell, part of the wall of which we had unfortunately bro- 

 ken, we put it in a small pasteboard box with a fresh shoot of 

 hawthorn, expecting that it might construct a fresh cell. This, 

 however, it was probably incompetent to perform ; it did not, 

 at least, make the attempt, and neither did it seem to feed on 

 the fresh branch, keeping in preference to the ruins of its former 

 cell. 



" To our great surprise, although it was thus exposed to the 

 air, and deprived of a considerable portion of its nourishment, 

 both from the fact of the cell having been broken off, and from 

 the juices of the branch having been dried up, the insect went 

 through its regular changes, and appeared in the form of a small 

 grayish-brown beetle of the weevil family. 



"The most remarkable circumstance in the case in question 

 was the apparent inability of the grub to construct a fresh cell 

 after the first was injured, proving, we think, beyond a doubt, that 

 it is the puncture made by the parent insect when the egg is de- 

 posited that causes the exudation and subsequent concretion of 

 the juices forming the gall." Although the insect in question 

 succeeded in attaining the perfect state, it would probably be 

 of stunted growth in consequence of the deprivation of food. 

 Such, at all events, is the case with insects of other orders, when 

 their supply of food is at all checked while they are in the lar- 

 val state. 



There is another weevil, scientifically called Gleonus sulciros- 

 iris, which is one of the gall-makers. It is one of the largest of 

 the British weevils, being more than half an inch in length, and 

 is very simply clad in gray and black. 



If the reader desires to discover the larva of the beetle he may 

 probably be successful by going to any waste spot where thistles 



