HAWTHORN-WEEVIL. 389 



part 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 greyish-brown beetle of the weevil 



Gall of a Hawthorn Weevil, drawn from specimeri. 

 a. Opened to show the grub. 



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 in- 

 jured, — proving, we think, beyond a doubt, that it 

 is the puncture made by the parent insect when the 

 egg is deposited, that causes the exudation and sub- 

 sequent concretion of the juices forming the gall.* 



A few other instances of beetles producing galls 

 are recorded by naturalists. Kirby and Spence have 

 ascertained, for example, that the bumps formed on 

 the roots of kedlock or charlock (Sinapis arvensis) 

 are inhabited by the larvae of a weevil {CurciiHo 

 contractus^ Marsh am; and Rhynchcenus assimilis, 

 Fabr.); and it may be reasonably supposed that 

 either the same or similar insects cause the clubbing 



* J. R. 

 VOL. IV. 33* 



