588 



INSECTA. 



Fi(f. 003.— Onk jjnll-npple aud Cynips quercusfolii. 



made in various vegetables in order to deposit its eggs ; the fluid accumulating in the wounded part of 

 the plant forms excrescences or tumours, which have been termed galls or nut-galls, the latter of which 

 is employed with a solution of green vitriol, or sulphate of iron, in producing a black dye. 



The form and solidity of these galls vary according to the nature of the parts of the plants which 



have been attacked, as the leaves, petioles, 

 buds, bark, roots. Many are spherical, and 

 resemble fruits, such as gall-apples, &c. ; others 

 are hairy, as the bedeguar of the rose ; others 

 resemble small artichokes, fungi, &c. The eggs 

 inclosed in these galls increase in size and con- 

 sistence. They give birth to small larva; 

 destitute of feet, but furnished with tubercles to 

 supply their stead ; sometimes they live singly, 

 and sometimes in societies. [ I have obtained 

 more than eleven hundred gall-flies from a single gall, found at the root of an oak]. They devour the inte- 

 rior without stopping its growth, and remain five or six months in that state. Some undergo their changes 

 within the galls, but others quit them in order to descend into the earth. The small round holes 

 observed in the sides of the galls, show that the insect has made its escape : various insects of the 

 following family are also found within, but these have taken the place of the real inhabitants, having 

 destroyed them in the same manner as the Ichneumons. 



An insect [considered to belong to this family] deposits its eggs in the seeds of the most forward 

 wild figs in the Levant. The modern Greeks, following a custom handed down to them by their 

 forefathers, fasten several of these fruits, amongst the later figs, the insects escaping from which, 

 covered with the fecundating dust, make their way into the eye of the fruit of the latter, and thus pro- 

 voke the maturity of the fruit. This operation is termed caprification. 



Ibalia, Latr. (Sagaris, Panz.), has the abdomen very compressed, like the blade of a knife; the antennae filiform; 

 the radial cell is lonff and narrow, and the two brachial ones very (Ustinct ; the two anterior cubital cells are very 

 small. [/. cultillator, Latr., a very rare British species.] 



Figites, Latr., has the abdomen ovoid, thick, and rounded above, compressed beneath ; the antennae monillform, 

 and thickened to the tips. There is only one complete brachial cell ; the radial cell is far from the tip of the 

 wing, and the second cubital is wanting-. 



Cynips proper (Diplolepis, Geotf.), has the abdomen similar, but the antennae are filiform, and there are three 

 cubital cells ; the radial cell is also more elon^^ate. C. Galhe iinctorUe, Oliv., resides in a sound hard tubercular 

 gall found upon aspecies of oak in the Levant, and which is used in commerce, [and which is our chief ingredient 

 in the manufacture of ink]. By breaking the galls, the perfect insect may occasionally be obtained. C. Quercus 

 pedunculata, punctures the male flower-stalks of tbe oak, and produces small galls in bunches, like bunches of 

 currants. [See, for numerous additional genera and species, the memoirs of Boyer de Fonscolombe, Walker, 

 Westwood, and especially Hartig, published in the 3rd number of the Zeitsckrift fur die EiUoinologie.} 



The fourth tribe (Chalcidi^, Spin,), differs only from the preceding in having the antennje elbowed 

 (except in Eucharis), and forming beyond the angle an elongated or fusiform mass ; the basal joint is 

 often lodged in a groove [of the face] ; the palpi are very short ; the radial cell is generally wanting, 

 and there is only a single cubital cell, which is not closed. The antennae have not more than twelve 

 joints. The genera hitherto established may be referred to that of 



Chalcis, Fabr. 



These insects are very small, ornamented with brilliant metallic colours, and possess, in general, the 

 power of leaping. The ovipositor is mostly composed of three threads, as in the Ichneumons, and 

 exserted. The larvae are similarly parasites. Some, in consequence of their minute size, feed on the 

 eggs of insects which are scarcely perceptible ; many others live in the larva; and chrysalides of 

 Lepidoptera. I presume that they do not weave a cocoon in order to become jjupre. 



Some, having always 11- or 12-jointed antennae, have the hind thighs very thick, lenticular, with the tibia; curved; 

 of these, some have the abdomen attached to the thorax by a foot-stalk, with the ovipositor straight, and rarely 

 exserted. 



Chirocera, Latr, has the male antennae feathered like a fan, C. pectinicornis, Latr. 



Chalcu, Fabr., has the antennae single in both sexes ; of these some have the peduncle elongated. [C sispes, a 

 British species.] In others, the peduncle is very short, (Vespa minuta, Fabr.) [a British species]. C. annulata, 



