HYMENOPTERA. 223 
without forming a club, and consist of from thirteen to fifteen joints *. 
The palpi are very long}. The ovipositor is convoluted spirally in 
the interior of the abdomen, and has its posterior extremity lodged 
in a groove of the venter. 
The Gallicolee form the genus 
Cynips, Lin. 
Geoffroy distinguishes these Insects by the improper name of Dip- 
Jolepis, and calls Cynips certain Insects of the following family com- 
prised by Linnzeus in his last division of the Ichneumons, 
These Insects seem to be hump-backed, having a small head and a 
thick and elevated thorax. Their abdomen is compressed, earinated 
or trenchant inferiorly, and truncated obliquely, or obtuse, at the ex- 
tremity. That of the females contains an ovipositor which seems to 
consist of a single, long, and extremely slender or capillary thread 
convoluted spirally near the base or towards the origin of the venter, 
and of which the terminal portion is lodged under the anus between 
two elongated valvule, each of which forms a semi-scabbard or 
sheath for it. ‘The extremity of this ovipositor is grooved, and has 
lateral teeth resembling the barbs on the head of an arrow; with 
these the Insect widens the aperture it has effected in different parts 
of plants, for the purpose of receiving its eggs. The juices of those 
plants are diffused in the wounded spots and form excrescences or 
tumours called galls. ‘The one most commonly known, or the gall- 
nut, Aleppo gall, is employed with a solution of the sulphate of iron 
to produce a black dye. ‘The form and solidity of these protu- 
berances vary according to the nature of the parts of the plants that 
have been wounded, such as the leaves, petioles, buds, bark, roots, 
&c. Most of them are spherical; some resemble fruits, such as the 
galles en pomme, galles en groseilles, galles en pepin, galles en néfle, 
&c. Others are fibrous or hairy, hke that called the bedequar, 
mousse chevelue, &c., which is observed on the wild Rose-trees. 
Some of them resemble artichokes, others mushrooms, &c. &c. The 
eges enclosed in these excrescences increase in size and consistence, 
and finally produce larve destitute of feet, but frequently provided 
with mammillz in place of them. Sometimes they live there so- 
litarily, aud sometimes in society, feeding on their internal parietes 
Without interfering with their development, and remaining five or six 
months in this condition. There also some undergo their metamor- 
phosis, to effect which others issue forth and descend into the earth 
where they remain till their final change is completed. The round holes 
observed on the exterior of the gall intimates the exit of the Insect. 
Several Insects of the following family are also sometimes found in 
it, but this has been by destroying the natural inhabitants, of whose 
* According to the sex; thirteen in the female Ibalie, the same number in the 
female Figites, and fourteen in the males; fourteen in the female Cynips, and 
fifteen in their males. f 
‘++ The maxillary palpi usually have four joints, and the labials three, of which the 
last is rather the thickest. 
