﻿56 FIELD AND FOREST. 



seen to jerk or leap nearly an inch from a given point, though while 

 in his possession it had not shown such activity, leaping only a third 

 or a quarter of that distance. On opening the case, which from the 

 description must have been a gall, it was found to contain "a, whitish 

 maggot with a small yellowish scaly head, the body bent into a semi- 

 circle, and the tail end slightly flattened. It had no legs, but the 

 shining skin was deeply corrugated, or thrown into folds, which ap- 

 peared to serve in some degree as limbs." After removing the insecl: 

 from the case, though still vigorous, its motions had nothing of the 

 leaping character. 



Seeds of Tamariscus are said to be moved by a coleopterous larva 

 known as Nanodes tamarisci, and Reaumur records an instance which 

 appears somewhat analogous to the jumping seeds, being the move- 

 ment produced in small oval cocoons of a species of Ichneumon by the 

 enclosed larva. 



We now return to the minute form figured at the beginning of this 

 article. These seeds — which in reality are minute galls — are found 

 very common not only in California, but are mentioned by Mr. Riley 

 as occurring in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, where the" 

 ground under the trees infested by them — generally oaks of the White- 

 oak group — is sometimes fairly alive with them, the noise they make 

 resembling the patter of rain. Indeed, we should not be surprised to 

 find them in the vicinity of Washington, as we have examined an oak 

 leaf collected here last fall by Mr. Seaman — who has taken consider- 

 able interest in the matter, and to whom we are indebted for our draw- 

 ings — which was literally covered with minute galls almost precisely 

 identical with those recently received from California. The leaf had 

 been picked green, however, before the insects within the galls had 

 arrived at sufficient maturity to complete their changes, and so were 

 found inside in a dried and shrivelled state. 



The specimens figured gave the perfect insect in a few days, which 

 proved to be a little black fly or Cynips, named Cynifis saltitans by 

 Henry Edwards, of San Francisco, who described it in the Transact- 

 ions of the California Academy of Science. We append the following 

 description of the gall: — "Formed in summer on the underside of 

 Quereus obtusiloba, Q. macrocarpa and Q. alba, often to the number 

 of one thousand on a single leaf, each gall inserted in a deep cavity, 

 which causes, on the upper surface, a bulging of a straw yellow color, 



