66 Life and Love. 



The galls so often seen on trees and bushes are 

 the result of the intrusion under the skin of leaf or 

 twig, of an egg or eggs, by some insect. 



The gall-fly sometimes covers the leaves of the 

 oak with the result of its industry. Thus, by means 

 of its wonderful ovipositor, does one of the most 

 delicate of the insect tribe compel the mighty oak 

 to cradle its offspring. 



Endless are the devices of insects to insure the 

 welfare of offspring, which they will not live to 

 behold. 



What mysterious wisdom informs them concern- 

 ing the food of their larvse, food which they them- 

 selves no longer use, and leads them to place the 

 egg in contact with that food, thus spreading the 

 table of their offspring, enabling them to eat at 

 once, and so gain strength to care further for 

 themselves? 



The Ichneumon fly has, in some cases, an enor- 

 mously long ovipositor, which she inserts in crev- 

 ices in the bark of trees, in order that she may 

 deposit her eggs, not in the bark of the tree, but 

 in the body of some unfortunate caterpillar which 

 has there taken refuge! The caterpillar is thus 

 compelled to render up its own life to form nour- 

 ishment for its unwelcome and voracious guests. 

 Insects are no better than fishes in their cannibalistic 

 tendencies, one species not hesitating to devour 

 members of another species, or to feed its young 

 at the expense of other insect life. 



