588 



INSECTA. 



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 wir.h a solurioii of green vitriol, or sulphate of iron, in producing a Ijlack dye. 



The furm and iiilidity of these galls vary according to the nature of the parts of the plants which 



have been attacked, as the leaves, petioles, 

 liudi, bark, ruuts. Many are splicrical, and 

 reseml»le fruits, such as gall-apples. &c. ; others 

 are hairy, as tlie hedeguar of the rose; others 

 resemble small articluikes, fungi, iS^c. The eggs 

 inclosed in these galls iiici"case in size and con- 

 sistence. They give birth to small larvae 

 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 de\our the inte- 

 lior without :^r^(p|lillg its growth, and remain five or six nionltis in that state. Some undergo their changes 

 within tlic galls, but others quit them in order to dc&cend into the carlh. The small round holes 

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

 following family are also found wiihin, hut these have taken tlie }>lacc of the real inhabitants, having 

 destroyed tliem in the sanu_' nuiuuer as the Ichmnunmis. 



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

 wild tigs 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 maturify of the fruit. This operation is termed caprifieation. 



Ihdim, Lntr. iSii./ai-}.'.\ Fanz.), lias tlii? ahdomen very compressed, hke tlie lilado of a knife ; the antenn.tj filifurm; 

 the railial cell is loni; and narrow, and the two brachial ones very distinct ; the two anterior cuintal eelU are ^ ery 

 small. [/. ciiUiUalnr, Latr., a very rare liritish species.] 



Fn/'fex, Latr., Ikis tlip abdomen ovoid, thick, and rounded above, compressed beneath ; the nntenn.'i' mnnilifurTn, 

 and thickened to the tips. There is only one complete brachial cell ; the I'udial cidl is far frt>ui the tip uf tliC 

 wins, and the second cubital is wanting". 



Ci/nijis proper {DiplofepiSy Geotf.), has the abdomen similar, but the antenna; are filiform, and there are three 

 cubital cells ; the radial cell is also more eIoni;;ate. C. GalLe tlnctoruc, Oliv., resides in a sound hard tubercular 

 p:all found upon aspecies of oak in the Le\;uii-, and which is used in commerce, [and which is our chief ingredient 

 in the manufacture of ink]. Uy breakim,^ the i;-ails, the perfect insect may occasionally be obtained. C. Querctui 

 pcdiniculafa, punctures the male flower-slalks of the oak, and produces small ijalls in bunches, like bunches of 

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

 Westwood, and especially Harti^", published in the 3rd number of the Zcitschrift fur die Eitf.uniulcujic.'] 



The fourth tribe (Chalcidi/e, Spin.), differs only from the preceding in having the antenna'' elbowcl 

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

 often ludgeil in a groove [of t!ie face] ; the palpi arc very short; the raflial cell is generally wanting, 

 and tlierc is only a single euliital eidl, wlucli is not chimed. The antcuu^c have not more than twelve 

 joints. The genera hitherto catahlished may In.' refciTcd tu that uf 



C'li ALOIS, Tabr. 



These insects arc very small, ornauiented with lirilliant metallic colours, and possess, in general, the 

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

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

 eggs of insects which are scarcely perceptible ; many others live in tlie larvic and chrysalides of 

 Lepidoptera. I presume that they do not weave a cocoon in order to become pui)a:. 



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

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

 exsrited. 



aiiiroccrn, Latr, has the male antenna"' feathered like a fan. C. pccfhiiconiis, Latr. 



C/i'dci-s, Fabr., has tlic antenna: sin-le in bot'li sexes ; of tliese some have the peduncle e!ont:;ated, [C -sir^pcs, a 

 lirit.ish snecJes 1 In others, the peduncle is very short, (Vcspa minuta, Fabr.) [a Itritish species]. C. annnlal'i, 



