The Annual Foray of the Photophagi. 217 



enclosures, not far from my home, I had heard that 

 there were places where " grubs " were hanging so 

 thickly from the trees no one could pass underneath with- 

 out having coat and hat covered with them, the hideous 

 creatures also coming slap against the cheeks, and there 

 adhering, to the annoyance and disgust of the wayfarer. 

 On paying a visit to the place, I found things as repre- 

 sented, and that the suspended grubs were of Cynipidai 

 in their larval form. On some of the silk-like filaments 

 on which they dangled, thin as a spider's thread, I 

 counted as many as a dozen, showing the great strength 

 and tenacity of this curious material. But they were not 

 all swinging about; instead, a number, and the greater 

 one, had descended to the earth, and were all over the 

 grass, evidently browsing upon it. Some young birches 

 that grew under the oaks were also thickly beset by 

 them, and I saw they were feeding on the leaves of these 

 as well — a proof that, as with termites and locusts, no 

 vegetable substance comes amiss to them. Several of 

 the young birches were already defoliated, others only 

 half stripped of their leaves, with the work of devastation 

 going on, and still others where it was just commencing. 

 Breaking off a spray from one of the last, and closely 

 scrutinizing it, I was able to make out no less than 

 eleven distinct species of these insect larvae, and of nearly 

 as many diflferent sizes — from that of a cheese-mite to 

 grubs over an inch in length. They were alike varied 

 in colours, too, green of several shades predominating; 

 though among them were none of the vivid green species 

 which affects the gooseberry bush. There were some 

 quite black, and others of a dull, dirty brown, all ugly 

 enough. And to watch them moving about over the 

 leaves and branches, in their peculiar jerking way, now 



