HYMENOPTERA, 617 



are maggot-like, and without a caudal opening to the ali- 

 mentary canal. 



It is a remarkable fact that each species of gall-insect 

 infests a special part of one or more particular species of 

 plants, and the gall produced by each species of insect is of 

 a definite form. Hence when an entomologist who has 

 studied these insects sees a familiar gall, he knows at once 

 what species of insect produced it. 



Naturalists have speculated much as to the way galls are 

 made to grow. It has been supposed that at the time the egg 

 is laid there is deposited in the tissue of the plant with it a 

 drop of poison, which causes the abnormal growth. By this 

 theory the differences between the galls of different insects 

 was explained by supposing that the fluid produced by each 

 species of insect had peculiar properties. There are certain 

 kinds of galls which may be produced in this way. Thus it 

 is said that the wound made by a certain saw-fly in the leaves 

 of willow causes an abundant formation of plant-cells, and 

 the gall thus formed attains its full growth at the end of a 

 few days, and before the larva has escaped from the ^^%. 

 But with the gall-flies the gall does not begin to grow until 

 the larva is hatched ; but as soon as the larva begins to feed, 

 the, abnormal growth of the plant commences. In this case, 

 therefore, if the gall is produced by a poison, this poison 

 must be excreted by the larva. 



There exists in many species of gall-flies an alternation of 

 generations ; that is, the individuals of one generation do not 

 resemble their parents, but are like their grandparents. In 

 many cases the two succeeding generations of a species 

 differ so greatly that they have been considered not merely 

 as distinct species, but have been placed in different genera. 

 Thus it has been found by Mr. Adler, of Schleswig, that 

 that while a certain species of Neuroterus (Neu-rot'e-rus) is 

 developed in one kind of gall on the leaves of oak, the 

 larvae that hatch from eggs laid by it produce a different 

 kind of gall, and develop into gall-flies which do not present 



