Kinsey: Gall Wasp Genus Cynips 
401 
weather they are inactive and sluggish, hiding at the base of 
the petioles, in the crotches of the young shoots, or in the 
crevices of the bark.” The same observer adds that these 
insects usually succumb to the first heavy frosts, but Weld 
records the wasps emerging and ovipositing on a cool day 
when scattered flakes of snow were flying, and in my own 
abundant observations I have found many of the insects emerg- 
ing and active at temperatures below freezing. 
Oviposition is in the leaf or flower buds of the white oak. 
The behavior is described by Triggerson as follows: “The 
insect clasps the apical portion of the bud with the second 
pair of legs .... and pressing alternately with the first 
and third pair produces a teetering motion which forces the 
ovipositor into the buds. The long ovipositor lifts the apical 
edge of the outer scale, and is gradually pressed down along 
the edge of succeeding scales, and finally thrust into the region 
of the young leaf and flower. Then there is a sudden jerk of 
the body which curves the distal end of the ovipositor, turning 
the openings against the concave face of the innermost scale. 
The insect now retains a motionless attitude for almost four 
minutes, during which the egg is deposited. The ovipositor 
is then withdrawn, the passage being filled with a waxy sub- 
stance for the protection of the egg. This waxy secretion is 
doubtless from the accessory glands of the reproductive sys- 
tem, and is homologous with the secretions with which Cory - 
dalis cornuta, certain of the Lepidoptera, as the Apple Tent- 
Caterpillar, the Tussock-moths, and many other insects cover 
their eggs. 
“The egg ... is an oval body 400^. x 225^. provided 
with a pedicel which is 1 mm. in length. It is attached by this 
pedicel to the upper brown portion of the scale, falling either 
against the green portion of the scale ... or being held 
among the young leaves or flowers, in which position it remains 
during the winter. It is worthy of emphasis that this pedicel 
does not constitute the apical pole of the egg since the larva 
emerges from the opposite pole, and as already indicated it 
serves as an appendage for attaching the egg to the bud scale.” 
The galls of the succeeding, bisexual generation develop 
early in May as minute, egg-shaped cells in the buds or at- 
tached to the developing leaves or flowers. The bisexual gen- 
eration is described in the present paper as form bicolens. 
Triggerson figures the spiny galls of the agamic erinacei, 
26—45639 
