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STRANGE DWELLINGS. 
and solid, and the pod itself deformed. Mr. Westwood has 
described a species of gall-fly which infests the turnips, and 
another species is known to lay its eggs upon wheat. 
As if to show that the family of Cynipidae is really related to 
the ichneumons, it has been discovered that some species of this 
family are actually parasitic upon other insects. In treating of 
this remarkable fact, Mr. Westwood writes as follows : — ‘ The 
relations of these insects with the following families (i.e. Evanidse 
and Ichneumonidae) have been already noticed. It had always 
appeared to me contrary to nature that a tribe of vegetable- 
feeding insects should be arranged in the midst of parasites ; 
nor was it until I had an opportunity of ascertaining the para- [ 
sitic habits of some of the species of the family, that I was 
enabled to form a just notion as to the true value of the para- 
sitic or herbivorous nature of these insects. In June, 1833, 
I detected a minute species, Allotria victrix , in the act of 
ovipositing in the body of a rose-aphis, and I subsequently 
succeeded in hatching specimens of the perfect insect from 
infested aphides.’ 
A figure of the tiny insect is given, as it appeared while in 
the act of depositing its eggs, and has a rather remarkable effect 
from the fact that the very minute dimensions of the parasite 
make the aphis look quite a large insect. Other species of this 
family are also known to be parasitic. The rose-aphis is certainly 
infested by two species of gall-fly, and probably by more, while 
the aphides which are found on the willow, the cow-parsnip, and 
other plants, also fall victims to the Cynipidae. There is one 
genus of this family, called Figites , which is parasitic on the 
larva or pupa of certain dipterous insects. | 
The Cynipidae are not the only insects that produce galls 
upon different plants. For example, several species of beetle 
are known to pass their earlier stages in swellings produced by 
the puncture of the parent insect. There is a little weevil of a 1 
greyish brown, which is mentioned by Mr. Rennie, as forming 
a gall upon the hawthorn. 
4 In May, 1829, we found on a hawthorn at Lee, in Kent, the 
