STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
815 
OAK. LEAVES. 
anything else than that both were the same thing, produced very probably 
by a single insect puncturing and inserting a part of its eggs in the vein of 
the leaf and then moving a short distance aside and bestowing the remainder 
on the adjacent twig—dividing them thus, as do many other insects, to 
increase the chances for a portion of its young to escape destruction should 
any casualty befall them in the one or the other place. And if a person 
were curious to know the kind of insect which with such maternal care had 
formed these velvety little beds for the secure and comfortable repose of its 
young, he would scarcely deem it worth his while to gather but one of the 
two bunches; though to make the research more certain of a successful 
issue he might perchance secure them both. And on placing them in a 
covered tumbler and moistening them occasionally, till after a time a mul¬ 
titude of little black Hies made their appearance in the glass, what would 
be his astonishment to find there were four different kinds of insects there, 
when he had expected to see but one. The result would be a riddle, a per¬ 
fect paradox to him, unless from being somewhat versed in the habits and 
aspects of this class of creatures, he would be able to discern that two of 
these kinds being gall makers must have come one from the one wad of 
wool and the other from the other — thus showing these two little tufts 
of wool to be in reality two distinct natural substances, although the only 
