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IIY MENOPTER A. 
announce that the insect has made its escape. The 
gall-nuts of commerce which grow on the Quercus 
infect or ict in the Levant, are employed in making 
ink. It was at first supposed that the oak galls of the 
Cynips Kollari were identical with the gall of com¬ 
merce, but it is properly recognised now as a distinct 
species. 
The large oak “ apples” give birth not to one indi¬ 
vidual only, but to a multitude. Those small circular 
flattened scales—often of a pretty pink hue, hairy 
on the upper surface, but smooth underneath—that 
you may see to cover the under side of oak leaves 
in great abundance, commonly called oak spangles, 
are the produce of the little Gall-insect, the Cynips 
Longipennis (Fab.), which makes its appearance 
long after the leaves have fallen in the month of 
March. 
The oak-apple galls are produced by Cynips termi - 
nalis; a large woody gall found on the roots of oak 
trees, is produced by Cynips aptera . The spongy or 
rather mossy substance, often of a brilliant crimson, 
common on the wild rose, is the produce of a Cynips. 
The ovipositor of the Gall-fly has a toothed edge at 
the extremity, which moved by the muscles of the 
insect, act as a miniature saw, which penetrates the 
leaves or stalks of the trees infested by the particular 
species; the egg is deposited in the hole made by the 
little auger, together with it is supposed a drop of fluid 
which has a peculiar irritating effect upon the vegetable 
tissues ; but why, in one case, the result should show 
itself in the form of a flattened circular disc, in 
another in that of a furry ball of moss, in another in 
