108 
NATURE’S CRAFTSMEN 
cradles. The pine-cone galls are sufficiently pro-* 
tected by their scales. Other galls are exempt by 
reason of their bitter tannin, or because of a pro¬ 
tective coloring which safely hides them from all 
but the very sharpest eyes. Various insects, 
creepers and titmice, and the squirrels are the 
chief enemies of the gall babies. The birds and 
squirrels tear open the houses to get the little 
tenants. The insects feed upon the rich tissues 
of which the house is formed, and even penetrate 
to the well-stocked pantry which the inmate itself 
fills by industriously secreting a sort of juicy fer¬ 
ment which changes the stored starch into sugar. 
“ Often in hunting for galls you will come 
upon strange wens and tumors on certain trees, 
particularly on the birches and hackberries, which 
seem too large to harbor even a host of gall-fly 
babies such as are sometimes found in woody 
growths. Investigation will show that these 
strange woody deformities, with their divers little 
twigs twisting helter-skelter in every direction, 
are caused by a peculiar fungus. Before this was 
understood, people stood in awe of them. They 
called them witches’ brooms, and many queer and 
creepy stories were told concerning them. In 
Germany, the name thunder-besoms was applied 
to these queer tufts of twigs. Similar growths 
on the rose-bushes are often termed elf-rods even 
to this day.” 
