HYMENOPTERA. 399 
the oak-tree (Cynips quercusfolit), and Figs. 376 and 377, the galls 
‘it produces. The galls of the rose are hairy, and are sometimes 
‘called “ Robin’s @hisition” ’ The gall-nut, rich in tannin, which is 



Fig. 375.—Gall insect Fig. 376.—Oak Galls, produced by Fig. 377.—Interior 
(Cynips quercusfolit) . Cynips quercusfolit. of a Gall. 
j used in the manufacture of ink, is the produce of a foreign Cynips, 
}which lives on an oak found in the East. Apples of Sodom, which 
| travellers bring back from the shores of the Dead Sea, are large 
) galls,* full of dust and dry larvee 
| . The Urocerata and the Tenthr ee form two tribes of insects, 
| bof which the first are of great size, have a cylindrical body, 
}the abdomen being suet to the thorax in its whole breadth, 
‘without any pedicle. 
| The insects of the genus Szrex (Fig. 378), belonging to the former 
lof these, lay their eggs in living wood, and their larve live for many 
years in the interior. They are to be met with in great numbers in 
‘forests of pine-trees, and according to Latreille, show themselves 
‘sometimes in such great numbers as to become an object of terror. 
|The female of the Giant Sirex (S7vex gigas) possesses a long recti- 
‘linear auger. The mandibles of the larve are of great strength, 
and are even capable of perforating lead. This fact has been Siaeeee 
}many times. In 1857 Marshal ecient presented to the Académie 
| des Sciences some packets of cartridges containing balls which had 


* Made by Cynips insana.—Ep. 

