Half hours with insects . eniijhigus forms on thesumac the irregular growth represented by figure 23G (afterRiley). The cocks-comb elm gall (Fig. 237, after Riley)often occurs in great numbers on the leaves of the white the end of June or the beginning, says JMr. Walsh,the gall becomes full of winged plant-lice, when the slit onthe upper side of the leaf, through which the mother plant-louse built up the gall early in tlie spring, gapes open and20 17 306 HALF HOURS WITH IXSECTS. [Packard. allows the insects to escape into the open air. These gallscan scarcely be regarded as evidences of
Half hours with insects . eniijhigus forms on thesumac the irregular growth represented by figure 23G (afterRiley). The cocks-comb elm gall (Fig. 237, after Riley)often occurs in great numbers on the leaves of the white the end of June or the beginning, says JMr. Walsh,the gall becomes full of winged plant-lice, when the slit onthe upper side of the leaf, through which the mother plant-louse built up the gall early in tlie spring, gapes open and20 17 306 HALF HOURS WITH IXSECTS. [Packard. allows the insects to escape into the open air. These gallscan scarcely be regarded as evidences of architectural skill,as they are indirectly due to the simple punctures of thebeak of the insect, not to an intellectual act. Among the beetles we shall not find evidence of any con-siderable skill in building. Tlie habit of the Chlamys ofbuilding a compact little case has already been referred case is black, and appears to be formed of little pelletsof excrement, with a seam along the middle of the under Fig. Sumac grail. side, which readily spreads open when the sac is case is slightly contracted at the entrance, where thepellets are a little larger than elsewhere. The weevils are the lowest of the beetles, and yet theydisplay in some cases great ingenuity in providing appropri-ate places in which to lay their eggs. I have often watchedthe doings of the Attelahus rhois (Fig. 238 represents an-other species, A. analis) while rolling up the leaves of thealder. Late in June and during the early part of July in 18 Packard.] INSECTS AS ARCHITECTS. 307 Maine I observed the female while engaged in making oneof these singular thimble-like rolls. NV^hen about to depositan egg, she picks up a leaf with her mandibles, and beginsto cut with her jaws a slit near the base of the leaf oneach side of the midrib, and at light angles to it, so that theleaf may be folded together. Before beginning to roll upthe leaf she gnaws the stem nearly off, so that after the rolli
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectinsects, bookyear1881
