Gemm’d o’er their heads, the mines of India gleam,
And heaven’s own wardrobe has array’d their frame ;
Where colours blend an ever-varying dye,
And wanton in their gay exchanges vie.
The females o f the gall infeft, which have no wings, pals
through no transformation ; while the male,, which has two wings,,
paffes through the pupa ftate before it becomes a fly. The only
change which takes place in the female gall infeft (and which is,
however, a very confxderable one) is this, that after a certain
time it fixes itfelf to the branch of the tree, without being able to
detach itfelf; it afterwards increafes much in fize, and becomes,
like a true g a ll; the female, by remaining thus fixed, for the
greater part o f her life, to the place where fhe was firfl feen, has.
very little the appearance of an animal; it is in this period o f their
life that they grow molt, and produce their young, while
they appear a portion o f the branch they adhere t o ; and what is
more lingular, the larger they grow the lefs they look like animals,
and while they are employed in laying thoufands of eggs,
one would take them for nothing but mere galls. The genera
o f gall infe&s is very extenfive; they are to be found on almofi
every fhrub and tree..
The pucerons, to arrive at their perfeft ftate, pafs through,
that of the femicomplete pupa, and their wings do not appear-
till they have quitted their pupa ftate; but as in all the families o f
pucerons there are many who never become winged, we muftnot
forget to obferve, that thefe undergo no transformation, remaining
always the fame, without changing their figure, though,
they inereafe in fize, and change their fkin. It is remarkable,,
4 that
that amongft infects of the fame kind fome individuals fhould be
transformed, while others are not at all changed: thefe infefts
will be confidered more fully in another part of this chapter.
Mr. Reaumur * has fhewn that the fpider fly (hyppobofca
equina, Lin.) lays fo large an egg, that the fly which proceeds
from it is as big as the mother, though the egg does not inereafe
the leaft in fize from the time it is fir'ft laid. The infect proceeds
alfo from the egg in the imago, or fly ftate ; it is probably
transformed in the egg, for Mr. Reaumur has found it in the
pupa ftate therein, and having boiled fome of their eggs which
had been laid for fome days, he found the infeft in the form of
an oval ball, fimijar to that the pupa o f flies with two wings are
generally found in. De Geer thinks that the egg itfelf is a true
larva, which, when it is born, has nothing elfe to do but to dif-
engage it’s limbs, &c. from the fhell which covers it; and he
thinks, this the more probable, becaufe there is no embryo
feen in this egg, but it is entirely filled with the infefl;
he has alfo perceived a contracting and dilating motion in
the egg, while, it was in the belly o f the mother, and imme-
diatelyVfter it was lain; circumftances which do not agree with
a Ample egg.
As Mr. Bonnet + has attempted to give a theory of thefe various
changes, the following extraft from it will, I hope, prove agreeable
to the reader; it .will at leaft tend to render his ideas o f this wonderful
fubjeft.clearer, and will probably open to his mind many-
new fources o f contemplation.
F F 2 An
». Reaumur, tom. 6, mem. 14.
t Bonnet Conliderations fur les corps organifes. Contemplation of Nature, &e.