LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Alfred Kinsey: Gall Wasps
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Kinsey's first major text, The Gall Wasp Genus Cynips: A Study in the Origin of the Species, was published in 1930. In 1936, The Origin of Higher Categories of Cynips, appeared and bolstered Kinsey's reputation asthe leading authority on the gall wasp and as one of the most original thinkers in the field of genetic theory. At this point, his firmly established career took an unusual twist. In the summer of 1938, Kinsey, then age 44, beganteaching a noncredit marriage course for seniors at Indiana University. The course was the result of a petition sent to the Board of Trustees by a group of students the previous spring.
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After receiving his Ph.D. in biology from Harvard in 1919, Kinsey quickly established himself as one of the leading entomologists of his time, specializing in gall wasps (Cynipidae)--tiny plant-eating members of the order Hymenoptera. Although at most only eight millimeters long, gall wasps look threatening under a microscope, plated with natural armor as if ready to head off into battle. Their coarse bodies are lined with tiny hairlike structures, and they have four delicate-looking wings.
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At Bowdoin, Kinsey developed interest in the gall wasp--a tiny insect, approximately the size of an ant. Unlike most wasps, it does not have wings, nor does it sting. It usually lays its eggs in oak trees or rose bushes; the eggs emit a poison that forces the development of a lumpy growth on the tree or bush called a "gall." The gall protects the eggs until they hatch, whereupon a new cycle of reproduction and gall formation take place.
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Gall Wasps