Collecting Insect Galls. Lots of different kinds of insects cause swellings on plant leaves or stems and live inside them. I am collecting such galls and using entomology books from the library to identify them. I labelled each with the name of the host plant. I put nylon stocking around some galls on plants and caught the adults when they emerged from the galls.
Some galls are very small.
My uncle, a farmer, got me started on this project. Some galls have insects living inside that did not make the gall. Sometimes the visiting insects are just seeking shelter, but some are parasites or predators on the gall insect. I want to trade DEAD galls with people from other states. If we trade living galls we might introduce a pest into another state.