the brown object in the centre is the pupal case of the goldenrod gall fly, shown upper right. the pupal case is, or was, in this case, housed in those very familiar galls we see on the stems of canada and tall goldenrods, lower left. the gall serves as a warm retreat in which the egg hatches into a larva, the larva forms the pupal case, and round about sometime in late may, the fly emerges and makes its way out of the gall.