ROSE GALLS. 67 



branches of poplar, willow, rose, and broom. Very commonly 

 met with on the leaves of the hedge-rose, in July and August, 

 is a berry-shaped gall nearly resembling the currant-gall of 

 the oak. Like that, it is coloured much like an apple, usually 

 advancing with age from paly- green to rosy and mellow red ; 

 but, instead of being always smooth, this miniature and mimic 

 fruit often displays a sprinkling of short sharp thorns indicative 

 of the character of its fostering, if not parent, stem."* Besides 

 the above, the dog-rose is accustomed to display one of the 

 most conspicuous and perhaps the very prettiest of all Gall-fly 

 productions. Tin's, which is often called the rose Bedeguar, 

 wears the appearance of a mossy tuft, varying greatly in size 

 and in colour from green to brilliant red.f In some parts of 

 England it is said to be known by the name of Robin's Pin- 

 cushion (we suppose Robin Good- fellow's) a term which would 

 serve to designate its fairy-like formation. The creative piercer 

 of the fairy insect is, on tin's occasion, usually applied to a 

 branch, sometimes to the main stalk of a leaf. The plant 

 obeys, as usual, the behest of the parent fly, and speedily 

 puts forth its energies to cover the group of eggs com- 

 mitted to its care ; but, instead of surrounding them by a fruit- 

 like globule, it produces, for their protection, a fibrous spiny 

 mass, shooting in clusters from the several cells which include, 

 each, its life in embryo. It is justly observed, by Mr. Rennie, 

 that "the prospective wisdom of this curious structure is 



* Vignette. t Vignette. 



