110 THE AMI.KlcWX BOTANIST 



tliamctcr. Cut it open and yon will find a Avorni until he has 

 eaten his way out. The excrescence (M1 the .halca is a true 

 fundus; that is. a true plant-parasite and no more a s;all than 

 the cedar apples are. It is called in science Brobasidiinii 

 .halcac. \ our readers will find it interestiui;' t(^ ni^te the spe- 

 cies oi willi'ws that attract the i;all insects without fail and 

 th(\so that they always pass hy. Our western tree willow [Salix 

 aiiiyydaloiiirs) is never used i)y them nor is the introduced 

 white willow. Sali.x' conUita and its close allies is used the 

 most; Sali.v fiiti'iatilis less fretiuently. 1 have never seen galls 

 on the weeping willow. Let us hear from others. — J. M. Bates. 

 [According to the modern representative oi Noah W'ehster's 

 justly celehrated tome, galls are produced \^\ fungi, insects, 

 mites, and worms. The excrescences on the Acalca therefore 

 are true galls as the term is defined. It is. however, common 

 to class as galls only those specimens that are produced l)y the 

 sting of an insect or. rather, hv the thrust of its ovipositor in 

 inserting an egg in the plant tissues. In connection with the 

 genus E.vobasiiUiiui it may he ohserved that the Aaaica is not 

 the only heathwort parasitized. Some fifty (^ther species of 

 the genus B.x'obasidiiiiii produce galls on various species of 

 Ericacere in Europe, and North and South .Vmerica. 



KocHiA Ai.ATA. — 1 ohservetl hundreds (^f plants of this 

 new species during U'lS. ;uid ha\e founil it in several new 

 stations. I had not seen il before at lUooniington. Franklin 

 County. It is from live to six feet tall there, in good soil. It 

 is very hardy and was not harmed I)\- the low temperature ot 

 Sept. 19. (24 ) which injured Kocliia sco/^aria greatly. The 

 new species was in flower at the date, which is usuallv a tender 

 stage, hut it went on and matured its fruit as though nothing 

 hail happeneil. 'Phe membranaceous wings were scarcelv vis- 

 ible at that date, but by the J6th of September they had become 

 about one half the normal length. Its specific value can be 

 detected from the car window when the eve is trained t(^ it. 



