NOTES, CAPTURES, ETC. 



43 



QUEECUS CEURIS. 



somewhat less than half that measure in breadth, of an 

 elongated, obtusely oval shape, 

 the lower extremity being com- 

 pletely rounded, and the sides 

 parallel for a short distance, 

 terminating at the upper end in 

 an exceedingly blunt point; the 

 exterior of the gall of an orange- 

 yellow, and forming a thin wall 

 to the central chamber. In most 

 points the galls coincide with the 

 description of the SpaUiegasler 

 TascJienhergi, of Schlechten- 

 dal,* and though not quite as 



large, might be conveyed by the figure 96, plate 7, of the 

 'Mitteleuropaischen Eichengallen,' of Dr. Mayr, but in the 

 six specimens wliich I found the amount of woolliuess was so 

 much less (if indeed it could be said to exist at all) on the 

 fresh and brightly coloured galls of the true Q. cerris, that I 

 feel a doubt of their being of the same species. Some degree 

 of interest, however, attaches to the presence of galls (even 

 undetermined) on the Turkey oak, and as the locality protects 

 both the trees and their almost microscopic tenants from 

 molestation, I hope by careful watching in the coming 

 season to be fortunate enough to secure fresh specimens, in 

 which the insects may still be enclosed, for correct determi- 

 nation. — E. A, Ormerod. 



[The oaks of Europe are divided botanically into two 

 groups: — (1) represented by Quercus pedunculala, Ehrh., Q. 

 sessilijlora, Sm., and Q. pubescens, Willd., with their varieties ; 

 (2) represented by Q. cerris and its varieties, and it is an 

 undoubted fact that we never find the same sjiecies of 

 Cynipidcc occasioning galls indiscriminately on the two 

 groups; each group has its own restrictive gall-makers. This 

 will no doubt be explicable when the physiology of the gall 

 is known, but in the present state of our knowledge it is hard 

 to say whether the varied influence is insectile or botanical ; 

 this exclusiveness is not limited to oak-frequenting species, 

 but pervades in a greater or less degree the whole range of 

 gall life. Of the ninety-six species of European oak-galls 

 described in Dr. Mayr's work, two arc synonymic, three 

 * Slett. Eut. Zeil. xxxi. 391. 



