THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 275 



Pseudobalani, or False Acorns. By Edward Newman. 



It is by accident that the miner first hits the auriferous 

 vein : it is no merit of his ; it is a mere piece of good fortune 

 that might happen to any man in the gang. The precious 

 metal had been there for untold ages; it only wanted the 

 accident of discovery ; the " happy thought," as our ' Punch' 

 would call it; and the happy thoughts, by which I have set 

 brains and pens to work, were quite asna'ive as some of those 

 which our respected contemporary has rendered so amusing. 

 Such was the question about Acentropus ; such the " blown- 

 over theory;" such the suggestion that the Fauna of the 

 Channel Islands should be considered British ; and such 

 that many of our galls are Pseudobalani, or false acorns. All 

 these subjects are rich veins of ore, and require only the leisure 

 and talent, that abound in our Entomological Societies, to 

 work them to great profit and advantage. It is only with 

 oak-galls that I have to deal at present. 



I have observed — everyone has observed — that at certain 

 seasons of the year oak-trees produce objects dissimilar to 

 the familiar, normal, and, as we might say, legitimate, objects, 

 annually produced by oak-trees, namely, leaves and acorns : 

 we call these dissimilar objects, galls, or oak-galls. By 

 detaching these, taking them home, and treating them in the 

 manner I have already suggested in the 'Entomologist' 

 (Entom. iii. 171), we learn that each gall is a nursery for an 

 insect, or sometimes for many insects, which eventually 

 attain the perfect condition, and afford the entomologist an 

 infinite fund of amusement and instruction : some are gall- 

 makers (Cynips, &c.); some are parasites on gall-makers 

 (Callimome, &c.); and some, which are neither (Balani- 

 nus, &c.), seem to seek food and lodging in the abnormal 

 objects 1 have mentioned, — for these 1 have suggested the 

 name of inquilines. So far I shall carry my readers with 

 me. 



The next step many will hesitate to take : it is that the 

 oak, like every plant, has an imperative duly to perform, 

 a duty which, under all circumstances, however adverse, it 

 struggles to perform, namely, the production of certain 

 organs essential either to the well-being of the individual 

 tree, or to the continuance of the kind or species of tree. 



