THE ENTOMOLOGIST. S89 



produce acorns, but it is these very saplings that are selected 

 in preference by the Cynips; this then supports Mr. Inch- 

 bald's observations and my own assertions, made some years 

 ago, — I think in the 'Cottage Gardener' about 1860, but I 

 have not that paper to refer to, — and this so far is a fact. 

 But the question resolves itself into this : How are these 

 • acknowledged wood-buds transformed into fructifying buds, 

 if the galls are produced at the expense of the acorns? In 

 this way : the buds, say, were in a normal condition, and 

 would have produced in their normal state leaves and shoots, 

 as the case might be; but they are changed into what I will 

 call abnormal buds by the insertion of a foreign body, namely, 

 the egg of the Cynips, and with the egg probably some fluid 

 which exerts some influence over the flow of sap around the 

 deposited egg. Now the insertion of this egg, &c., would 

 cause the particular buds selected by the insect to exert 

 themselves, and call forth greater energy, if I may use this 

 term, to overcome an intrusion, and a comparatively debili- 

 tated condition brought about by the intrusion of this egg, &c., 

 into the bud ; and the only natural result would be the pro- 

 duction of the fruit natural lo the tree. It is an eff"ort of 

 Nature put forth, and which is ever lying in wait, to produce 

 her like tlirough an effort of fructification ; we see this in 

 every species of plant. Take an apple- or a pear-tree and 

 half sever a branch, or if anything has happened to its roots 

 so as to cause a semi-stagnation lo the free flow of the sap, 

 what is the result .? The tree makes an effort to propagate its 

 like in producing an abnormal abundance of fruit. Again, 

 we wound a tree by cutting a ring of bark off" its trunk, or off 

 a branch only, and it brings about the same result, namely, an 

 abnormal condition (you must please to take the use of this 

 word "abnormal" in the sense here implied, and not as it is 

 generally used). We see now how it is that these normal 

 oak-buds are converted into fructifying buds by the very 

 effort of Nature to secure and hold her own against an 

 opposing force; and, as producing fruit is her main point to 

 be obtained, the insertion thus of this egg into the bud causes 

 the otherwise wood-bud to be converted into a fruit-bearing 

 bud, and by this means the galls are produced at the expense 

 of the acorns. At the same time this is rather paradoxical, 

 as there would not be any acorns if the insect had not 



