1824 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART Ill. 
Mém., tom. iii. pl. 41. f. 1—5.): they are astringent, like the gall nuts, and may 
be used, like them, for dyeing black ;_ but the colour produced, though more 
beautiful, is said to be less durable. These oak apples are much sought after 
annually on the 29th of May, that day being the anniversary of the Resto- 
ration of Charles II., and commonly known about London as Oak Apple 
Day. In Yorkshire, it is kept as a half-holiday at the schools, and is known 
by the couplet, — 
“ Twenty-ninth of May, 
Royal Oak Day.” 
The oak apples are, also, still occasionally consulted as auguries by the 
superstitious, as they were in the time of Gerard, who says, “ The oke apples 
being broken in sunder about the time of their withering, doe foreshew the 
sequell of the yeare, as the expert Kentish hushandmen have observed by the 
living things found in them; as, if they finde an ant, they foretell plenty of 
graine to ensue; if a white worm, like a gentill cr magot, then they prognos- 
ticate murren of beasts and cattell; if a spider, then (say they) we shall 
have a pestilence, or some such like sickenesse to follow amongst men. These 
things the learned, also, have observed and noted ; for Matthiolus, writing 
upon Dioscorides, saith that, before they have an hole through them, they 
containe in them either a flie,a spider, or a worme: if a flie, then warre 
insueth ; if a creeping worme, then scarcitie of victuals; if a running spider, 
~ then followeth great sickenesse or mortalitie.” (Herd., 1341.) 
Extravagant as are the inferences deduced, the observations of Gerard, for 
the most part, are correct ; for diversity of season will affect the developement 
of these excrescences ; and, if it be retarded, the egg, the larva, or perfect 
cynips, may be detected; and often, instead of the true gall insect, the larva, 
pupa, or imago, of an ichneumon (or, more commonly, one of the family 
Chaleididz belonging to the genus Callimome Spinola) is found within the 
tumour: not that this fly has subsisted on the substance of the gall, but the 
parent ichneumon, or callimome, having deposited an egg within the gall 
while soft, the egg, or larva, of the cynips is preyed on by the parasite, and 
the interloper becomes possessed of the other’s abode. When full grown, the 
oak apple is nearly as large as a moderate-sized dessert apple, and is of a 
pretty appearance, ornamented with yellow and pink. It is not quite spherical, 
but is irregularly depressed in various parts. Its surface is smooth and shining ; 
and, when broken open, in its interior are found a great number of cells, each 
containing a fleshy grub, pupa, or perfect insect, according to the period of 
the year; the substance of the gall being fleshy, with numerous fibres running 
in the direction of the stems. The perfect insect is of a pale reddish buff 
colour, with immaculate wings. Itis figured ) 
by Panzer Faun. Ins. Germ., 88. t. 13.; g 
and, notwithstanding the large size of the 
gall, is much smaller than some other oak 
Cynipide. 
Besides the oak apple, and that species 
emphatically styled “the gall,” or “ gall 
nut,” several other excrescences on the 
oak, from their beauty, or their partial pre- 
valence, deserve enumeration. The small 
round currant gall (fig. 1649.), of which 
sevéral are frequently scattered through- . 
out the length of the ament thread, or 
rachis, giving it the appearance whence 
they derive their name (Réaum. Mém., 
tom. iii. p. 40. f. 1—6.), is produced by 
the C. quéreus pedinculi; the perfect 
¥ 
insect of which 1s of a greyish colour, the wings being marked with an 
elongated cross. “ There isa remarkable fact accompanying the deposition 
of the eggs on the dangling stalk of the catkins. The male flowers are 
