CHAP. CV. CORYLA‘CEE®. QUE’RCUS. 18438 
of woolly down that is spread over its young leaves, 
which, on their first appearance (in the climate 
of London, three weeks later than those of the .\Y/) 
common oak), are of a reddish tinge. The tree is 
found, in France, in the Lower Pyrenees, and in 4 
every part of the west, as far as Nantes, almost ~ 
always on poor sandy soil. In the Landes, it is 
known under the name of chéne noir, tauzin, or 
tauza. At Angers, and at Nantes, it is called : 
chéne doux; at Mons, chéne brosse; and among S& 
the nurserymen in these countries, chéne Angou- @ 
mois. The Basques call it amenza, or ametca. 
Bosc says that there is a plantation of it in the . 
Park of Daumont, at the back of the Forest of Mont- - 1696 
morency, some of the trees in which ripen acorns 
annually; and that he had sown a great many of them in the government 
nurseries at Versailles. Secondat, who appears to have been the first to 
bring this species of oak into notice, considers it as the true Quércus Ro- 
bur of the ancients, as already noticed, p. 1722. He says that this oak grows 
well in the poorest soil, in which its roots extend close under the surface to 
a great distance, here and there throwing up suckers. The wood is of great 
hardness, toughness, and durability; and it is chiefly used for the construction 
of wine casks. Bosc adds that the wood weighs 60 lb. per cubic foot, 
and that it is very apt to warp; but that the bark furnishes the best ofall tar. 
In the Journal d’ Hist. Nat., tom. ii. pl. 32., he has figured a gall fly (Dipléle- 
pis umbraculus Oliv., Cynips quérctis tojae Fad. ), and the gall produced by it, 
peculiar to this tree. The gall (fig. 1697.) is spheroidal, fungous within, and 
1697 
o + 
= DEN 
== 
almost ligneous without; smooth, but crowned with from 8 to 12 tubercles, 
separated by indentations. The gall fly resembles the Cynips glechome 
Tin. ; but differs from that species in having the abdomen as downy as the 
thorax. In the Nouveau Dict. d’Agric., it is said that, in the Landes, the 
acorns of the Q. Tazzin are much more sought after for feeding swine, than 
those of Q. sessiliflora or Q. pedunculata. The young shoots of Q. pyre- 
naica are more flexible than those of Q. sessiliflora and Q. pedunculata, and, 
consequently, make better hoops. The leaves and young shoots are much 
more bitter than those of the other species, and are often rejected by cows 
6p 3 
