1824 ARBORKTUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



Mem., torn. iii. pi. + 1. 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, — 



" Twcntv-ninth of May, 

 Koyal Oak Day." 



The oak apples are, also, still occasionally consulted as auguries by the 

 superstitious, as they were in the time of (ierard, 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 husl)andmen 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 or 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." {Herb., 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 

 C'halcididas 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. It is figured 

 by Panzer Faun. Ins. Germ., 88. t. 13.; 

 and, notwithstanding the large size of the 

 gall, is much smaller than some other oak 

 Cynipidae. 



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 {fg. 1649.), of which 

 several are frequently scattered through- 

 out the length of the anient thread, or 

 rachis, giving it the appearance whence 

 they derive their name (lieaum. Mem., 

 torn. iii. p. 40. f. 1 — 6.), is produced by 

 the C . quercus pedunculi; the perfect ^''^^ 



insect of which is of a greyish colour, the wings being marked with an 

 elongated cross. " There is a remarkable fact accompanying the deposition 

 of the eggs on the dangling stalk of the catkins. The male flowers are 



