in HERMIT HOMES 93 



brown. Although the soft compressible moss-like 

 surface appears to form the whole of the gall, in 

 reality there is a dense woody tissue, within which 

 lie the larvae admirably protected against injury from 

 without. The number of cells in a Bedeguar is 

 mostly great. They are usually restricted in size ; 

 larger dimensions seem always obtained at the ex- 

 pense of solidity of the walls. Each cell contains 

 a single egg, and each in its own restricted space 

 the larvse are hatched. In this stage they remain 

 quietly at rest for the winter, quickly changing to 

 pupae and the perfect forms at the beginning of the 

 following spring. Should the spring be cold the 

 " flies " do not at once desert their home on the 

 completion of their metamorphoses, but await the 

 arrival of propitious weather. Then they gnaw their 

 way through their abode and escape. 



The gall nuts of commerce, or Aleppo galls, 

 used to make ink and tinctures and whence 

 gallic* acid is derived, affect the leaves and 

 twigs of an Eastern species of oak (Quercus infect- 

 oria*}, abundant in Asia Minor and Turkey. They 

 are remarkably hard, and almost spherical and tuber- 

 culated.* Their juice may be said to be colourless, 

 but if it is mixed with a solution of the sulphate of 

 iron or copperas, itself very pale green, the two com- 

 bined produce a fluid intensely black, such as the ink 

 in common use. Any one may prove the fact for 

 himself, and manufacture ink on a small scale, by 

 cutting some succulent British gall with a steel knife, 

 and he will find his fingers stained as with pale ink 

 by the action of the iron on the moisture of the gall. 



