94 ROMANCE OF THE INSECT WORLD CHAP. 



The so-called Dead Sea fruits, apples of Sodom, or 

 Mala insana (see Fig. 9), grow on dwarf members of 

 the same oak on the borders of the Dead Sea. About 

 them strange stories have been told, and their nature 

 once aroused controversy amongst commentators upon 

 Biblical and Oriental literature. Travellers use to 

 describe these 



Dead Sea fruits that tempt the eye, 

 But turn to ashes on the lips ; 



beautiful to look upon with their glossy deeply- 

 purplish red surface, and as large as good-sized apples. 

 But when tasted, instead of the sweet juicy substance 

 one was led to expect by the lovely exterior, they filled 

 the mouth with bitter dry ashes, drawn, so it was said, 

 by the oak from the ruins of three evil cities buried 

 beneath the bituminous waves of the Dead Sea. 

 Hence the " fruits " were tangible evidence of the 

 cities' former existence. For many a day this story 

 was believed ; at length it was dismissed, the very 

 existence of the " fruits " was denied as the inven- 

 tion of an Eastern fable, in spite of plain allusions 

 to the contrary by Josephus, Strabo, Tacitus, and 

 other ancient authors. Recent research proves the 

 main facts of the case to be correct; the inferences 

 deduced fare badly. These " fruits " are galls of a 

 Cynips named by Westwood insana. They do not 

 belie the old descriptions of their beauty, and natur- 

 ally they are astringent, more especially as they 

 grow upon an oak. Doubtless they will prove 

 sufficiently so, if any one care to make the test, 

 as to warrant the tales of the rough and ash-like 



