CYNOGLOSSUM. 



231 



covering or c6ating to the entire gall,) till becoming 

 thickened by evaporation and exposure to the air, it 

 at length shuts up the puncture, stops the further 

 escape of the sap, and the process is completed. 

 When, however, we consider the large size of some of 

 these galls and the very minute quantity of gluten 

 which must be deposited with it, we do not see suf- 

 ficient cause for adopting this idea ; moreover we 

 cannot but suppose that a more irritating fluid than 

 mere gluten is deposited, in order to produce such 

 active and violent ejects upon the plant. It', indeed, 

 the Cynips did not belong to the Hynienoptcra, we 

 might feel less hesitation in thus expressing ourselves ; 

 but when we know, from experience, the poisonous 

 fluid with which even the terebrant Hymenoptera are 

 furnished, it is difficult not to believe that it is to this 

 stimulus that the production of these galls are attri- 

 butable ; but, again, admitting the orifice to be stopped 

 by gluten, we see but little difficulty in supposing that 

 the vegetative matter, of which the gall is formed, 

 should not require a coating of gluten any more than 

 though it were a leaf or a bud. But when this theory 

 is applied in detail, we find it still more untenable ; 

 indeed, its author was obliged to admit that, in the 

 hairy bedeguar gall of the rose, " the gluten, it would 

 appear, is not sufficiently tenacious to confine the 

 tlowing sap within the dimensions of any of the little 

 clustered globes containing the eggs, for it oozes out 

 from numerous cracks or pores in the pellicle," and 

 " shoots into a reddish-coloured fibrous bristle :" 

 and from the natural tendency of the sap of the rose- 

 tree to form prickles, these are all studded over with 

 weak pricklets ; which formation is supposed to be 

 , of great utility by affording warmth during the winter 

 to the enclosed insects. Without stopping to inquire 

 why the gluten of the bedeguar should not be 

 strong as that of the much larger oak gall, we will 

 only observe, in conclusion, that the circumstance 

 that many of the different kinds of galls are so irre- 

 gular in their forms, bearing resemblance to leaves 

 and buds, that it is impossible to apply to them, or 

 indeed to any other than perfectly globular galls, the 

 theory of the gluten : and it is not philosophical to 

 suppose that the globular galls should be produced 

 by one operation, and the other kinds by a distinct 

 ono. 



One of the best known species of galls is that em- 

 ployed in the manufacture of ink, and which is fouuc 

 upon the oaks growing in the Levant. This gall is 

 of a globular form, and on opening it, its interior wil 

 be found to be of a very solid consistence, having 

 rounded cell in the centre, in which the fly (Cynipi 

 gall<s tinctnrice) in its winged state may often be 

 found. The form and solidity of galls vary according 

 to the situations in which they are found, as the leaves 

 peduncles, buds, bark, root, &c.: some being round 

 others irregular, some smooth, others covered witl 

 hair, whilst many resemble buds or minute artichokes 

 their size is also very varied *. 



It is a curious circumstance that the eggs of thes 

 gall-flies, like those of the saw-flies, increase conside 

 rably in size previous to the exclusion of the larv 

 which is sufficient to show that the membranou 

 covering in which they are enclosed is of a very dii 

 ferent texture from that which envelops the eggs o 

 insects in general. The larva hatched from thes 



- * We must refer to our article CUPULIPKTUE for various detai 

 relating to the economical usages to which galls arc applied. 



ggs are white, fleshy, inactive grubs, destitute oflegs, 

 hich would, of course, be useless to them, but pro-' 

 ided with jaws for eating the hard substance of the 

 all. Sometimes one only inhabits a single gall, but 



others a single gall is the abode of numerous larvse. 

 n some species the larva; undergo their transfbrma- 

 ioris, and the perfect insect is produced within the 

 all ; but in others the larvse make their way out of 

 ne gall when full-grown, and fall to the earth, where 

 liey become pupae. The exit of the insect in either 

 tate from the gall is indicated by a small circular 

 >rifice at the side of the gall. These gall insects are 

 nuch subject to the attacks of a parasitic group o. 

 lies, of nearly the same size, belonging to the family 

 ,'halcidida;, and having the ovipositor long and ex- 

 erted, their colours being highly metallic and beau- 

 iful ; they compose the genus CaU'mimne. 



One of the species of this genus is employed in 

 Greece in a very serviceable manner for hastening 

 he maturity of the fig. This species, which is the 

 Cynips pseties, deposits its eggs in the seed vessel of 

 his plant, and the inhabitants place a quantity of the 

 ;arly figs which had been attacked in the neighbour- 

 iood of the more tardy ones ; so that the insects 

 when quitting the former, covered with the fecunda- 

 ory dust, introduce themselves into the latter, so as 

 :o cause the more speedy ripening of the fruit. This 

 irocess is termed caprification. 



Hitherto all the species of this family have been 

 :onsidered as inhabiting galls, but in a memoir which 

 he author of this article has lately published in the 

 Mdgazine of Natural History, we have given the 

 history of a species which we discovered to be parasitic 

 upon the aphides of the rose, in which respects it 

 forms an interesting point of connection between such 

 of the IcIi)winin>nidiE,zs the Ap/iidius,(sec BRACONID^E,J 

 and the true gall-flies. 



Oak-apple gall and Cynips qnercusfolri. 

 The family comprises the genera Cyrtvps, F'>gitcs, 

 Ibaiut, Anncharix, and a few others, which we have 

 proposed in the memoir above referred to ; these 

 genera rest chiefly upon structural differences. The 

 typical genus, Cynips, has the abdomen compressed 

 and the antennae filiform ; the submarginai cells are 

 three in number. The oak-apples are produced from 

 one of the species of this genus, Cynips quernts- 

 folii, and the bedeguar, (which see,) is the result of 

 (he wounds of the Cynips roscc, a species of moderate 

 size, of black colour, having the legs and abdomen, 

 except, at the tip, red. 



CYNOGLOSSUM (Linnaeus). A genus of 

 herbaceous herbs, mostly biennials, and natives of 

 Europe. Two of the species are British, and called, 

 from the shape of the leaves HauniFs-tongne. It be- 

 longs to the fifth class and first order of Linnaeus, and 

 to the natural order Boragincce. The cynoglossums 

 are used as open border flowering plants, but do not 

 possess much beauty. They are increased by seeds. 



