GALLS AND PARASITES. 



2 79 



the galls of the same insect are always of the same 

 character. 



COMMON OAK GALLS were at first called Devon- 

 shire Galls, because they were first observed upon 

 oaks in Devonshire, but have since spread all over 

 the kingdom. They are very different from the soft, 

 round galls of the leaves, being almost as hard as 

 bullets, but dif- 

 fering from the 

 commercial Tur- 

 key galls in being 

 smooth on the 

 surface, and more 

 resembling the 

 inferior " white 

 galls " of trade. 

 These galls are 

 either single, or 

 two or three toge- 

 ther, or in dense 

 clusters on the 

 young branches 

 of oak, and are 

 so persistent that 

 they will still be 

 seen adhering to 



the tree when the leaves are all gone and the snow 

 covers the ground. It was about twenty-five years 

 ago that these galls were first noticed in the south of 

 England, and until recently we had a specimen which 

 we obtained about 1855 with the greatest difficulty, 

 and at that time regarded as a rare prize. Their ap- 



OAK GALLS. 



