282 ANOMALIES OF DEVELOPEMENT. CHAP. V. 



from nearly the same point assume something of 

 the figure of a rose. Hence it has obtained the 

 common name of the Rose Willow ; and so also in 

 the case of the Lime-tree ; the bud is often punc- 

 tured, and the egg deposited,, and the gall formed 

 into a round and fleshy substance about the size of 

 a garden Pea, with a good deal of complexion on 

 the side exposed to the sun, while the apex is yet 

 crowned with the rudiments of a leaf or leaves. 



The galls of the Salma pomifera formed in the 

 above manner are said to be of a very pleasant 

 flavour, and are esteemed a great delicacy in eastern 

 countries.* 



SECTION V. 

 The Leaf. 



Nut galls, THE leaves, like the buds, are also frequently 

 chosen for the nidus of insects, and disfigured with 

 galls or excrescences. But the most remarkable 

 gall produced on the leaf, and indeed the most re- 

 markable and important of all galls, is that which 

 is so extremely useful in the arts of dyeing and 

 making ink, the nut-gall of the shops. It is ge- 

 nerated on the leaf of a species of Oak that grows 

 plentifully in the Levant, and is so well known 

 in commerce as to require no particular description. 

 It is occasioned by the puncture of the Cynips 

 querci folii, which deposits its egg in the substance 

 * Willdenow, p. 346. 



