Ilawthorn Weevil. 



413 



resemble currants which have fallen from the tree before 

 being ripe. These galls do not seem to differ from those 

 formed on the leaves of the oak ; and are probably the pro- 

 duction of the same insect, which selects the catkin in pre- 

 ference, by the same instinct that the oak-apple gall-fly, as 

 we have seen, sometimes deposits its eggs in the bark of the 

 oak near the root. 



Currant Gall of the catkins of the Oak, produced by Cynips quercus pedunculi ? 



The gall of the oak, which forms an important dye-stuff, 

 and is used in making writing-ink, is also produced by a 

 Oynips, and has been described in the c Library of Entertain- 

 ing Knowledge ' (Vegetable Substances, p. 16). The employ- 

 ment of the Cynips psenes for ripening figs is described in 

 the same volume, p. 244. 



GALL OF A HAWTHORN WEEVIL. 



In May, 1829, we found on a hawthorn at Lee, in Kent, 

 the leaves at the extremity of a branch neatly folded up in 

 a bundle, but not quite so closely as is usual in the case of 

 leaf-rolling caterpillars. On opening them, there was no 

 caterpillar to be seen, the centre being occupied with a 

 roundish, brown-coloured, woody substance, similar to some 

 excrescences made by gall-insects (Cynips). Had we been 



