Pseudo-Galls. 



no distant resemblance to a rook's nest in miniature, and 

 provincially called witch-knots. 



Pseudo-galls of the Hawthorn, drawn from specimens. 



One of the prettiest of these psuedo -galls with which we 

 are acquainted, is produced on the Scotch fir (Pinus sylves- 

 tris), by the Aphis pini, which is one of the largest species 

 of our indigenous aphides. The production 

 we allude to may be found, during the sum- 

 mer months, on the terminal shoots of this 

 tree, in the form of a small cone, much liko 

 the fruit of the tree in miniature, but with 

 this difference, that the fruit terminates in 

 a point, whereas the pseudo-gall is nearly glo- 

 bular. Its colour also, instead of being green, 

 is reddish ; but it exhibits the tiled scales of the fruit cone. 



We have mentioned this the more willingly that it seems 

 to confirm the theory which we have hazarded respecting 

 the formation of the bedeguar of the rose and other true galls 

 by which we ascribed to the sap, diverted from its natural 

 course by insects, a tendency to form leaves, &c., like those* 

 of the plant from which it is made to exude. 



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