MOUNTAIN TREES 



sidered good eating by many white set- 

 tlers when served with cream and sugar. 

 Its food value is exceptionally high and 

 the Indians all put on weight during the 

 acorn season. Some students claim the 

 rotund form of the California Indian is 

 due to the constant eating of acorns for 

 so many generations. 



The oaks and the roses seem to have 

 been specially chosen by the gall-mak- 

 ing insects for home-sites. Any day's 

 hunt will reward you with a half dozen 

 forms each as individual and curious as 

 can be. Most familiar of all are the oak 

 "apples" so long prized by the ancients 

 as a remedy in disease. These abnormal 

 growths so rosy and round are often so 

 numerous as to make the injured tree ap- 

 pear laden with fruit. They are due to 

 the irritation of the plant tissues by the 

 tiny larvae of Cynipid gall-flies. By 

 some extraordinary and curious instinct 

 the female selects certain sites most 

 adapted for the production of the gall 

 and with her awl-like ovi-positor pierces 



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