MOUNTAIN TREES 



gall with the gall makers are other in- 

 sect guests or parasites. These "degen- 

 erate loafers/' are often present in 

 amazing numbers and though they have 

 done nothing in the making of the gall- 

 house, feed upon the sap and enjoy all 

 the securities of the home of the host. 



On the trunks of the Kellogg Oaks 

 are often found great round excrescent 

 growths which are the result of the 

 trees' effort to seal over the stubs of 

 dead, broken limbs. The process of 

 covering begins at the base of the stub 

 and the laying on of layers of tissue 

 often continues until the dead wood is 

 entirely engulfed in living tissue. Even 

 after this isolation of unsound wood is 

 accomplished the abnormal tissues often 

 continue to grow, layer after layer of 

 wood being laid on, until occasionally 

 some of the grotesque and peculiar out- 

 growths are almost the size of barrels. 



Live Oaks (Quercus agrifolia), stragglers from the 

 broad, lowland valleys, are occasionally found in the 

 lower canyons. They may be distinguished from the 

 Golden Oaks by the fact that the leaves, always 

 toothed, are convex on the upper surface. 



84 



