CHAP. CV. 



CORYLA'CE;E. QUE'RCUS. 



1843 



1696 



of woolly down that is spread over its young leaves, 



which, on their first appearance (in the climate 



of London, three weeks later than those of the 



common oak), are of a reddish tinge. The tree is 



found, in France, in the Lower Pyrenees, and in 



every part of the west, as far as Nantes, almost 



always on poor sandy soil. In the Landes, it is 



known under the name of chene noir, tauzin, or 



tauza. At Angers, and at Nantes, it is called 



chene doux ; at Mons, chene brosse ; and among 



the nurserymen in these countries, chene Angou- 



mois. The Basques call it amenza, or ametca. 



Bosc says that there is a plantation of it in the 



Park of Daumont,atthe back of the Forest of Mont- 



morency, some of the trees in which ripen acorns 



annually ; and that he had sown a great many of them in the government 



nurseries at Versailles. Secondat, who appears to have been the first to 



bring this species of oak into notice, considers it as the true QueYcus R6- 



bur of the ancients, as already noticed, p. 1722. He says that this oak grows 



well in the poorest soil, in which its roots extend close under the surface to 



a great distance, here and there throwing up suckers. The wood is of great 



hardness, toughness, and durability; and it is chiefly used for the construction 



of wine casks. Bosc adds that the wood weighs 60 Ib. per cubic foot, 



and that it is very apt to warp ; but that the bark furnishes the best of all tar. 



In the Journal a" Hist. Nat., torn. ii. pi. 32., he has figured a gall fly (Diplole- 



pis uinbraculus Oliv., Cy nips querciis tojae Fab.), and the gall produced by it, 



peculiar to this tree. The gall (fig. 1697.) is spheroidal, fungous within, and 



1697 



almost ligneous without; smooth, but crowned with from 8 to 12 tubercles, 

 separated by indentations. The gall fly resembles the Cynips gleehomas 

 Lin. ; but differs from that species in having the abdomen as downy as the 

 thorax. In the Nouvcau Diet. d'Agric., it is said that, in the Landes, the 

 acorns of the Q. Tauzin are much more sought after for feeding swine, than 

 those of Q. sessiliflora or Q. pedunculata. The young shoots of Q. pyre- 

 naica are more flexible than those of Q. sessiliflora and Q. pedunculata, and, 

 consequently, make better hoops. The leaves and young shoots are much 

 more bitter than those of the other species, and are often rejected by cows 



GD 3 



