CHAP. CV. 



C'OIIYLACEA:. 



specie* wa introduced into England in 1X'A> ; but we have never teen it, and we are not aware that 

 there ik a living plant of it in the neighbourhood of London. 



The gall fly of Q. infectoria 



belongs to the family Cvni- 



pidse Westw. (Diplolepariae 



Latreille.) Amongst the 



excrescences, or galls, pro- 

 duced by the punctures of 



the different species of this 



family of insects, the galls, or 



nut galls, of commerce (in 



French, galles and noiv de 



guile; in German, gall-apfd; 



in Italian, galle and galluzze ; 



in Latin, gal/a; in Arabian, 



afis; in Hindostanee, mayu- 



plial ; and in Persian, mayer) 



are by far the most valuable, being much employed in the manufacture of ink, 

 as well as occasionally for medicinal purposes. These galls, which, when full 



grown (fig. 1821.), are of the size of a boy's marble, of 

 a rounded form, and rather uneven surface, are at- 

 tached to the slender stems of the branches of Q. in- 

 fectoria, and are produced by the Diplolepis, or, more 

 properly, Cynips Galla? tinctoriae Oliv. Enc. Meth. y 

 vi. p. 281.; Cynips scriptorum Kirby and Spence Intr. t 

 i. p. 319. This insect (fig. 1822. rf) is of a pale 

 brown colour, and may often be found enclosed in the 

 galls sold in the shops of the druggists, &c.; these 

 galls having been collected before the insect had made 

 its escape. Fig. 1822. a is a section of one of these 

 galls. The natural history of this family of insects 

 may be stated in a very few words, although the phy- 

 siological nature of the changes which take place in 

 the action of the juices of the plants attacked by them, whereby galls of a 

 very great diversity of form are produced, has not been ascertained. The 

 female Cynipidae are furnished with an instrument, or ovipositor, of a curved 

 form, and, for the most part, concealed within the abdomen, the extremity only 



1822 



