36 British Vegetable Galls 



They are possessed of two large and well-developed eyes. 

 Ocelli are present in but few species. 



The antennae are composed of numbers of spherical or 

 cylindrical joints, which in several species of Cecidoinyia number 

 22 to 24 ; they are moniliform in character. From each joint 

 proceeds a number of long, slender, spreading hairs. The legs 

 are very long and slender. The abdomen is cylindrical, and in 

 the ? terminates with a long, pointed ovipositor, which projects 

 considerably. The $ $ are usually smaller than the ? ? . 



The colours of the gall-gnats are usually very bright, yellow, 

 orange-yellow, or red being the most usual, all of which, un- 

 fortunately, fade at death. 



V. Fungi, or Fungus. 



Of the known species none is excessively destructive as 

 regards its ravages upon the foods of man. 



The fruits mostly affected are the various varieties oiPrunus. 

 Occasionally quantities of plums are affected, resulting in a loss 

 to the fruit-grower. Exoascus institia Kerner, is the cause of 

 the peculiar distension of the fruit Some fine examples of the 

 manner in which bullaces are rendered unfit for use will be seen 

 on plates 126 and 129. 



Anton Kerner (" Nat. Hist. Plants," ii. 526) proposes the 

 term " Myco-cecedium for a gall that owes its origin to the 

 attacks of fungus." It appears to be very suitable for such. 



It has recently been stated by M. Noel Bernard, a French 

 botanist, that the potato is the result of the growth of the fungus 

 Fusarium solani: 



" M. Bernard took sixteen tubercles of the variety called 

 in France ' Marjohn,' and planted them in flower-pots filled with 

 fine silicious sand. Eight flower-pots were put aside under 

 a glass frame. The other eight pots, in the soil of which a few 

 chips of potato had been sown bearing Fusm-iiiin fungus, were 

 placed in another frame-house. Every one of the latter lot 

 brought forth potatoes after a couple of months, while the eight 

 flower-pots of the first lot were found to contain long, slender 

 roots. . . . It is suggested that early potatoes might be obtained 

 by sowing the soil with cultures of Fusarium solani." — Daily 

 News, March i6th, 1901. 



