Rhodites spinosissimse. 



The galls of this species are placed very conspicuously on 

 the plant. At first soft and succulent, they are green in colour, 

 then tinged or suffused with pink, deepening into red, ultimately 

 becoming almost fiery red in appearance, and hard and woody 

 in texture. They are very irregular in outline, and occur on 

 the stem with as much frequency as on the leaves. After 

 the parent insect has deposited her ova, those in stem quickly 

 cause comparatively large swellings in the medullary tissue, 

 the surface being almost as closely beset with prickles as are 

 the unaffected portions of the stem. When the leaves are 

 attacked, the gall-growth may occupy the whole of one side 

 of a leaflet, or both sides, with the serrated edge forming 

 a kind of fringe around the swelling. The leaf-stalk and 

 stipules also are sometimes the bearers of galls, while the 

 flower-buds and the petals are occasionally galled. As com- 

 pared with the size of the leaves, the galls are very large 

 and cause the premature decay and falling off of those 

 affected. 



The plant is known as the burnet, or Scotch, rose. In a 

 wild state it rarely attains more than lo or 12 in. in height, 

 and is generally found in dry and bushy land near the sea. 

 Even under cultivation it seldom attains more than 2 ft. At 

 Tenby, in South Wales, it is known as the burrow-rose, and 

 is "of very stunted growth, just creeping along the ground, 

 with small flowers which look very pretty among the grass." 



The illustration is of specimens gathered at Tenby by 

 Mr. Walter Field. 



