GALLS OF THE OAK. 159 



apple, pierces with an instrument adapted for the purpose 

 through the fleshy pulp, and depositing an egg within each 

 of the Gall-fly's grubs, leaves them a prey to the cravings of 

 her own. The latter, when arrived at maturity, emerge a set 

 of winged impostors, which, besides having taken the lives 

 and usurped the dwellings of the Gall-fly brood, have some- 

 times also, through error of observers, robbed them even of 

 their name. 



Besides the oak-apple, many other varieties of Gall (each 

 the produce of a distinct species of Cynips) are found on the 

 same tree. One of these is now common on the leaves. They 

 are either single or in groups ; are about the size of a currant, 

 green, tinged with red, and serve each as a protecting globe 

 to a single egg, or grub, which occupies a central cavity, 

 surrounded by the juicy substance of the fruit. These berry- 

 like productions are sometimes seen attached also to the oak 

 catkins, pendant on which they are not unlike a half-plucked 

 bunch of currants, from their resemblance to which they have 

 been named Currant . Galls. 1 Others, widely differing from 

 the above in appearance, but of similar origin, are also very 

 abundant on the oak, near the extremity of its branches. 

 These, from their form, and the arrangement of the small 

 leaflets which compose them, have been named after the 

 artichoke, which they most resemble. 2 



Not only the most extreme and tender branches, but the 

 rugged bark, the solid wood, the root even of the giant oak, 

 is ready, at the touch of her wand-like piercers, to supply the 

 fairy Gall-fly with those rapid and extraneous growths, which 

 serve to protect her tender offspring. Most of these bark and 

 root-galls have the appearance of brown, woody, irregular 

 excrescences ; but there are some which form a beautiful and 

 striking contrast with the coarse substances from which they 

 spring. 



1 Vignette. a Vignette. 



