3o6 STRANGE DWELLINGS. 



In these curious galls, the excrescences with which they are 

 covered take the form of leaves instead of hairs, as is the case 

 with the bedeguar and many other galls. These bud-like objects 

 may be found on the young twigs, and may be easily recognised 

 by their shape, which somewhat resembles that of a pine-apple, 

 and the curious manner in which their leafy covering lies regu- 

 larly over them, like the tiles upon an ornamental roof The 

 size of the gall is rather variable, but it is, on an average, about 

 as large as an ordinary hazel-nut. 



The gall is so wonderfully bud-like that I have known the 

 two objects to be confounded — the immature acorns in theii 

 cups to be carried off as galls, while the real galls were left on 

 the tree. The incipient naturalist who made the mistake kept 

 the buds for some eighteen months, and was sadly disappointed 

 to find that no insects were produced from them. 



The insect whose acrid injection produces this curious effect 

 upon the tree is rather larger than the leaf-gall insect, and is 

 of more slender proportions. It has been suggested that the 

 object of the leafy or hairy covering is, that the insect, which 

 remains in the gall throughout the winter, should have a warm 

 house by which it may be protected from the chilling frost as 

 well as from the wind and rain. 



If the reader will again refer to the illustration, he will see 

 that from the same branch on which the Cynips KoUa7-i has 

 formed so many galls, depend two slender threads support- 

 ing one or two globular objects. These are popularly called 

 Currant-galls, because they look very much like bunches of 

 currants from which the greater part of the fruit has been 

 removed. Their colour, too, is another reason for giving them 

 this name, as they are sometimes scarlet, resembling red cur- 

 rants, and sometimes pale cream colour, thus imitating the white 

 variety. 



These galls are placed upon the catkins of the oak, which 

 are forced to give all their juices to the increase of the gall, 

 instead of employing them on their own development. Some 

 authors think that the insect which forms them is a different 



