496 Queries and Atiswers. 



fordshire friend will not allow his name to be given publicly. QjueTy ; Did 

 L. O. L. ever ask his friend's permission to publish his name ? 



4. Will L. O. L. allow me to guess at the name of his " much respected " 

 friend, if he does not choose to save me the trouble, by giving the name of 

 his friend at once ? If L. O. L.'s statements are correct, neither L. O. L. 

 nor his friend have any thing to fear, " Vincit omnia Veritas." [Fair dealing 

 carries every thing before it.] 



L. O. L. must recollect that the public have a legitimate title to question 

 the dubious statements of any author ; and particularly in a case like that of 

 the would-be clever L. O. L., who evidently has made a premature exit from 

 the domination of the ferula. 



L. O. L., I trust, will excuse the liberty I have assumed in proposing these 

 problems to him for solution. 



If L. O. L. should find any difficulty in answering these simple questions, 

 will he accept of the assistance of a friend ? ■ — Pro Bono Publico. 



Singular Varieties of Indigenous Oaks. — If ever any singular varieties of our 

 native oaks come in your way (as Mr. Fennessey's, for example), I should 

 be very glad of a specimen, as I have thoughts of making a book of oak 

 specimens, all I can meet with, together with their balls and galls, and spangles 

 and pezizas, &c. — W. T. Bree. Allesley Rectory, near Coventry, Dec. 19. 

 1833. 



Any of our readers, who may be'_^kind enough to attend to Mr. Bree's request, 

 may either send direct to that gentleman, by Packwood's coach, from the 

 George and Blue Boar, Holborn ; or to our care, at 39. Paternoster Row, in 

 which case we will forward them to Mr. Bree. — Cond. 



Mr. Fennessey's oak, referred to by Mr. Bree, is noticed in Vol. XI. p. 683. ; 

 Jigs. 82. and 83. are engravings of leaves of it of the natural size, which were 

 intended to have been published along with the notice, but the engraver did 

 not finish them in time. 



The reddish insular Scales on the under side of oak leaves, mentioned by 

 Mr. Lowndes (Vol. XI. p. 691.), I greatly doubt, are not parasitic plants, as he 

 supposes. I suspect what Mr. Lowndes describes as scales, are what I, for 

 want of a better name, call oak spangles. Surely these are insect works : I 

 send a specimen of something of the same kind, which he, perhaps, would call 

 a peziza; and, in truth, it greatly resembles one, though I take it to be also the 

 work of an insect. I should like to see these oak excrescences well explained 

 and illustrated : the subject would make a good article, or little volume; and, 

 though the things themselves are so common, we are still much in the dark 

 about them. — W. T. Bree. Allesley Rectory, Dec. 5. 1835. 



The following very interesting observations, by Dr. Johnston of Berwick, 

 bear upon the point in question : — " While I receive unconditionally the doc- 

 trine of Harvey, omiiia ex ovo, I am not disposed to maintain that every 

 thing described in our systems as fungi, are disseminated in accordance with 

 it. Many fungi appear to be merely morbid alterations in the structure of 

 vegetable textures, or diseased growths, analogous, in some respects, to 

 the tumours and ulcerations of the animal system ; and we may, perhaps, 

 form some idea of the manner in which they may originate, by studying 

 the various galls and excrescences produced on plants by insects. We 

 observe that the irritation caused by the deposition and evolution of the 

 egg will produce growths of the most curious kind ; and differences in the 

 irritation, too slight to be traced, will occasion very remarkable differences in 

 the appearance of the growths. Thus, in the oak-leaf, one insect irritation 

 produces a globular smooth ball ; another a depressed circular tumour, covered 

 with a hairy scarlet coat. The first is seated in the substance of the leaf, and 

 cannot be removed without destroying the texture of the part; the other 

 seems almost placed on the leaf, and can be detached with facility. Examples 

 equally remarkable will occur to every one who has paid any attention to this 

 curious subject; and the growths appear to be not less uniform and not less 

 organised than many parasitical fungi. To suppose, therefore, that the latter 



