ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



333 



maiiiing 10 B»lls, on October 15Hi, ISIW, I obtuini'd live living 

 C fj. aciculata. Thus it results tliut </. aciculatii generates 

 aonielitnes q. acifulata ami sonietimes q. si}ong(/U-a. 



Lest it sliouKl lie suiiiiosed Iliat tlieiv was any reasuniible 

 probiiliilily of this small bbi, k oak having been altaeked by 

 any other gall-lly iirotlucing uiion black oaks the Q. spomjijicti 

 gall lu'sidcs those that 1 |ilae,e(l cm il myself in the |ireueiling 

 aiitinnii, it is |iri>|ier to adil here that it grew on the Uhill's, 

 where blaek oaks are very scarce, and that I um conlident 

 (hat there is not another black oak within a quarter of a mile 

 of it. So rare, moreover, are the galls Q. sponfjifiva ujion the 

 ISluflTs, that in the coui-se of six yciirs* careful observation 

 I liave only noticed there three or four black oaks bearing 

 tliese galls, and even then there wore only fi*om 3 to G on a 

 trt-e; whereupon the sandy bottom lantl, which swarms with 

 lilack oaks, these galls are comparatively quite common. 



If, however, we choose to believe that the very same insect 

 that pniduces the Q. inanis gall also produces the Q. spoiigifica 

 gall, then the above mode of reasoning will not ajiply with 

 such foiT.e; tortile Q. inaiiis gall, and the red oak-'U which 

 it, grows, are nearly as common on the lUuH'as the Q. spojig- 

 ijica gall, and the black oak on which it grows, are on the 

 bottom laiul. Still, even upon this hyiiothesis, it is exceed- 

 ingly iin[n-obable that C^?nyiS 7. innnis should have attuclied 

 this particular small black oak in the sjiringof IHiil; for, 1st, 

 1 know that this tree bore no oak-apples for many years pre- 

 vious to lSi»r>; 'Jiid, there were no red oaks growing anywhere 

 within two or three hundred yards of it, the lew oaks that 

 grew near it being either white oak or bm- oak, which never 

 produce either the Q «joonr/irtco or the Q. inanis gall; :Jrd, I 

 noticed that, in the sin-ing of IfitJC, this very same small black 

 oak swarmed again with the Q spovgifica gall, almost as 

 abiindanlly as in the s]n-iiig of ISCS. Doubtless tliese galls 

 had been generated by gall-llies that escapetl from smiie of 

 tlie galls befurel harvested them on June ,'jtli, IWir), or from 

 gieen galls that hail previously fallen off the tree on to the 

 grouiicl, as they will very often do in very great numbers 

 when there is a high wind blowing, and be carried along the 

 surface of the ground for hundreds of yards by the action of 

 the wind; Ith, if we svssurae that the two galls that produced 

 C. q. spongifiia June 11th and Uth, ISlir), had been generated 

 by (,'. (/. innnis, and that only tlie live galls that produceil C. 

 •I achulatn October Ifitli, Isiiri, had been generateil by the (.'. 

 q aciculala thai 1 placed on (he small black oak in the au- 

 tumn of Ititil, how does it ('oiiie about that the Q. apontjilit-a 

 gall is so very rare on those very lilntVs where tlie (J. inanin 

 gall is so cominon ? Surely if C. q. inatns, bred from red 

 uak, is callable of generating the <l ipongifica gall on black 

 oak, the Q, s-//ony(/Ica gall ought to be as numerous on the 

 lUiilfs, in proportion to the number of black oaks growing 

 t here, as it is on the sandy bottom land, whereas it is no such 

 thing. 5th, on the hypothesis of C. q. inanis generating Q. 

 spongijica galls, there again recurs the inevitable i|iiestion, 

 ' 'Why does C. q- manis, if it is specilically identii^al with C. 

 q. spongifica, produce swarms of an autumnal dimorphoii.'- ; 

 — C. 17 ariculala — on the bliu'.k oak, and none at all on the 

 red oak?" Or shall we take refuge in the anomalous hy- 

 pothesis that one and the same bisexual species, variously 

 known as C.q spongifica J i and C. q. inanis J ;> , prodiu;es 

 two such entirely different galls as Q. spongifica anil q. innnis 

 upon black oak and red oak respectively, the same t\ pe of 

 gall being always found upon the same species of oak; and 

 that a distinct agamous species— C q. aciculata .;>— generates 

 upon the black oak, galls which are utterly undistinguishalilc 

 tVom those of C. q spongifica upon the same oak, and which 

 occur upon the same oak promiscuously intermixed with these 

 last galls in scores of different localities, ami yet lh"t this 

 agamous species never under any circumstances generates 

 any galls at all— whether of the q. spongifica type or uf the (j. 

 inanis type— uiion the Ueil Oak ? 'J'o such a siipiiosili<iii 1 can 

 only oppose what, from long e\iierience with gall.« of all 

 kinds, 1 consider as an established axunu; nanielj , that the 

 cliaracters of the gall depend entirely iqion the iii-eet that 

 makes it, ami in nowise upon the plant, or the particidar 



part of the plant, from which it grows. Consequently, I 

 could as readily believe that a cow could produce sometimes 

 a calf and sometimes a lamb, as that Cynips q. innn/K could 

 produce sometimes a <l. inatiis gall uiion lied Oak, anil some- 

 limes a Q. spongifica gall ini Ulack Oak If il priidneed any 

 gall at all upon llbick Uak, instead of upon lied Ovk which 

 is ils normal habilal, it woiilil inevitably, in my opiiiinn, 

 proiluci- a gall having all the characlers (d' the Q. tminisgiill 

 that is commonly found upon Ked Oak. 



I am well aware that much of the above reasoning will lack 

 ils due weight with the reader, because he has not, as 1 have, 

 watched particular trees in a grove of lilack Oaks swarming 

 with oak-apples for year aller year, while the neighboring 

 trees bear none at all, or only a few scattering specimens, 

 and because he has never seen, as 1 have twice seen willi 

 astonishment, that even a particular bough on a particular 

 tree will bear nnmeroiis oak-apples for year aller year, while 

 the rest of the Iree will bear none at all . Hence 1 have de- 

 rived a iinifmiml conviction that the gall-llieslhat makelhese 

 oak-apiiles, although Ihey have full-sized wings, yetscareely 

 ever use them; whereas persons who are unacquainted with 

 lliesi' insects would naturally suppose that they lly about llie 

 woods as freely as a bee or a bulterlly. Out ofthi' thousands 

 that I have bred inmyollici, I never knew a single individual, 

 whether of the vernid or of the autumnal type, to take wing 

 at all ; and only on one or two occasions, when 1 have been 

 placing lliem upon oaks to experiment on the laws of their 

 reproduction, have I seen one of them lake wing, and then it 

 would only lly a yard or Iwo. 



On.Iune 11th, 18(15, I gathered the four galls off the large 

 gall-bearing Klack Oak previously referred to Krom these 

 I bled 1107 spongifica at all; but on cutting into them on 

 October 15th, l^GTi, 1 obtained therefrom three living C q. 

 aciculata. 



On October Kith, bSIB, having now in my |iosses8ion two 

 lots of living and lively q. aciculata, one consisting of 5 5 

 and the other of :> v . 'bat I knew to be gcnerati'd by q. acicu- 

 lata of the iireceding season, 1 determincii to see whether 

 they would all or any of them continue to gi'iieratc q. aciculala 

 in the succeeding season, or whether, as had been the case 

 with two of their predecessore, tliey would revert one ornioi-e 

 of them to 17. spong\/!ca. I therefore placeil them, each lot 

 by itsell, on two fresh isolated black oaks, that 1 knew to 

 have not been previously infested by these galls, for several 

 years back at all events. 



On May :ilst, ISWi, I gatllel-ed off' one of these two black 

 oaks, upon which Iliad cohniized tin' .1 17. aciculala in the 

 preceding aulunni, 5 <i. spongifica j'n]l», four of them badly 

 eaten by lepido|iterons hirvx', and only one in a perfect 

 state. They were at this date too young and immatiire to 

 gather with safety, but 1 feared to leave them longeron the 

 tree on account of the cateriiillars, which will very frequeiily 

 eat away all the sponge ami starve out the larva in the cen- 

 tral cell . From this lot of .I galls, generated by :> C. q. acicit, 

 lata ill the preceding anliimn, which 5 C q. aciculata had 

 themselves been generated in the aulumn next but one pre- 

 ceding by the S V. q. acicutnia that I bad coloiii/.ed upon 

 another isolated black oak, I bred, on the Uth and 17th of the 

 ensiling June, -i Cijnips q. tpongifica •; . The remaining.'! 

 galls produced nothing. 



The other isolated lilack Oak, upon which I had coIoiii/.ed 

 the 3 q. aciculata in the preceiliiig aiilnmn, bore 'J Q.spongifica, 

 galls; but they were so high up on the tree, and placed so 

 near the exireinily of a long slender bough, that 1 was unable 

 to harvest Ihein. 1 was llie more unwilling to ix|ieiiil lime, 

 Ironlile or money on this account, us 1 saw tlmt one of them 

 at all events, and perhaps both, were very badly eaten by 

 cateriiillars. 



The general result of Ihe above experiments, as the reader 

 will perceive, is that the agamous aiilumnal ■; form of this 

 (■i/«i;y» sooner or later reproduces the bisexual vernal form. 

 1 li.ive tried many more such experiments— some of which 

 resulted successfully, but mostoflliem unsuccessfully, soiiie- 

 linies iV'iin ilic iiel'arlous proiiensily uf a great variety of 



