250 Mr Hardy on the Woody Oak Gall. 



The gall-fly has been called Cynips Kottari ; but according 

 to Mr Walker, the oldest and genuine name is Cynips lignicola. 

 (Hartig in Germar's Zeitschrift, II., 207 ; and IV., 402.) 

 In a letter which I have from that gentleman, he says : " It 

 was noticed in England twenty-five or twenty-six years ago, 

 and, as I believe, a few years before, but I cannot prove the 

 latter date. It may have been unnoticed for several years. 

 The gall was probably brought in some ship to the west of 

 England. I observed its frequent occurrence in the Channel 

 Isles, and that it was sometimes carried about there, as oak- 

 apples are here ; and it is not unlikely to have come thence 

 in a steamer to Weymouth. I looked for it in Wicklow, but 

 could not find it, although oaks abound there ; however, it 

 is common at Killarney, and was perhaps brought in a ship 

 to Cork, and spread thence to Killarney. I have sent a note 

 of its occurrence in the Scilly Isles to the " Entomologist." 

 The same naturalist has also made the observation that 

 " Cynips lignicola, the dweller in the well-known Devonshire 

 gall, brought with it into England two parasites, Callimome 

 Devoniensis and a Decatoma. This Callimome has a long 

 oviduct, which can reach the centre of the gall in which the 

 grub is cradled, but such is not the case with the Decatoma." 

 The Decatoma has a black band on the forewings ("Notes on 

 ChalcidiEe," by F. Walker, E.L.S., London, 1871, p. 14). 

 We have the advantage, also, in tracing its history, of an 

 article by Dr R. C. R. Jordan in the " Entomologist's Monthly 

 Magazine," for August, 1871 : — "Although noticed by me in 

 Devon, certainly for forty years at the least (since we used, 

 its galls for marbles when I was quite a child), yet it did not 

 reach to Birmingham until 1860, when it was first noticed 

 by me in the town — a fact not to be wondered at, considering 

 how often its galls were brought from the south by tourists. 

 It was not, however, until the autumn of 1866 that it was 

 first seen by me invading Birmingham, along the hedges on 

 the Worcestershire side. The two streams have since met, 

 and it is to be found in both town and country." 



Since this paper was sent to the press, I have obtained 

 fuller information about the extension of the gall in our 

 district ; and a new centre of distribution has been discovered 

 in the west of Scotland. During the season it has advanced 

 five miles northwards along the eastern coast, and it is now 

 rather plentiful on the outskirts of Penmanshiel wood and 



