DEAD SEA APPLE. 497 



In the right hand upper comer of the illustration is seen a 

 gall of some size, and nearly spherical. This is the celebrated 

 Dead Sea Apple, of which such strange stories have been told. 



This so-called fruit was said to be lovely and beautiful to 

 the eye, but, instead of containing sweet juice, to be filled with 

 bitter ashes, which filled the mouth as soon as it was bitten. 

 Of course, the ashes were supposed to be drawn by the tree from 

 the sunken remnants of the three evil cities beneath the bitu- 

 minous waves of the Dead Sea, and to present tangible evidence 

 of their existence. 



This story, which was implicitly believed for many centuries, 

 was at length as decidedly discredited, and the whole narrative 

 of the ash-filled fruit denounced as a mere fable. However, 

 recent researches have proved, as is often the case, that the main 

 facts of the story are true, though the inference to be derived 

 from them has been entirely mistaken. lu the first place, these 

 seeming fruits are not produced by any of those trees which are 

 known to gardeners as fruit-bearers, but are found only upon a 

 species of oak, which is in fact the same tree that furnishes the 

 ink-gaUs of commerce. At the proper season of the year, the 

 oaks, which are of low stature, and more like scrubby bushes 

 than the stately trees which are suggested by the name of oak, 

 are seen to be covered with round, fruit-looking objects, beauti- 

 fully coloured, and closely resembling ripe apples. If, however, 

 they are cut open, they will be found to be the habitation of a 

 species of gall-fly, which has been named by Mr. Westwood, 

 Cynips insana. 



It is evident that if any one were to bite a gall, especially 

 one that was produced from the oak, the exceedingly astringent 

 properties of the excrescenpe would produce a very rough and 

 ash-like sensation to the palate, which would be increased by 

 the dryness of its substance. Except in size, they much resemble 

 the gall of commerce, and many persons have thought that they 

 are produced by the same insect. These galls are also known 

 as Mala Sodomitica, and Mad Apples, the latter term being the 

 origin of the specific title " insana," applied by Mr. Westwood 

 to the insect. 



Immediately below the Dead Sea Apple, and in the right 

 hand lower comer, may be seen two remarkable objects, which 



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