GALLS CAUSED BY GALL- WASPS 29 



mammillated, each protuberance indicating the position of 

 a larval chamber. 



Rose leaves attacked by Rkodiies produce some of the 

 most attractive of British galls. Three of them are shown 

 in Plate IIL, the frontispiece. Fig. i is the well-known 

 and universally admired gall popularly known as " Robin's 

 Pincushion," " Moss Gall," or " Bedeguar Gall." The 

 curious word " Bedeguar" is said either to be derived from 

 the Persian and Arabic bdddwar, "wind-brought," or to be 

 a compound of the Persian bad, "wind," and the Arabic 

 ward, " rose." When occurring on the Sweet-Briar this 

 gall is sometimes spoken of as the " Sweet-Briar Sponge." 

 It arises from the attack of a leaf bud in spring by the 

 female Rhodites rosae. According to Pazlavsky, she pricks 

 the bud carefully in three distinct places, causing the 

 three rudimentary leaves to develop, not as normal leaves, 

 but into the curious production so well known to botanists. 

 The "moss" is leaf with but little parenchyma between 

 the fibro-vascular bundles. The gall is usually large, but 

 occasionally, through an error of judgment on the part of 

 the wasp, or more probably through interruption during the 

 pricking operation, an abortive gall arises, a much smaller 

 structure seated on a developed leaf. This gall is at its 

 best in the latter part of July and early in August It 

 occurs chiefly on small and weakly bushes. As the male 

 is rare, Rhodites rosae is doubtless a parthenogenetic species. 

 The galls were used medicinally in olden times, and less 

 than a century ago the farmers of the Harrogate district 

 used them for an infusion to cure diarrhoea in cows. Old 

 R6aumur said that the smell of Bedeguar galls is attractive 

 to cats. 



Fig. 4 on the same plate shows the graceful little spiny 

 pea galls which arise from the presence of the larvae of 

 Rhodites wsamm in the leaflets of the Dog Rose. Fig. 5 

 shows a detached gall, actual size, and Fig. 6 the magnified 

 insect. The male was unknown to Cameron. This gall 

 appears in July, and falls to the ground at maturity. It 



