34 BRITISH OAK GALLS. 
By the time autumn arrives other developments have 
taken place, and mingled with the brown and sere 
leaves there are countless leather- brown acorns. 
Autumn winds and winter storms shake down the 
acorns, tear off and scatter the foliage and leave the 
tree in unclothed grandeur. Its huge trunk and 
massive limbs, gnarled, scored, and weather-beaten by 
tempests of hundreds of years, are then revealed to 
perfection, while the characteristic twisted and elbowed 
growth of the lesser branches and the twigs are clearly 
silhouetted against the sky. 
There is a considerable tendency to variation in the 
growth of the tree, and on this account botanists do 
not appear to be agreed with regard to Q. robux and 
its varieties. Some are of opinion that there is but 
one definite species, viz. Q. robur. Others consider 
the trees which bear sessile acorns and stalked leaves 
to be a distinct species, and trees with pedunculated 
acorns and stalkless leaves another species, and have 
named them Q. sessiliflora and Q. pedunculata respec- 
tively. Other botanists recognise three forms: the 
two just mentioned, but described classically as Q. robur 
sessiliflora and Q. robur pedunculata, and an intermediate 
form in which both acorns and leaves are pedunculated, 
the leaves being somewhat pilose. To this form the 
name of Q. robur intermedia has been given. Many 
foresters distinguish two sub-species and_ several 
varieties. Undoubtedly Q. robur exhibits two distinct 
forms, one being represented by pedunculata, the other 
by sessiliflora, with many unimportant intermediate 
forms. That the extremes are sufficiently definite to 
merit the terms of species seems to be the opinion of 
most botanists and writers, theréfore throughout this 
work they are used. Fruit and leaves of both are 
shown on Plate III. 
The growth of seedling oaks is very interesting, 
much more so if the structure of the acorn be studied 
before planting any. Acorns gathered in the autumn 
will yield the greatest amount of instruction. Descrip- 
