116 BRITISH OAK GALLS. 
Parasites, Nos. 6, 7, 9, 19, 48, 44, 46, 56, 67, 77, 88, 96, 125, 
151, 166, 180. Inquilines, Nos. 60, 110, 184, 142, 145. 
Alternate sexual generation: Spathegaster Taschenbergi. 
This is the largest, most conspicuous, and brightest 
coloured, of the leaf galls. Very few galls can vie 
with it for beauty. 
It grows on the under-surface of the leaf, firmly 
attached to the rib by an exceedingly small projection 
of its own growth. The basal portion is not flattened 
as is the case with most of the leaf galls, but there is 
often a long narrow indentation caused by the rib of 
the leaf. Specimens are occasionally to be seen on the 
upper surface of the leaf; they are usually rather 
smaller than the normal size. Some turn dark red 
and reddish-brown when only half developed, and are 
more succulent than others not so coloured. 
The composition of the gall, is a tough outer rind 
enclosing a soft, loose, and spongy parenchyma, in the 
centre of which is the larval cavity without any inner 
gall. When old, and the moisture has dried, the 
surface becomes greatly wrinkled. 
It is somewhat variable in size, but not excessively 
so. The largest I have found measured 23 mm. in 
diameter. Upon examination it proved to be perfectly 
free from parasites and inquilines. 
The numbers on one leaf also fluctuate somewhat. 
Three, four, and five are frequently seen; six, seven, 
and eight occasionally. The largest number I have 
found on one leaf is twelve. Highteen on two leaves 
—although not English specimens—as shown on Plate 
XLV, are worthy of recording, as also is the Frontis- 
lece. 
Some galls fall from the leaves at the approach of 
autumn, others continue to adhere, although the leaf 
itself has fallen. 
The imagines are easy to rear; some emerging 
during October and November, others in the following 
spring. 
