184 NOTES ON GALLS. 



gathered up with the least possible delay, as the damp earth would spoil 

 their quality and colour ; for which reason the Knoppern should be 

 dried for five or six days in the sun, and then turned over many 

 times in the day for some weeks, to prevent their becoming mouldy. 

 Thus dried, they sell for various purposes, and chiefly for tanning leather. 

 In a favourable season, these galls are so abundant that a single large 

 oak will produce as many as fetch 250 francs on an average ; but 

 the pi'ice varies from ten to forty francs the kilogramme (2^ lbs.), ac- 

 cording as it is a good or bad season for them. They are chiefly exported 

 to Germany and other parts of Austria, and the trade is now in the hands 

 of the Jews. It is stated by Martigny that these galls are produced in 

 Hungary, Moravia, Sclavonia, Styria, &c, and that the towns of Pesth, 

 Oldenburg, and Trieste are the places where the trade in them is chiefly 

 carried on. They appear to he identical with the Galles de Hongrie ou du 

 Piemont of M. Guibourt. An extract is made from these galls which re- 

 sembles kino in appearance, and is used for dyeing silk. One firm in 

 Ratisbon manufactures this extract to the extent of about 250,000 lbs. per 

 annum. A similar gall is said to be sometimes found mixed with these, 

 called by M. Guibourt, " horned galls." 



Valonia Galls. — A kind of gall is found on the Valonia oak, Quercus 

 JEgilops, somewhat similar to that on Quercus infectoria, and which is 

 employed for the same purposes. These galls are rugose, of an angular 

 form, and are either the fruit itself disturbed by the puncture of an insect, 

 or merely the scaly cup which is enlarged into a gall. 



Mexican Galls. — Dr. Farre exhibited specimens of these galls to the 

 Linnean Society in 1840. They are formed on the leaves of a species of 

 oak in Mexico. The galls consist of an aggregation of hollow cylindrical 

 tubes, nearly an inch in length, and furnished with a fringed orifice. The 

 tubes are remarkable for their elegance and uniformity ; their colour is 

 white, suffused with red, especially towards the apex. 



Gool-i-Pista. — Dr. Royle states — "From Cabool, or, as I was informed, 

 from Bokhara, the almond, as well as its pericarp, is imported into India, 

 together with a kind of gall called Gool-i-pista, stated to be found on the 

 pistachio tree. The pistachio nut," he adds, " is yearly brought down to 

 India, and I was told by people who well knew the tree, that the Gool-i- 

 pista, literally ' Flowers of the Pistachio,' were produced by this tree." It 

 is, moreover, mentioned in Persian works as Bar-durakhl-pista ; that is, 

 "fruit of the pistachio tree," and they give as the Arabic name, Buzghurig. 

 The largest galls are nearly equal in size to a small cherry. They are 

 brownish externally, hollow, and greatly resemble abortive germens. Some 

 of them are lobed or doubled. 



Bo.jekind. — Under this name the galls of Pistacia vera have been 

 received from Cabool, with the sole information that they are employed for 

 dyeing silk green. A specimen of galls from Sciude, under the name of 

 Boojkuvd, is shown in the museum of Kew Gardens, which are evidently 

 the same, although labelled Pistacia terehinthus. 



