THE USES OF INSECT GALLS 



MARGARET M. FAGAN 



Branch of Forest Insects, Bureau of Entomology, 

 Washington, D. C. 



Intboduction 



This paper, which is a contribution from the Branch 

 of Forest Insects, Bureau of Entomology, is a summary of 

 an extensive study of the literature dealing with the uses 

 of insect galls. It was made primarily to obtain a his- 

 tory of the use of the Aleppo gall in the dyeing industry. 

 In the preparation of this paper I have been assisted by 

 Mr. S. A. Rohwer under whose direction the research of 

 the literature was made. 



For centuries before the real origin of insect galls was 

 known, they were noted and given a place, like most other 

 vegetable substances, among remedies for diseases. The 

 ignorance of their origin gave rise to queer superstitions 

 and practises even among scholars, especially in the 

 Middle Ages, when they were gravely recorded as super- 

 natural growths and employed as a means of foretelling 

 the events of the coming year. The gall was supposed to 

 contain a maggot, a fly, or a spider, each of which be- 

 tokened some misfortune. If the inhabitant were a mag- 

 got the coming year would bring famine, if a fly, war, or 

 if a spider, pestilence. This belief was recorded and 

 practised for several centuries, even after the time of 

 Malpighi, who was the first in the Western World to dis- 

 cover and make known the true origin of insect galls. 



The record of the practical use of galls has come down 

 from the old physicians and naturalists of Greece and 

 Rome. Their observations were confined chiefly to the 

 Aleppo gall and the Bedeguar of the rose, but an interest- 

 ing statement is found concerning two galls which were 

 used by the Greeks to burn without oil in their lamps. 

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