32 



THE OAK. 



coincidence tliat the shell-fish was found in abun- 

 dance in places which the Barnacle-goose fre- 

 quented, probably to make them its food, the 

 fable originated ; a fertile imagination making up 

 for the barremiess of the facts. Before the Re- 

 formation, Dr. Walsh tells us, the fishy origin of 

 the bird was so firmly believed that the question 

 was warmly and learnedly disputed, whether it 

 might not be eaten in Lent. 



The story may have gained a more ready cre- 

 dence from the fact that the Oak is more prolific 

 in animal life, supplying more insects \^"ith food, 

 than any other tree. According to Mr. Stephens, 

 an excellent authority, nearly a half of the British 

 insects which feed on vegetables, either exclu- 

 sively or partially inhabit the Oak. If to tliis 

 number we add the insects which live on the above, 

 it A^ill be found that the total of insects which, 

 during some period of their existence, derive their 

 support either from the tree itself, or from their 

 fellow-colonists in it, will amount to scarcely less 

 than two thousand. Of these I shall mention a 

 few of the most remarkable, referring the reader 

 who is anxious to learn further particulars to an 

 able article, by Westwood, in Loudon's " Arbo- 

 retum Britamiicum," a work of great research, 

 abounding in valuable information on all subjects 

 connected with the history, propagation, and treat- 

 ment of all the trees and shrubs growing in Great 

 Britain, both indigenous and exotic. 



Among the insects which feed on the substance 

 of the wood of the Oak, is the larva or grub of 



the generation of these birds was not from the logs of wood, but from 

 the sea, termed b}^ the poets "'the parent of all things.' '* — Camde7i^s 

 Britan?iia. 



