i8 
WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND TREES. 
looking “horns” are usually harmless. The beetle spends its 
larval stage in the wood of unhealthy Oaks, and, when 
mature, seeks his hornless mate among its foliage. 
Perhaps the most interesting of the Oak’s pensioners to the 
woodland rambler will be the varied forms of gall on different 
parts of the tree. There is the so-called Oak-apple, of uneven 
surface and spongy to the touch, which certain people still 
wear on May 29th, in honour of Charles II. ; the well-rounded 
hard Bullet-gall of Cy)iips kollari, the Artichoke-gall of 
Cynips gemma, the Spangle-galls of Neuroterus lenticularis, 
so plentiful on the back of the leaf, and the Root-gall of 
Biorhiza aptera. All these galls are abnormal growths, due 
to the irritation set up by the Gall-wasps named, when they 
pierced the young tissues in order to lay their eggs in them. 
Where any of these galls are perforated it may be known 
that the Gall-wasp whose grub fed within has flown, but 
where there is no such perforation the grub is still within, 
feeding upon the flesh of the gall, or in the chrysalis stage, 
awaiting translation to the winged condition. 
Several Oaks of foreign origin are also grown in our parks 
and open spaces ; among them the Holm Oak {Quercus ilex) 
whose evergreen leathery leaves have toothed or plain edges, 
and occasionally the lower ones develop marginal spines, 
whence its name of Holm or Holly Oak. It is notable for 
retaining its lower branches, so that its appearance, as Loudon 
remarks, “ even when fully grown, is that of an immense bush, 
rather than that of a timber tree.” It is a native of Southern 
Europe and North Africa, and appears to have been introduced 
about the middle of the sixteenth century. It usually attains 
a height of from twenty to thirty feet, but occasionally 
specimens are seen up to sixty feet. It has a much thinner, 
more even bark than that of our native Oak, and of a black 
colour. The long brown acorns do not ripen until the second 
year. 
