482 
ENGLISH INK-GALLS. 
At a late meeting of the Exeter Naturalists’ Club, held in 
Exmouth, Mr. D’Urban read a paper on the English Ink- 
Galls.” Most persons, he said, must have noticed the hard, 
brown galls, about the size of musket balls, so conspicuous 
in winter on the oaks about Exeter. They are supposed to 
have made their first appearance in Devonshire about the 
year 1847. They were first noticed by Mr. Parfitt, who sent 
specimens of the insects causing them to Mr. Westwood, in 
1848 or 1849. It has only lately, however, been determined 
to be C^nijjs Kollari of Hartig, a species well known in 
Germany. About three years ago it suddenly appeared in 
the woods to the north of London, in vast numbers. It is 
closely allied to Cijnips galla-tinctorice, producing the ink-gall 
of commerce on Qnerctis infectoria in the Levant. The galls 
of the Devonshire species contain a considerable amount of 
tannin, making excellent ink, and yielding a good and per¬ 
manent dye. Like all other insects which) multiply rapidly, 
it is subject to the attacks of a parasite, which contributes to 
keep its increase within certain limits. This is a beautiful 
green chalcite, first bred from these galls by Mr. Parfitt, and 
described by him in the Zoologist for 1856, under the name of 
Callimome Devoniensis. Mr. D’Urban did not think that the 
galls occasioned much injury to large oaks, but to young 
trees they are very injurious, frequently distorting the leading 
shoot, and seriously retarding its growth. They make their 
appearance on the oaks in this neighbourhood early in July, 
and, growing rapidly, reach their full size in August. They 
are formed on the young shoots of the year, always in the 
centre of a bud, and are monotholasmous, that is, they con¬ 
tain a single individual only. Some of them produce the flies 
in September, nearly all being females. The males are re¬ 
markably scarce, and have but rarely been obtained. Some 
remain in the larva state within the gall all through the 
winter, and emerge in the spring. Few, however, of those 
hybernating escape the different species of tit, those little 
birds picking the hard galls to pieces to get at the fat white 
grub inside. The galls themselves are very persistent, re¬ 
maining for several years on the trees. Those from which 
the fly has escaped may readil}" be known by the presence of 
a single round hole on one side. Mr. D’Urban then explained 
the manner in which galls are formed, and the mechanism of 
the instrument with which the gall-fly makes a puncture in 
the bark of the trunk or shoots, in the young bud, on the 
