28 
BRITISH GALLS 
French peasants in his time, “ Dans certaines annees ou 
elle en etoit chargee, les paysans se font avises des manger 
de ces pommes du lierre terrestre, et les ont trouvees bonnes. 
J’en ai goutd, leur faveur aromatique m’a paru tenir 
beaucoup de celle que l’ordorat fait imaginer que la plante 
doit avoir; au reste, il faut cuellir de ces galles de bonne 
heure, pour ne pas les avoir trop s&ches et trop filamenteuses. 
Je ne scais pour tant si elle pourront jamais parvenir a etre 
mises au rang des bons fruits.” Our illustrations of this gall 
are from specimens gathered on Brean Down, near Weston- 
super-Mare, where I observed them in great numbers in 
June, 1910. Many of the afflicted plants bore flowers, and 
in the majority the leaves alone were attacked. The usual 
colour of galls growing in shade was a yellowish-green ; 
those exposed to the sun were vividly tinted. 
Aulax papaveris attacks the Common and Smooth-headed 
Poppies, causing the capsules to become more or less 
swollen and deformed. (See Plate XXIV., which also shows 
normal capsules.) The larval cells are often numerous, 
ranging from ten to sixty in a capsule. Sometimes the 
capsules are very slightly swollen, and the presence of the 
parasite may be quite unsuspected by the casual observer. 
Cameron considers the Aulax minor of Hartig to be only a 
variety of A. papaveris. Houard, however, gives it specific 
rank. The galls differ in certain particulars. In those 
induced by A. papaveris the larval cells are irregularly 
distributed in the capsule, and the septa are obliterated. 
In those of A. minor the septa remain intact, the larval 
cells are, as a rule, completely separated, and the capsules 
are very seldom enlarged. 
Diastrophus rubi causes irregular spindle-shaped galls on 
the stems of various brambles. These galls are green at 
first, then reddish, and are brown at maturity. They range 
from 2 to 8 inches in length, and the stem is usually 
curved at the point of attack, not infrequently in the form 
of the letter S. They sometimes bear several small spines, 
occasionally a few large ones only. The surface is always 
