CHAP. CV.

coryla'cea;. que'rcus.

1843

of woolly down that is spread over its young leaves,which, on their first appearance (in the climateof London, three weeks later than those of the <common oak), are of a reddish tinge. The tree isfound, in France, in the Lower Pyrenees, and inevery part of the west, as far as Nantes, almostalways on poor sandy soil. In the Landes, it isknown under the name of chene noir, tauzin, ortauza. At Angers, and at Nantes, it is calledchene doux; at Mons, chene brosse; and amongthe nurserymen in these countries, chene Angou-,mois. The Basques call it amenza, or ametea.,

Bose says that there is a plantation of it in thePark of Daumont,atthe back of the Forest of Mont-morency, some of the trees in which ripen acornsannually; and that he had sown a great many of them in the governmentnurseries at Versailles. Secondat, who appears to have been the first tobring this species of oak into notice, considers it as the true Qudrcus Ro-bur of the ancients, as already noticed, p. 1722. He says that this oak growswell in the poorest soil, in which its roots extend close under the surface toa great distance, here and there throwing up suckers. The wood is of greathardness, toughness, and durability; and it is chiefly used for the constructionof wine casks. Bose adds that the wood weighs CO lb. per cubic foot,and that it is very apt to warp; but that the bark furnishes the best of all tar.In the Journal d’Hiit. Nat., tom. ii. pi. 32., he has figured a gall fly (Diplole-pis umbraculus Olio., Cynips querciis tope Fab.), and the gall produced by it,peculiar to this tree. The gall (Jig. 1697.) is spheroidal, fungous within, and

1696

almost ligneous without; smooth, but crowned with from 8 to 12 tubercles,separated by indentations. The gall fly resembles the Cynips glechoma;Lin.; but differs from that species in having the abdomen as downy as thethorax. In the Nouveau Diet. d’Agric., it is said that, in the Landes, theacorns of the Q. Tauzin are much more sought after for feeding swine, thanthose of <2. sessiliflora or Q. pedunculata. The young shoots of Q. pyre-naica are more flexible than those of Q. sessiliflora and Q. pedunculata, and,consequently, make better hoops. The leaves and young shoots are muchmore bitter than those of the other species, and are often rejected by cows

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