Abstract
(1) Mr. SWANTON'S work on plant galls will be welcomed by a wide circle of readers, since it appeals to both the botanist and entomologist. In it the former will find a ready means of identifying the gall-producers which claim his attention, whilst the latter will value the interesting details of insect life-histories. Descriptions are arranged under the headings of gall-producing insects, and chapters are also devoted to growths produced by mites, nematodes, and fungi. The remaining half of the work is occupied by a very complete catalogue of British plant galls, botanically arranged. In the endeavour to cover the whole ground the author has included growths which can scarcely be regarded as galls in the accepted sense. Thus the Reed Mace fungus (Epichloe typhina) is a mere mass of mycelium outside the plant, there being no hypertrophy of the tissues. It should also be noted that the galls on alder roots are caused, not by Frankiella alni, but, as Miss Pratt has shown, by the bacterium Pseudomonas radicicola, though the growths may afterwards become infested by the hyphomycete. Bottomley has shown that the similar “galls” on the roots of bog myrtle are produced by the same bacterium.
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Popular Natural History 1 . Nature 90, 488–489 (1913). https://doi.org/10.1038/090488a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/090488a0