This would indicate that water may constitute as much as 87.5 per cent of the weight of the fresh galls of folii.
The scarcity of stomata on these galls is also the explanation (as with many other cynipid productions) of their floating on water for some time before they sink.
Fresh galls are described as having a ripe apple odor which Connold (1908:18) believes to be more developed when the galls are on Q. sessiliflora than when they are on Q. pedunculata. The same author considers this odor an adaptation that, in some way which I cannot fathom, is designed to protect these galls.
F. Koch (1895, Archiv der Pharmacie, Berlin: 48-77, acc. Kieffer 1901: 195) finds that these galls develop sugar after maturing. Galls gathered in January have nearly twice as much sugar and a little less tannin than galls gathered in September, or, to quote in more detail:
| Sugar in late Sept. = 21.49%; in Jan. = 51.81% |
| Tannin in late Sept. = 16.87%; in Jan. = 14.85% |
The mature galls of folii may remain attached to the leaves on the ground for several months after the insects have emerged, even until the following April or May (acc. Connold 1908).
Cynips folii variety folii
bisexual form taschenbergi (Schlechtendal)
Figures 15, 77-78, 82, 89, 90, 107-113, 121, 127-128
Spathegaster Taschenbergi Schlechtendal 1870, Stettiner Ent. Zeit. 31: 391 (♀, ♂, ⊕) . Mayr, 1871, Mitteleurop. Eichengallen: 70, pl. 7 fig. 96 (⊕). Rudow, 1875, Archiv. Naturg. Mecklenburg 29:40, 61 (9, 3). Wachtl, 1876: 14, 20, 22, 24. Mayr-Fitch, 1878, The Ent. 11: 222, 225, fig. 96. Adler, 1881, Zeitschr. wiss. Zool. 35: 188, pl. 11 fig. 14a, pl. 12 fig. 5a (♀, ♂, ⊕, biol.). Adler-Lichtenstein, 1881, Génér. Altern.: 50, pl. 11 fig. 14a, pl. 3 fig. 5a (♀, ♂, ⊕, biol.). McLachlan, 1881, Ent. Month. Mag. 17:259. Fockeu, 1889, Hist. Galles: 23. Eckstein, 1891, Pflanzengallen und Gallentiere: 59, 61, fig. 41, 53, 54, 55. Adler-Straton, 1894, Altem. Gener.: 63, pl. 2 fig. 14a, pl. 3 fig. 5a (♀, ♂, ⊕, biol.). Riley, 1895, Science n.s. 1: 463. Kieffer, 1903, André Hymén. Europ. 7 (2):677. Henneguy, 1904, Les Insectes: 217, pl. 3 fig. 10, 11 (⊕, biol.). Connold, 1908, Brit. Oak Galls: 7, 116, 132, pl. 52 C. Cotte, 1912, Galles de Provence: 193. Borcea, 1912, Zoocécid. România: 81.
