Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/828

OAK INSECTS. 704 OAB-FISH. figure the leaves. There are also plant-lice and scale-insects which are confined to the trees of this kind, and the so-called gloomy scale {Aspitli- oUts tciubricostis) frequently endanj,'frs the life of half-grown trees, while the imported oak-scale (Astcrudiaspis quercicola) enfeebles the trei's in many localities, disfiguring the smaller branches by pitting the tender bark with its peculiar de- pressions. A striking characteristic of the insect fauna of oak is the occurrence of many kinds of galls produced mainly by gall-llies of the hymenopter- ous family Cynipidae. One hundred and eiglit distinct species of gall-Hies live upon oaks in the United States, each species making its characteristic gall either upon the roots, the .twigs, the buds, or the leaves. Some of the most striking of the oak galls are: The oak potato-gall, the large, hard, uneven swelling resembling a potato in sha|)f, growing upon white oak twigs and attaining a length of two inches or more; the wool-sower gall, which con- sists of a roimd mass resembling wool, from the size of a walnut to that of a goose-egg, growing on the side of or surrounding white oak twigs in .June, pure white in color tinged or speckled with rose-red; and the oak cup-gall, which con- sists of a very curious swelling on the acorn cups, terminating in a bunch of curly, woolly fibres. Several galls are maile by dipterous in- sects of the gall-midge family, Cecidomyiidoe. Consult Packard, Fifili Hcitorl, Vnilcd Slules Entomological Commission (Washington, 1890). OAK'LAND. A beautiful residential city and the county-scat of Ahimoila County. Cal., six miles acriiss the bay fiom San Kraucisco: on the Southern I'acilic Railroad (Map: California, B 3). Oakland, named from the number of ever- green oaks within its limits, has a healthful cli- mate, is surrounded by beautiful scenery, and possesses line drives and wide and level streets, 146 miles paved, a great proportion with mac- adam, and five miles with bitumen. Steam ferries connecting with San Francisco and eighty miles of street railway demonstrate the city's accessibility as a residence district. ^lany of its private" dwellings are finely situated and are notable structures. Particular mention may be made also of Macdonough Theatre, the piblic library, which contains nearly :!0.onO vohnnes, the high school, and other public school build- ings, as prominent architectural features. Oak- land is the seat of California College (Baptist), established in 1870. I.ake ilerritt. south of the city and connected with San Francisco Bay by a narrow inlet entering an indentation of the bay, is a iKipnlar resort. The city, adjacent to a fertile agricultural and fruit-growing region, controls a large commerce as a railrf)ad terminus ami as a shipping centre, both vessels and cars meeting here to exchange commodities. With its mannf;icturing advantages it also has important industrial interests — ship- building yards: marble, smelting, and metallur- gical works; (lour, cotton, quartz, and planing mills; fniit-canning works; cordage, carriage, jute, and windmill factories, etc. The govern- ment is vested in a mayor, elected every two years, n unicameral council, ami in snlmnlinate administrative olTlcials. the board nf health Iwing appointed by the executive, ami all other olTiccrs chosen by popular vote. Oakland spends an- nually, in maintenance and operation, about $7So.U00, the principal items ot expense being $205^000 for schools, $100,000 for the police de- partment, .$UO,000 for the fire department. .'pTO,- 000 for municipal lighting, and $o.').000 for street cleaning and sprinkling. The bonded debt of the city is about .'JiOO.OOO. and the assessed valuation of projierty, real and personal, amounts to .$45,000.0(11). (Jaklanil was settled aliout 1850, was incorporated as a town in 1852. and was chartered as a city in 1854, though in 1800 tiiere were only 154.3 inhabitants. Population, in 1870, lO.oOoi in 1880, :S4..5.55; in 1890. 4S.082, in 1900. fil!.9()0. incluiling 17,300 persons of for- eign birth and 2200 colored persons. OAK-LUNGS. A species of lichen. See Lungwort. OAKS, TiiK. One of the most ini|)ortant Kng- lish horse races, run at the K]).som Summer fleet- ing on the Friday following the Derby. The race is confined to three-year-old mares. OAKUM (AS. ucumbd, ficemha, OHG. (tcham~ hi, tow, iiaUum, from AS. (7, out + cciiihan. to comb). A tangled mass of tarred hempen fibres, made from old rope by untwisting the strands and rubliing the fibres free from each other until it is in about the same condition as the loose tow of which it was made originally. Us prin- cipal use is in calking the seams between planks, the space round rivets and bolts, and the joints of water and oilier i>ipes, to prevent leak- age. It is sometimes useil in dressing wounds. White oalcum is made from untarred hemp. OANNES, o-an'n-ez. The name of a Babylo- nian god found in the fragments of Bero^us (q.. ). 11 is sniil thai in the first year of the foundation of Babylon he came out of the Persian Ciulf. He is describe<l as having the head and body of a fish, to which were added a human head and feet under the fish's head and at the tail. He lived among men during the daytime, without, however, taking any food, and retired at sunset to the sea, from which he had emerged. Oannes instructed men in the use of letters, and in all the principal arts and sciences of civiliza- tion, which he c(imniunicated to thi'in. The story has not yet been found among the remains of liabyhinian literature, and we are dependent, therefore, largely upon conjecture in attempts to identify Oannes with any of the Babylonian ih'ities" known. He is evidently the deity snp- po.sed to reside in the Persian Gulf, and this fact points to his identilication with Ea, the chief deity of Eridu. a city that once lay at the Per- sian Oulf. Ea is a juciminent figure in the re- ligious literature and is distinctly a water-deity. He is also |iiirtrayed as the source «! wisdom to whom Marduk (see MERODAnt). the head of the Babylonian pantheon, goes for advice, and the fact that Marduk is represented as the son of Ea points to the great antiquity of the Ea cult and the reverence in which it was held. On .ssvrian sculptures and on seal cylinders we find' frequently the body of a man. but covered with fish scales, and it is likely that this is a representation iif Ea. A dilficulty. linwever. re- mains in accounting for the curious nami>. which yet must in sonic way be connected with Ea. Con- sult .Ta-itrow. Ifrlitiiiin of linhjihmin tni'l Assi/ria (Ilosl,,Ti, 1S08), OAB-FISH. One of the band-fi-hes or ribbon- fishes of the genus Regalecus. family Pegaleeid®.