Some information about the LNHS gall collection.
• The gall specimens were collected in situ on the host plants and then dried and pressed as herbarium specimens.
• The collection consists of 319 herbarium sheets which are mostly stiff boards approximately 30cm x 40cm. A few specimens are mounted on paper. There are an additional ten paper sheets with mounted gall material which were not catalogued.
• The collection also contains a further 45 unmounted specimens still retained in newspaper covers of ‘The Morning Post’ (dated 1919, 1931 and 1937) and ‘The Times’ (dated 1931, 1937 and 1938). These have been left in this condition.
• Of the 364 collecting events only 65 have a named collector. The majority being collected by H.J.Burkill. 15 LNHS members and others donated specimens to the collection. See Collectors
• Most of the specimens are dated (11 undated), the date range being from 1898 (1 only) to 1949. The most active collection period was the 1920’s, the peak year being 1929 with a total of 40 specimens.
• Specimens were collected from throughout Britain although almost 50% were from Surrey. In addition, three were collected from Europe and 13 have no location data.
• The gall collection contains a diverse range of species. Acariformes and Cecidomyiidae together form over 70% of the collection. The collection contains at least 180 species of gall causers with many more identified to genus or family.
• The gall collection is now stored in optimum conditions in the Diptera section of the Natural History Museum in London.