60 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[March 1, 18(59. 



to the centre, cutting off the supply of nourish- 

 ment." 



In the spring of last year I communicated a notice 

 of this insect to the Ashmolean Society of Oxford, 

 accompanied by highly magnified drawings, which 

 are reduced in the accompanying woodcut, when I 

 proposed to name the insect Feriti/mbia vitisana, in 

 allusion to the tomb-like gall on the leaves formed 

 by the female insect. 



Fig. 42. Vine Insects (magnified). 



In France, where the culture of the Vine is of 

 .much more popular importance than in England, 

 the disease has manifested itself with great viru- 

 lence. The manner in which it appears in that 

 country, and the various erroneous opinions which 

 had been formed as to its origin, are noticed in one 

 of your leading articles of the 31st of last October, 

 together with a statement of the examination of 

 the subject made by a commission, at the head of 

 which was M. Planchon, which resulted in the 

 •disease being referred to the presence of the insect 

 now under consideration, to which the name of 

 Rhizaplds vastatrix was applied, a name, as 

 "M. J. 13." well observes, "scarcely applicable, 

 should it turn out, as we suspect will be the case, 

 to be congeneric with the very similar insect which 

 is found in the excrescences on Vine-leaves." 



At the meeting of the Entomological Society of 

 Erance on the 12th of last August, M. Lichtcnstein 

 i communicated a notice of the ravages of the insect, 

 which was stated to destroy the Vines only on the 

 left bank of the Rhine, from Aries to Orange, to- 

 gether with a notice of M. Planchon's observations, 

 and with the remark that M. Signoret, the distin- 

 guished entomologist of Paris (whose attention has 

 for some years past been devoted to the Coccidas 

 and allied insects), considered that the insect be- 

 longs to the genus Phylloxera. It does not appear, 

 however (although the latter generic name might 

 indicate such a connection), that the entomologists 



either on the Continent or in America* connect the 

 ravages of the Vine-leaf gall aphis with that of the 

 root insect. 



The engraving represents, in the middle of its 

 upper part, a portion of the upper side of part of a 

 Vine-leaf greatly reduced in size, with a number of 

 the gall-like excrescences, also slightly reduced. 

 These excrescences are thickened portions of the 

 leaf, the underside of each being swollen into a 

 convex shape and entire, the female insect being 

 enclosed within the cell thus formed, the upper sur- 

 face of the leaf throwing out or splitting into tri- 

 angular portions, as represented in the right-hand 

 figure, the edges of each portion emitting a number 

 of delicate white filaments. The extremity of one 

 of these portions is turned back in the right-hand 

 figure, showing part of the body of the female 

 within the gall, surrounded by its eggs. The full- 

 grown insect itself (which is scarcely half a line, or 

 l-30th of an inch in length) ! is represented on its 

 ventral surface in the left-hand figure. Seen under 

 a high-powered lens, the whole body is swollen and 

 fleshy, aud is covered with minute granulations : 

 the eyes are distinct, minute, and ocelli-like ; the 

 antennae are short, composed of only two very small 

 basal joints and a longer apical one, having appa- 

 rently a very minute setiferous tubercle at its ex- 

 tremity : the long joint appears under the micro- 

 scope to be formed of a great number of very short 

 rings. The sucker is distinct and four-jointed, 

 varying in length according to the size of different 

 individuals : as usual in hemipterous insects, it 

 encloses several very slender setae. The legs are of 

 moderate length, with the tarsus formed of a short 

 basal joint, which on its inner edge emits two 

 short setae, whilst the terminal joint is longer and 

 slightly thickened at its extremity, which is dis- 

 tinctly furnished with two claws. The abdominal 

 portion of the body is comparatively small and 

 eight-jointed. The figure on the left-hand side of 

 the engraving represents a female taken from the 

 leaf-gall, whilst that in the middle of the lower part 

 represents one of the females from the root of the 

 Vine, seen sideways. Amongst the latter were 

 some specimens which had a small black shining 

 lobe on each side of the body, probably the rudi- 



mental wings of the male insect. — I. O. W., in 



Gardeners' Chronicle, January 30. 



The Mole Ciucket {Gnjllotulpa vulgaris).— 

 In Curtis' British. Entomology I find the following : 

 " This insect is supposed to be the ' Will o' the 

 Wisp,' the Ignis fattens, about which so much has 

 been said, and so little proved, the phantom that 

 has eluded the vigilance of the naturalist and the 

 curious for ages ! " Can any of your readers indicate 

 upon what grounds this supposition is based ?— 

 E. 31. 



