' Cane Fly of Grenada. 409 



name of sour grass, although the taste is more that of a bitter 

 with a slight acidity, and, being avoided by cattle, horses, &c, 

 is considered poisonous. 



I am, Sir, yours, &c*<fB t modi 



Grenada, March 13. 1833. A Subscriber. 



ifoid* bo'iavoo 



scb *Ja9toiq 



Additional Observations upon the Insect which infests the Sugar 

 Canes in Grenada. By J. O. Westwood, Esq. F.L.S. &c. 



9fft g{ r> 



As the circumstances detailed in the preceding communica- 

 tion, although here and there somewhat obscure, are of much 

 interest in a commercial point of view, and as they add 

 another species to a catalogue, already too extensive, of in- 

 sect destroyers of the sugar cane, I trust that the following 

 observations thereupon will not be deemed unacceptable. 



The insect forming the subject of the preceding account, 

 submitted to me for examination, proves, both from your 

 correspondent's sketch, and from various specimens contained 

 in the box of cotton accompanying his remarks, to be a 

 Homopterous insect belonging to the Linnaean genus Cicada, 

 and to the subgenus Z)elpliax as restricted by Latreille. 

 Consequently your correspondent is in error in assigning to 

 it the scientific name of an A'phis, although it is not im- 

 probable that persons unacquainted with entomology in the 

 West Indies may have bestowed upon it, from its resem- 

 blance to the common plant lice, the French vernacular 

 name of the Aphides, jmceron. So also your correspondent 

 appears to have gratuitously furnished the insect, in his 

 description of it, with two spines, which, as to place, he has 

 assigned to the posterior part of the body, but which, 

 although characteristic of the genus A N phis, are not found in 

 the specimens which he has himself forwarded of the insect 

 in question, nor, indeed, in any of the Cicadidae. 



It does not appear quite clear in what manner the insect 

 attacks the plants. Your correspondent, indeed, mentions 

 " a snout and beak ending in a bristle," which he considers 

 may be for " the double purpose of depositing its eggs and 

 extracting its food." As, however, it is of absolute necessity 

 that we should be perfectly acquainted with the peculiar 

 modes oi attack of our insect depredators, before we can 

 think of proposing any effectual remedy for their destruction, 

 it may be allowed me to endeavour, from the peculiar anatomy 

 of these insects, from analogy, and from your correspondent's 

 notes, to show the real cause of the mischief. Now, the 



