DR. JOHNSTON ON THE ACARIDES OP BERWICKSHTRE. 225 



The description made from specimens taken from the leaf 

 of the vine. 



Linnaeus gives us this history of the mite, — " Habitat in 

 Europie plantis, minus ventis expositis, caldario inclusis, tela 

 ducens filis parallelis, quibus plantas sufFocat hybernaculo- 

 rum; in Tiliae foliis aversis autumno frequens."*— In Loudon's 

 work which we have quoted, we are told that it is the " Red 

 Spider" of Gardeners. They know it well as one of the 

 greatest pests to the stove and green-house, for by weaving 

 its thin irregular web over the leaves, eating small holes in 

 them, and depositing its eggs upon them, many of their 

 finest plants are disfigured, weakened and even killed. It 

 does not confine itself to house plants, but often infests 

 others in the open garden. I have seen the china>rose trained 

 against a wall sicklied all over with the myriads that throng- 

 ed its leaves ; and it has been pointed out to me on the leaves 

 of the Red-flowering Currant and of the Jasmine. The 

 mites of the latter varied much in colouring and size, and 

 the dark spot on each side was more than ordinarily conspi- 

 cuous. 



M. Ant. Dug^s has fbund the insect on a great variety of 

 plants in France. From the form and manners he concludes the 

 species was the same on all of them, — a conclusion which 

 could not have been arrived at had reliance been placed upon 

 their colour, for some were greenish and marked only with 

 brown specks on the sides, but variable and evidently de- 

 pendent on the alimentary matter contained in the lateral 

 caeca of the digestive system ; others were rust-coloured, or 

 reddish, or brick-red, and such were especially those on the 

 rose acacia ; but upon the holly-hock Dug^s found at the 

 same time individuals presenting almost all the shades, which 

 are probably connected with some circumstances in nutrition, 

 On the vine I have found the colour to vary in intensity in 

 different individuals, and on it I have also found the greenish 

 individuals mentioned by Dug^s. 



* In a book which pretends to be a translation of the Systema Nature, thiji 

 accurate history is thus romanced :— *' Inhabits Europe, and spins a web on 

 the bark of trees, from the top to the bottom of the trunks, which being dia- 

 persed by the winds, covers the fields with innumerable threads." Wondeiv 

 ful ! and I wonder where Dr. Turton got this queer storA-, 



