﻿for out of a considerable number taken in this country, i have 

 never found one with wings; whilst of those I took at Mont- 

 pellier and die Pont du Gard in the South ot France, several 

 were win^red. The apterous specimens do not differ m colour 

 or size frSm those that are winged ; and many of d.e former 

 were found in pairs by Mr. Dashwood, jun., of Beccles in 

 Suffolk, on sandy banks in that neighbourhood, the middle ot 



there is another extraordinary incident in the history of 

 this handsome and conspicuous insect : some years these plant- 

 bugs appear in myriads, whilst at other times not one can be 

 found Many years back it was observed in excessive abun- 

 dance on some little islands at Torquay in Devonshire, on 

 which, 1 understood, the Tree Mallow {Lavatera arborea) 

 erew: a plant our insect is much attached to, probably from 

 a particular Aphis or larva that infests it. Mr. Abraham, of 

 Exeter, informed Mr. Dale, that the Pip-rhoccris apterusss^s 

 in such profusion on a rock in the sea off^ Teignmouth, in 

 Devon, that it looked quite red with them; at the same time 

 he observed there was not any vegetation for them to inhabit: 

 and the insects being apterous, it seemed strange how they 

 could have attained such a spot. . , , i • 



The transportation of these insects to an insulated rock m 

 the sea may be easily accounted for, if we suppose a lew, or 

 even one pair of winged specimens to have flown there, pro- 

 bably from France ; and this would at once show the use of 

 some individuals being furnished with wings, as well as the 

 wisdom of Providence in supplying so tew with the means of 

 flicrht ; since, from their astonishing increase, the country might 

 be'overrun by them if they were able to disperse rapidly : the 

 means, however, are always adapted to the end ; and as the 

 Pvrrhoceris no doubt lives by sucking other insects, it may 

 only be propagated in extraordinary numbers when some La- 

 terpillar or Aphis threatens, by its superabundance, the total 

 annihilation of a local species of plant; and this provision is 

 of such common occurrence, that it is unnecessary to adduce 

 evidence in support of the observation. . 



In the vegetable kingdom, a scarcity of fruit following a >ear 

 of abundan?e, arises from exhaustion ; but of course we must 

 look to very different causes amongst animals ; and with regard 

 to the Pvrrhoceris, its sudden disappearance may arise rom 

 its conspicuous colouring, which could not lail to attract the 

 notice of birds in an exposed situation, especially when they 

 covered a spot so completely as to give even a red tint to the 

 rock. 



The Plant is Malva sj/lvcstris (Common Mallow). 



