The Vine-Aphis. 



457 



at some date shortly before iSi)], for in that vear tlie pecuhar disease caused bv 

 its presence was hrst noticed in France. In the same year the \-ine-aphis was 

 found in vineries near London, but a> it bore no evil reputation in the States, 

 notliin,i( much was thouijht of either discoverv. In France in the next few vears 

 the disease spread rapidly, so that in thirteen years in one department (Vaucluse) 

 the \ield of wine from the vineyards had decreased bv ninetv per cent. It was 

 not until i8()8 that the connection between the vine-aphis and the vine disease 

 was proved b\- M. Planchon. From 

 that date to the jiresent, although 

 everv means that science and prac- 

 tical horticulture can suggest has 

 been put in oj)eration against the 

 enemv with good local results, it 

 has continued to spread o\'er 

 Western and Central Europe and 

 the Cape, and millions of acres of 

 wine-producing land have been de- 

 vastated. The European countries 

 concerned formed a Phylloxera Con 

 vention, on whose advice the various 

 (Governments have adopted stringent 

 laws for the destruction of all 

 infected plants, and to stop the 

 importation of further supplies of 

 all plants that might possibly har- 

 bour the pest. There is food for 

 thought here in the spectacle of 

 nations with huge standing armies 

 and fortified frontiers, who have 

 taken all possible measures against 

 aggression b\" their own species, 

 being set at naught by insignificant 

 Insects individuallv measuring about 

 I mm. ! 



To the naked eye this Insect^ 

 is not greatly unlike the wingless 

 green-fl\' with which we are all so 

 familiar, but under a good lens there 

 are certain diiterences separating 

 it from the true ai)his. It comes nearer to the sj)ruce-gall Insect, but instead 

 of })r<)ducing alternate generations on plants of different species, there is 

 here a migration only between leaves and roots, in America the vine-ai)his chiefly 

 attacks the leaves, producing galls ujion them, but in iun'ope the leaf-galls are 

 comparatively rare, the attack being almost rc^-tricted to the roots, where tuberous, 

 :sausage-shaped swellings are formed, upon which the ln>iit^ will be found sucking 



' I'li\ lli)XcTa vastatrix. 



The \'ink-Ai'his. 



A portion of vim- root is shown, with the finer divisions galled by the 

 iiiKleigrouiid wiiifjless foiins of the phylloxera. The upper figure on the 

 right is an underground female with the wing-buds formed. Helow it is a 

 winged male, and below that again is a female depositing her eggs. 



