PIIYLLOXEUA DEPIlEDATIOis'S. 5 



subsequently published by lihaas PJujlluxera vaslalrix. Later, through 

 comparison and study of the difFereat forms, the identity of the rooi- 

 inhabiting and the leaf-inhabiting forms was established. Since that 

 time, notwithstanding the most earnest efforts to arrest its spread, aided 

 by legislation, muniOcent grants, and the learning of tiie most distin- 

 guished scientists, it has continued to extend its area and increase 

 its ravages, until it has invaded every vineyard in France, and threatens 

 the entire destruction of the cultivation of the vine. The female, 

 greatly enlarged, is shown in Fig. 1 with a dot beside it indicating its 

 natural size. The male of a very similar species is also shown. 



It is just announced that almost everywhere in the French wine dis- 

 tricts, windlasses are at work tearing up blackened vines killed by the 

 phylloxera, and it is estimated that nearly 1,000,000 acres of vineyards 

 have been cleared and the land turned to other uses. The interest and 

 the alarm caused by these ravages are shown by the reward of 300,000 

 francs (^60,000), Avhich has been offered by the French Government, for 

 the discovery of a method of destroying the insect ; and the large grants 

 wliich have, for several preceding years, been placed at the disposal of 

 the French Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, for the purpose of 

 encouraging research and experiments as to the best way of dealing 

 with the phylloxera, have, during the present year, been increased to 

 the amount of 969,750 francs (nearly $200,000). 



The insect has also made its appearance in Australia, and such are 

 the apprehensions that its introduction has excited, that Victoria, 

 New South Wales, and South Australia are to contribute $100,000 

 toward the expense of exterminating it.* 



The minute size of this insect, scarcely more than a microscopic dot 

 in several of its stages, and in its winged state less than one-tenth of 

 an inch in length, always needing a microscope for its observation, 

 exemplifies the apparent paradox often met with in the insect world — 

 the smaller the creature the greater its power of injury. 



2. Losses from Insect Depredations. 



Could approximate estimates be had of the pecuniary losses resulting 

 from these depredations on our principal crops, the figures obtained won Id 

 be the only arguments needed to enforce the importance of investiga- 



* Ps:yc7ie, iii, 1881, p. 215. 



