524 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Ibis insect continues to ravage the vines in the South of 

 Fiance, and it is added — " They are all the more formidable 

 because they breed with such fearful rapidity. Although the 

 statement that the insect begins to deposit eggs when only 

 ten days old is an exaggeration, there can be no doubt that 

 many generations of the Phylloxera are born within the 

 space of a twelvemonth." Both this insect and Phylloxera 

 coccinea appear to have been found in this country. Perhaps, 

 therefore, some readers can inform me if the name at the head 

 of this note is the one generally recognized for the vine-pest, 

 and also if the males of Vastatrix and Coccinea have yet 

 been discovered. — IV. Macmillan ; Castle Gary, Somerset. 



[In 1868 Phylloxera coccinea is mentioned (Zool. S. S. 1333) 

 as British. In 1869 I found it in such abundance on the oaks 

 in Herefordshire as completely to disfigure them (see Entom. 

 iv. 316, and a valuable note at the same place by Mr. Walker). 

 The name " Phylloxera Vastatrix" is usually accepted as that 

 of the root-pest of the vine, but this branch of the enquiry 

 requires further elucidation : perhaps Mr. Walker will kindly 

 inform us on this subject; he is at present engaged in 

 examining the insect, as appears from his observations 

 recorded in the current number of the ' Entomologist.' — 

 Edward Newman.~\ 



Insects as Weather Prognosticators. — I have no doubt but 

 many of the subscribers to the 'Entomologist' will have 

 noticed what true prophets our little friends the insect family 

 are in/oretelti/ig changes in the weather. At the back of our 

 premises there is a lumber-room, where a colony of spiders 

 have taken up their abode; and although I have one of the 

 best instruments that can be got, made by the celebrated 

 Quadri, I can rely more upon these insects than the barometer. 

 Then the ants, — what wonderful little fortune-tellers we have 

 in them : see their hillocks on a morning when the day is 

 going to be fine — all is activity and life, the parents hugging 

 their big babies, and putting them on the side where the sun 

 will shortly shine : take another morning, equally fine in 

 appearance; but all here is still, and a sleepy look has taken 

 hold of the few stragglers that may be about. Our collectors 

 will have noticed, on a fine day, butterflies, moths, and bees, 

 flying from flower to flower; but like magic all disappear: 

 the bees are flying in twos and threes right away towards 

 their homes; the butterflies and moths are not to be seen; 



