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of the cultivated grape-vines by puncturing the leaves and sucking 

 out tbe sap, it may be well to give a short history of the insect, from 

 the ei^g to tlie full-grown imago, and the various remedies already pro- 

 posed to destroy them. 



The grape-vine hoiiitev, Erythroneura {Tettigoma) vitis, is a very small 

 Fijr. 1. insect, about 0.13 inch in length, of a pale yellow color, with 

 two blood-red bauds, and a third dusky band across the wing- 

 covers. It is supposed by most entomologists that these in- 

 sects pass the winter in the perfect state, hybernating under 

 bark, dead leaves, and rubbish; but during the last winter 

 a thorough search was made in the neighborhood of some 

 grape-vines which had been very much injured by the leaf-hoppers 

 the previous season, and no mature insects could be discovered, either 

 under the loose bark of the grape-vine, the supporting posts, or under 

 the leaves and loose rubbish near the vines. It therefore appears 

 probable that some of the early broods may be produced from eggs laid 

 l3y the parent insect the previous autumn, eitlier on the stem of the 

 vine itself, or on foliage. The first perfect grape-leaf hopper this season 

 was found in April, and had probably hybernated on the stem of the 

 vine, under the bark, as before mentioned. The insects, as soon as 

 hatched, commence to suck the sap of the plant, and change their skin 

 several times before attaining their full size; and these cast-off white 

 skins may be seen in the autumn in multitudes, adhering to the under 

 side of the leaves, each of them with a slit down the back, through 

 which the perfect insect has escaped. 



As larvfe, or when very young, they do not possess any wings, and it 

 is only in the adult state that the perfect wings are acquired. The 

 leaves injured by these insects appear at first flecked and spotted with 

 whitish marks, sliowing where the sap has been drawn out by the leaf- 

 hopper. They then assume a sickly appearance, and if the insects are 

 very numerous the foliage will finally turn brown and fall to the ground. 

 Some varieties of vines sufter more from this pest than others, and the 

 Clinton, Delaware, and other thin-leaved grapes are said to suffer the most 

 Fis. 2. fi'om their attacks. There are several other species of 

 vine-hoppers beside the Erijthroneura, mentioned by Har- 

 ris, which injure the foliage of the grape-vine, and we 

 have found a species of Typhlocyba as destructive in Mary- 

 land and Virginia, puncturing the leaves and sucking the 

 sap in a similar manner. 

 The remedies already proposed for the destruction of these insects are 

 syringing the vines with strong tobacco-water or soap-suds. A very 

 weak mixture of carbolic acid and water has also been recommended, 

 but when made too strong the leaves are apt to be injured. Dusting 

 the vines with lime, wood -ashes, lime and sulphur, is said to be benefi- 

 cial, and fumigation with strong tobacco when under ghiss will destroy 

 many of them. Mr. Saunders, of Canada, states that a lighted torch 

 carried through a vineyard at night will destroy multitudes, as they fly 

 to the light and are burnt. This should be repeated several times at 

 short intervals. He also says that constant stirring the earth in the 

 immediate vicinity of the vines in spring and autumn will probably 

 operate by disturbing the perfect insect (and eggs) by exposing them to 

 the frost. As lights also attract these insects at night, if a lantern were 

 placed immediately over a pail or tub nearly filled with water, on the 

 surface of which a little oil or turpentine had been i)oured, whenever the 

 vines were disturbed the insects would immediately fly toward the light 

 and fall into the vessel below and perish by hundreds. The same plan 



