( Ixvii ) 



and for an intelligent resume of his not generally accepted views 

 I cannot do better than refer you to the Address delivered by my 

 predecessor, Mr. Dunning, at the Annual Meeting of this Society 

 on January 16th, 1884. One of the points strongly insisted upon 

 by Lichtenstein is that certain Aphides, at one period of their 

 existence, constitute a " species " with a certain food-plant, but 

 subsequently migrate to another food-plant having no connection 

 whatever with the former, and become another "species." Thus 

 the Aphis of the plum may become the Aphis of the hop, and so 

 on. I think the idea was not original, but the experiments 

 instituted by Lichtenstein have been repeated by others, and are 

 apparently so far confirmed as to induce one to believe the theory 

 has developed into fact.* 



* Having ]3rominently mentioned the Phylloxera in connection with 

 our deceased colleague, I ask your permission to make a digression. In 

 July last I had opportunities for learning more about the ravages of the 

 Phylloxera in France, from personal observation and conversation, than 

 I had ever before been able to do. A sojourn of some length in the 

 Pyrenees Orientales brought the extent of the ravages vividly before me. 

 I was in a district once covered with smiling vineyards. Now there are 

 only the dead stocks left in the ground, half concealed by weeds, ghastly 

 reminders of the past. Or occasionally the dead stocks are piled in 

 huge stacks for firewood, and the vines have been replaced by maize, a 

 poor substitute from a financial point of view. I met men once 

 prosperous proprietors, now impoverished peasants, still clinging to the 

 scenes of former prosperity. The state of affairs there is repeated in 

 very many other districts, and it was lamentably evident in that of 

 Angouleme in passing through it by train. The famous Bordeaux 

 district, however, seems largely to have recovered itself, and in passing 

 through it one would not imagine that it also had recently gone through 

 the same ordeal. In this district remedial measures and the introduction 

 of new blood in the form of American stocks said to be Phylloxera-]}Tcooi 

 have told successfully. And, speaking as an economic entomologist, I 

 cannot resist the opinion (in holding which I think I am in a minority) 

 that the want of introduction of new blood may have had a large share 

 in rendering the vines, cultivated too much "in and in," ready victims 

 to the pest when it first appeared. I am not armed with official statistics, 

 but there appeared to be hopeful feeling to the effect that the Phylloxera 

 was exhausting itself (so far as France is concerned) ; let us hope such 

 is the case. But I met and conversed with intelligent and far-seeing 

 Frenchmen, who held that the future of their country depends more upon 

 what turn the Phylloxera may take, than upon political affairs. Never 

 before has an insidious insect-pest caused such widespread and con- 

 tinued ruin. 



