•I'lIE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST, 00 



ORA^FE DISEASE. 



On tho Cause of Deterioration in some of our Native Grape-vines, and one of the 

 probable reasons why European Vines have so generally failed with us. 



THE CtJLVPP:-LEAF GAIjIj-LOUHE— Phylloxera vitifolice* Fitch. 



The experience of the past year, enables me to add much of interest 

 and importance to last year's accoimt of the above insect. This experience 

 has alread}" been made public in an article published in the Rural New 

 I^or^er, and reproduced in iho Rural (FoYWof St. Louis. I am pleased to- 

 know that the views there set forth receive the indoi'scment of such an ex- 

 perienced and practical man as Mr. Geo. Husmann, the well knoAvn ^-rape 

 authority in our State, and editor of the vineyard department of the last- 

 named journal, f 



It is well known that nearly all the varieties of the European grape- 

 vine (^Vitis viniferd) have, in the end, proved valueless when introduced and 

 cultivated in the eastern half of the United States. The majorlt}^ of them 

 grow well at first, and a few exceptional cases might be mentioned where 



*This is the sijcfilic name by which I hist yuar gave an account of this grape-vine insect j and 1 

 employ it again for that very reason, and for the further reason that it is the name most familiar to- 

 tlie American reaiier. I I'lave alreadv given my opinion (;ird Re;j. )). !).5, note) that though the 

 name is objectionable, it ought perhaps' to be retained. U is doul)tfiil, liowever, whether many other 

 entomologists will agree with niL-; and while 1 l>elieve in carrying out the "law of priority" to its 

 fullest extent, consistent with reason, there are many cases where it must give way to that of 

 ' 'accord. ' ' The jiresent is perhaps just such a case ; foraside from the technical objection. Dr. Fitch 

 knevt^ so little of the insect's true characters, when he named it, that he cannot be said to have de- 

 scriiied it, and did not refer it to its iiroi)er gtiuis w lii(-h was already erected to receive it. His name 

 will, therefore, doubtless give way to that of PhijUoxera vaHtatrix ,' \\\\\ch I'lanchon lirst gave to the 

 root-inhabiting form, and which "has generally Ijeeii recognized abroad. The same may be said of 

 Westwood's name Peritymbia vitisona, which was also ])i'oiiosed for the same insect in 1868, in a com- 

 munication to the Ashmolean Society of Oxford, England. 



While I would uot, therefore, carry out the ' 'law of ))riority" too relentlessly, I have no sym- 

 pathy or patience with a certain modei'h system of attaching to an insect the name of the author who 

 erects the last new genus, instead of that'of the describer of the species. This iiernicious system — 

 which if not frowned down, will lead to utter confusion and land us in absolute chaos — seems to be 

 getting more and more fashionable among naturalists in this country, and I regret to say, among 

 some entomologists. That man, in my opinion, is no true naturalist, who can pass through the 

 museums of this country and witnes.s" the manner in which the names of the older authors are- 

 ignored, without feeling.s"of just indignation! He will very naturally look uiion it as an attempt on 

 the pai't of modern ingrates to rob well-earned and long-w<5rn laurels fnim the nldiT authors, whose 

 spirits still survive, if their bodies are prevented by the grave, from rebuking the insult. Aside 

 from the moral injustice of such a rule, it is hurtful to any science in its practical application; for, 

 as genera multiply, the student will find increasing ditlici'ilty in referring to original descriptions; 

 whereas, by the old established rule, the describer's name is" an infallibli; index. In lists or cata- 

 logues, such as that of Colcoptcra hy LeConte, and that of Bombijcidcc by Grote & Robinson, where 

 the synonyms are given, this ditliciilty does not i)resent itself, though the moral objection remains. 

 As the sci"eii(-c of entomology grows, "and >ynonym\ multiiilies, it will, in my opinion, become more 

 and more necessary to attach the author's naiiie to a s|ie(ies in ordinary works, and any system 

 which will re(piire"a continual eliangin.ii: of authorshi]) should not be countenanced. Species — how- 

 ever much they may be changed and moditied in the course of ages — have for all the puriioses of the 

 naturalist a permanency which under the old rule would render our siiecitic nomenclature like 

 permanent, and secure if against constant change: whereas, genera — tluuigh in the proper sense they 

 may have a similar permanency — are, for all practical pur))oses, more the creations of man than of 

 Nature; and as they have been "unstable and changeable in the past, so they will be in the future, and 

 our generic nomenclature will ever have an indelinite, protean, insecure character. 



In Euro])i- this system is almost universally ostracised; ami — let botanists and <jrnithologists do 

 as thev please— it is"to be hoped it will not groVv in favor among entomologists in .\merica. It was 

 not followed by any of the older authors, and I am glad to know that some of our leading living- 

 entomologists, "incruding Dr. G. H. Horn, Mr. E. T. Cresson, Mr. 1'. li. Uhler, Mr. .1. A. Lintner, 

 Dr. Asa Fitch, and Dr. LeBaron, are oi)posed to anil do not adopt it. In these Reports— how- 

 ever prevalent the contrarv fashion ma v become— 1 shall always attach to the species the name of 

 its first describer; and shall never change the oithograi]hy, even of a name that may be grammat- 

 ically objectionable, until corrected liy the author himself. " 



t Mr. Husmann savs : {Rur. W. , Xov . 18, 1871) ; ' ' We copy the following from the Rural Xew York- 

 er, and think it one of the most interestin.g pajters we have reiid for a long time— one that will be of 

 more use to the vintner in his selection of varieties, and throw more light on the deterioration of for- 

 merly healthy varieties than anything that has been said or done lately. The grape growers of the 

 coun"try owe Prof. Kiley a debt of" gratitude for his thorough and scieutiflc investigation of this sub- 

 ject." 



