OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 63 



widely separated localities ; but inference becomes certainty when we 

 find that it is indigenous to America, where its dissemination is general 

 over the country, within certain limits; that its origin in Europe 

 may be traced to points Avhere American vines were introduced ; 

 and that its spread there from place to place has been carefully 

 recorded, and still continues. It is not likoly that all American vines 

 imported into Europe have carried with them the insect ; but the fact 

 is fully established that it has spread, whether in France, Austria or 

 Portugal, from centers where American vines have been grown — 

 a fact of the utmost significance. Intercourse between countries has 

 always brought with it an interchange of products, whether inten- 

 tional or otherwise. As a rule, the stream of the unintentional impor- 

 tations has been from east to west, and Europe has given to America 

 many more noxious weeds and insects than it has received from us. 

 Yet the European cultivator must charge us with a few of his very 

 worst pests, among which may more especially be mentioned the 

 Oidiuni Tucheri^ the Erigeron. Ganadense^ the Erio80ina lanigera^ 

 and the Phylloxera vastatrix. 



The suppositions of M. Koressios, of Athens, Greece, and of M. 

 Nourrigat, of Lunel, France — the former considering it the Phtheir 

 of the Greeks, the latter the disease called "Gabel" by the Germans — 

 have been demonstrated by Prof. Planchon to be false. The Phtheir 

 is a mealy scale insect {Dactylopius longispinus)^ existing now, as it 

 did in the time of the ancients, on the Vine, both above and below 

 ground, in the Mediterranean region. It does much injury to vines in 

 the Crimea. The ''Gabel" is altogether another malady, not caused 

 by insects. 



Other writers have maintained that the soil is full of Phylloxera, 

 and that it occurs on all sorts of fruit trees. The Grape Phylloxera is 

 peculiar to that plant as a genus, and all the rumors of its infesting 

 other plants, or fruit trees, have been proved to be false, and arise 

 from the inability of the observers to distinguish between different 

 species and genera of root-lice. (23.) 



Finally, since the discovery of Phylloxera on the roots of our 

 American vines, there have not been wanting those who either deny 

 its existence, or who put forth the more sophistical argument that 

 injury to our native or foreign grape-vines does not result from its 

 work, but is to be attributed to fungus growths. (24.) Others again 

 believe that fungus growths, such as mildew, are indirectly caused by 

 the injury done by Phylloxera to the roots. Without denying that 

 vines sometimes suffer from fungus growths independent of Phyl- 

 loxera, and without expressing any opinion as to whether the insect 

 is in any way concerned in the growth of these funguses, I can safely 



