OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 75 



can scarcely be derived from a single (supposed) ori<jinal wild species. Director Refuel 

 of St. Petersburg-, ascribes thern to the internnnorlinir of a few species, well known in 

 their wild state at this day; Prof. Brami, ot Berlin, sno-ofests that they are the ott- 

 sprino: of distinct species yet found wild in many parts of Southern Europe and Asia, 

 which thus he considers not the accidental oftsprino;' of the cnltivated plants, as is. 

 fjenerally believed, but the orio'iual parent stock. I may add, from my own investi<ra- 

 tions, tliat the Grape-vine which inhabits the native forests of the low banks of the 

 Danube, "bottom-woods," as we would call them, from Vienna down into llun>rary, 

 well represents our Vifis cordifolla and rlparia, witli its stems 3, U and '.) inches thick, 

 and climhinu- on the hi2;hest trees, its smooth and shinin"-, scarcely lobed leaves and 

 its small, black berries. On the other hand, the wild g-rape of the tliickets of the hilly 

 countries of Tuscany and Kome, with its lower ofrowth, downy leaves, and larofer and 

 more palatable truitj which "don't make a bad wine," as an Italian botanist expresses 

 himself, (whicli was known to the ancients as Labrusca, a name improperly applied by 

 science to the American species, and is called to this day Brusca,) reminds us. notwith- 

 standing- the small size ot the leaves, of our Vitis restivalis. The Grape-vines of the 

 countries south of the Caucasus mountains, the ancient Colchis, the reputed original 

 home of these plants, greatly resemble the Italian plant just described. 



The European Grape-vine is characterized by smoothish. and, when young, shin- 

 ing, more or less deeplj', five or even seven lobed leaves ; lobes pointed and sharply 

 toothed; seeds obtuse at the upper end, and mostly notched; raphe indistinct. In 

 some vaiieties the leaves and Ijranchlets are hairy ancl even downy when young; the 

 seeds varj- considerably in thickness and length, less so in the sliape of the" raphe.] 



b. Bei-ries large, 7, 9 or even 10 lines in diameter, raphe scarcely risible on the more 

 or less deeply notched top of the seed ; tendrils continuous. 



5. ViTis LABiiiscA, LinnaHis. — Plant usually not large, climbing over bushes or 

 small trees, though occasionally reaching the tops of the highest trees, with large 

 (4-6 inches wide) and thick, entire or sometimes deeplj^-lobed, very sligrhtly dentate 

 leaves, coated when young with a thick, rusty or sometimes whitish wool or down, 

 which in the wild plants remains on the lower side, but almost disappears in the 

 mature leaf ol some cultivated varieties ; berries large, in rather small or middle-sized, 

 or, in some cultivated varieties, rather large bunches, bearing two or three or some- 

 times four seeds. 



This plant, usually known as the Fo.v-grape or Nortliern Fox-grape, is a native of 

 the eastern slope of the continent from New England to South Carolina, where it 

 prefers wet thickets; it extends into the Alleghany mountains, and here and there 

 even down their western declivity, but is a stranger to the Mississippi Valley. The 

 most important varieties of this Grape-vine now cultivated in our country (such as the 

 CatuAuba, Concord, Isabella, Hartford Prolific, and dozens of Others) are the offspring 

 of this species; a few produced by nurserymen, but most of them picked up in the 

 woods ; they are all easilj' recognized by the characters above given, and most readily 

 by the peculiar arrangements of the tendrils as above described. Large and downy- 

 leaved varieties of V. (vstivaiis are, in the West and Sotith-west, not rai-cly mistaken for 

 Labrusca, but the two may always be distinguished by the characters indicated. 



II. Grnpe-f'iiies irit/i (on tlie yoiinr/ft' hrdiirlies ), Jirnili/ ((dhfrint/ hiifh, wliifh onfif '" 

 the older steins settles off; ueflttl roots from hicliiietl trtinJis in tlainp localities : 

 teiiflfils siii>i)le; berries very larr/e (T-]0 lines thick), very fete in n hunch, easily 

 tlettichinf/ tlientselrrsttt maturity ; seetls irith transverse teri nkles or shnllt>iv grrooves 

 on hot/i sides ; 



i). ViTis vuM'iNA, Linnaeus. — Low, or often climbing very high, with small, 

 (2 or at most 3 inches wide) rounded, heart-shaped, firm and glossy dark-green leaves, 

 smooth, or rarely slightly hairy on the under side, with coarse and large, or broad and 

 bluntish teeth. 



This Southern species, known under the name of Southerii Fo.r-grape, Bullace or 

 Bullet grape, is found along water-courses, not further north than Maryland, Kentucky 

 and Arkansas, though it may possibly straggle into south-east Missouri. Some of its 



