BY WHICH THE VINRIS INFESTED. 17J 



ancient as well as the modern languages furnish only general denomina- 

 tions, common to several objects or species, and are consequently ex- 

 tremely vague, a single word being employed to designate beings of very 

 different natures. Scholars, grammarians, and lexicographers frequently 

 add error to the confusion by their false distinctions, and sometimes 

 the prodigious erudition of modern commentators increases the difficulty 

 still more. 



The true method of acquiring a complete and exact idea of the no- 

 tions represented by each of the names we seek to explain appears to 

 be this ; to examine all the texts in which these names are employed, 

 and afterwards to endeavour to remove the obscurity of the various 

 meanings which have been assigned to them when they have been em- 

 ployed in different significations. By this method we can establish our 

 opinions and conjectures upon the ancient texts with security, and with- 

 out being exposed to the danger, to which we often yield without per- 

 ceiving it, and sometimes even consciously, of selecting from the an- 

 cient authors only such passages as support our interpretations and 

 systems, while we keep out of sight all those which are in opposition t9 

 them. 



II. List of (he Names of Insects injurious to the Vine mentioned 

 hy the Anciefiits. — The following are all the names of insects infesting 

 the vine, or mentioned in connexion with it, that I have been able to 

 discover in ancient authors : 



Invol- 



1. Thola, Tholea or Tholaat. 



2. Gaza. 



3. Ips. 



4. Iks. 



5. Spondyle or Sphondyle. 



6. Cantharis. 



7. Phteire or Phteira. 



8. Kampe. 



Wl.List of the Authors in tvhom the aboveNames are found, and whose 

 texts are explained in these Researcfies — The following are the authors in 

 whom the names above mentioned are found, and who will consequently 

 receive some explanation in this dissertation : 



9. Joulos or Julus. 



10. Biurus or Bythurus. 



11. Involvolus, Involvulus, 



vus. 

 Convolvulus. 

 Volvox. 

 Volucra. 

 Eruca. 



