coccus. 271 



eagerly; and the shoots, and leaves thus affected did not 

 thrive, nor did the fruit ripen. To this substance I applied 

 my glasses ; but could not discover that it had anything to 

 do with animal life, as I at first expected : but upon a closer 

 examination behind the larger boughs, we were surprised to 

 find that they were coated over with husky shells, from whose 

 sides proceeded a cotton-like substance, surrounding a mul- 

 titude of eggs. This curious and uncommon production put 

 me upon recollecting what I have heard and read concerning 

 the coccus mtis mniferce of Linnaeus; which, in the south of 

 Europe, infests many vines, and is a horrid and loathsome 

 pest.* As soon as I had turned to the accounts given of 

 this insect, I saw at once that it swarmed on my vine ; and 

 did not appear to have been at all checked by the preceding 

 winter, which had been uncommonly severe. 



Not being then at all aware that it had anything to do 

 with England, I was much inclined to think that it came 

 from Gibraltar, among the many boxes and packages of 

 plants and birds which I had formerly received from thence; 

 and especially as the vine infested grew immediately under 

 my study window, where I usually kept my specimens. 

 True it is, that I had received nothing from thence for 

 some years : but as insects, we know, are conveyed from one 

 country to another in a very unexpected manner, and 

 have a wonderful power of maintaining their existence till 

 they fall into a nidus proper for their support and in- 

 crease, I cannot but suspect still that these cocci came to 

 me originally from Andalusia. Yet, all the while, candour 

 obliges me to confess, that Mr. Lightfoot has written me 

 word that he once, and but once, saw these insects on a vine 

 at Weymouth, in Dorsetshire ; which it is here to be ob- 

 served, is a seaport town to which the coccus might be con- 

 veyed by shipping. 



As many of my readers may possibly never have heard of 

 this strange and unusual insect, I shall here transcribe a 

 passage from a Natural History of Gibraltar, written by the 

 Reverend John White, late Vicar of Blackburn, in Lancashire, 

 but not yet published. 



" In the year 1770, a vine, which grew on the east side of 



* This insect probably injures trees by puncturing them, and thus causing 

 a great overflowing of the sap. See Cuvier. ED. 



