XCVII.] 



OF SELBORNE. 



259 



LETTEE XCVII. 



TO THE HONOURABLE DAINES BARRINGTON. 



As I have sometimes known you make inquiries about several 

 kinds of insects, I shall here send you an account of one sort 

 which I little expected to have found in this kingdom. I have 

 often observed that one particiilar part of a vine growing on the 

 walls of my house was covered in the autumn with a black dust- 

 like appearance, on which the flies fed eagerly ; and that the 

 shoots and leaves thus affected did not thrive ; nor did the fruit 

 ripen. To this substauce 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 multitude of eggs. This curious and uncommon 

 production put me upon recollecting what I have heard and read 

 concerning the Coccus mtis viniferceof Linnseus, 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 Gib- 

 raltar among the many boxes and packages of plants and birds 

 Avhich 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 are, 

 we know, conveyed from one country to another in a very un- 

 expected manner, and have a wonderful power of maintaining 

 their existence till they fall into a nidus proper for their support 





