98 NATURAL IK STORY 



ceived nothing from thence for some years : 

 but as insects, we know, are 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 sup- 

 port and increase, 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. Light/oof,, 

 has written me word that he once, and but 

 once, saw these insects on a vine at Wey- 

 mouth in Dorsetshire; which, it is here to 

 be observed, is a sea-port town to which the 

 coccus might be conveyed by shipping. 



As many of my readers may possibly 

 never have heard of this strange and un- 

 usual insect, I shall here transcribe a pas- 

 sage 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 my house, and which 

 " had produced the finest crops of grapes 



