NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE 211 



P.S. One swift was seen at Lyndon, in the county of 

 Rutland, in 1782, so late as the 3rd September. 



LETTER LIII 



As I have sometimes known you make inquiries about sev- 

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

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

 I had often observed that one particular part of a vine grow- 

 ing 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 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 pro- 

 ceeded 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 

 vitis viniferce 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 espe- 

 cially 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 increase, I cannot but suspect still that 



