120 INSECT PESTS 



keep it in check. The eggs are microscopic in size and 

 it is hardly hkely that much can be done in searching 

 for them. But the presence of the larvae in springtime 

 is evident enough, and all sillien webs should be removed 

 and burnt. As regards the second brood, their presence 

 in the grape is betrayed by a blueish spot on the fruit, 

 so that an endeavour should be made to cut off the second 

 generation as early as possible, even though it may mean 

 considerable loss of grapes in that particular season. 



Passing from moths now, we find the grape vme is 

 subject to attack from certain of the Hemiptera. For 

 instance the Grape Scale {Coccus vitis) and the Mealy 

 Bug (C. adonidum), relatives of the famous cochmeal 

 insect of commerce. They infest the bark, and both 

 may be disposed of by painting with methylated spirit 

 or turpentine. (See Plate 26.) 



Neither of these pests are so deadly or serious, however, 

 as the terrible Grape Louse [Phylhxera vastatrix) which 

 belongs also to this order of insects, and it will be worth 

 while our studying this pest a Uttle more closely. 



As in the case of the Aphids, of which a variety {A. 

 vitis) of course turns up on vines and should be met in 

 time with the spray, phylloxera presents a remarkable 

 and even more elaborate scheme of reproduction than 

 its relative ; to which cause, by the way, we may ascribe 

 the firm hold it has upon a vine house once it gets itself 

 established. (See Plate 25.) 



The details are as follows -.—Vine Lice may be root- 

 feeders or leaf and bud eaters, both kinds being produced 

 from the same female. The reproduction scheme is 

 complexity itself. There is a great-grandmother, wing- 

 less who has two distinct classes of offspring, viz. root- 

 infesting Uke herself, and winged leaf-eaters whose mission 

 is to carry on the " good " work above ground. Both these 

 children are females, always. The first can continue to 

 reproduce females, aU root-infesting and aU wingless. 

 The second produces a wingless female and this time a 



