THE BED SPIDEE. 95 



" M. Duges says that it undoubtedly passes through the 

 immovable nymph or pupa state, before the full comple- 

 ment of legs is acquired. M. Duges believes that these 

 mites pass the winter under stones, concealing themselves 

 there when the infested leaves have fallen. In a garden 

 near Paris he found several individuals thus concealed 

 in the month of October ; they were of a uniform brick-red 

 colour, and had lost as yet none of their agility, nor of their 

 spinning power ; and on them he observed most distinctly 

 the secreting papilla of the thread. 



u The leaves which are attacked have a languishing air; 

 they are yellowish or greyish above, with some patches of a 

 lighter shade forming a kind of marbling ; their edges are 

 slightly folded back, and, as if they were slightly rolled 

 on the under side, the lower side is white and slightly 

 shining. If in that state we examine with the microscope 

 the under side of the leaf, we find swarms of individuals of 

 all ages, as well as the eggs, pasted to the warped stuff on 

 the leaf." 



There are, according to Mr. Murray, in addition to 

 several named varieties of the true u Red Spider," fourteen 

 or fifteen distinct species of this genus, many of which, 

 unlike the Red Spider, seem to confine themselves to par- 

 ticular plants, and have been named after the plants on 

 which they feed, as T. Cucumeris, or Spider of the Cucum- 

 ber family ; T. Rosarum, or Spider of the Rose ; T. Vitis, 

 or Spider of the Vine, and so on ; and doubtless in many 

 cases these latter species have been mistaken for the true 

 Red Spider, T. Telarius. Further investigations, we 

 hope, may enable us to state positively whether w r e 

 have amongst us any of the additional kinds above alluded 

 to. 



As the vine-growing interest is of such great importance 

 in this colony, it may be well, in the event of the Vine 

 Spider making its appearance in our vineyards, to give a 

 description of it from the pen of the well-known entomolo- 

 gist, M. Boisduval, as quoted by Andrew Murray: 

 " When, towards the end of summer, we see the leaves of 

 the vine marbled above with broad yellow blotches, it 



