254 Forty- fifth Report on the State Museum. 



the fruit is dwarfed and its ripening interfered with, and the 

 death of the vine may follow if the insects have been very numer- 

 ous. These little creatures belong to the order of II kmiptera, which 

 embraces a large number of our destructive pests, as the plant- 

 lice {Aphididw), the scale-insects and the mealy-bugs (Coccidce), 

 the grape Phylloxera, etc. — all of which subsist only upon liquid 

 food, but fully equal in destructiveness to those provided with for- 

 midable biting jaws. 



Several species of these little leaf-hoppers are frequently asso- 

 ciated upon the grape leaves. They belong to the genus known as 

 Erijthvoneara, and the more common one is that described by Dr. 

 Harris in 1831, as Tettigonia vitis* It is about one-tenth of an 

 inch long, of a pale yellow or straw-color, with two narrow red 

 lines on its head, and scarlet bands upon its thorax and wing- 

 covers. It appears in June, in its larval stage, when it may 

 be found quietly resting upon the leaves, with its beak thrust 

 therein, unless it be disturbed, when it hops briskly to another leaf. 

 They cast their skins from time to time as they increase in size, 

 and numbers of these white, empty cases may be found fastened 

 to the under surface of the foliage or scattered on 

 the ground beneath. In July they assume their pupal form. 

 In August they mature and acquire wings; when, if the vines are 

 shaken, they may be driven up in swarms, but only to return and 

 resume their destructive work. The winged insect survives the 

 winter, hibernating among the dead leaves or in other sequestered 

 places. The following spring, in the month of May, it comes 

 forth from its retreat, and deposits its eggs upon the leaves of the 

 vines for another brood. 



The Thrips proper is an entirely different insect. It is a 

 smaller insect than the grapevine leaf -hopper, with long and 

 narrow wings without veins and bordered with long fringes — 

 the two pah's of about equal size. There are a number of species 

 united in the family of l'/irij>'hh(\ the location of which, in our 

 classification, has been the occasion of much discussion and is 

 still in doubt. By Halliday, it was set apart in a distinct order. 

 ander the name of Thvsanoptera, and (his arrangemenl has been 



* Now Typhlocyba vitU CHarrls) 



