290 FIELD, FOREST AND FARM 



move from one root to the next adjoining; we be- 

 hold an agile denizen of the air, capable of covering 

 with the swiftness of an arrow a distance of several 

 leagues, especially when aided by a favorable wind. 

 During the warm season of July and August these 

 winged insects take flight and settle in swarms on 

 the vineyards not yet ravaged. They alight on the 

 leaves, where their suckers perform their function 

 in sober moderation. 



"To stuff themselves like gluttons, after the man- 

 ner of their kindred that live on the roots, is not 

 their way. Hence their own depredations are of no 

 importance. Unfortunately, however, it is their mis- 

 sion to do us a most disastrous disservice by infest- 

 ing, one after another, the adjacent vineyards, peo- 

 pling the still unaffected districts with underground 

 ravagers. All take part in this ; all, without excep- 

 tion, set to work laying eggs. 



"These eggs are few in number, it is true, each in- 

 sect laying at most but half a score amid the cotton- 

 like down of the buds and young leaves. But the 

 aggregate is none the less enormous, since in this 

 strange family we have thus far encountered none 

 but mothers. We have just seen that all the wingless 

 phylloxeras on the roots lay eggs, and now we find 

 that all their winged kindred on the leaves do like- 

 wise. 



"This excessive fecundity would in the end ex- 

 haust the insect and result in its extinction if there 

 were no seasons of quietude for renewing the vital- 

 ity of the race. Yellowish in color like the eggs of 



