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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 especially as the vine infested grew immedi- 

 ately 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 unex- 

 pected 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 these 

 cocci came to me originally from Andalusia. Yet, all the 

 while, candour obliges me to confess that Mr. Lightfoot 

 has written me word that he once, and but once, saw these 

 insects on a vine at Weymouth in Dorsetshire ; which, 

 it is here to be observed, is a seaport town to which 

 the coccus might be conveyed by shipping. 



As many of my readers may possibly never have heard 

 of this strange and unusual insect, I shall here transcribe a 

 passage from a natural history of Gibraltar, written by the 

 Reverend John White, late vicar of Blackburn in Lanca- 

 shire, but not yet published : — 



" In the year 1770 a vine which grew on the east-side of 

 my house, and which had produced the finest crops of 

 grapes for years past, was suddenly overspread on all the 

 woody branches with large lumps of a white fibrous sub- 

 stance resembling spiders' webs, or rather raw cotton. It 

 was of a very , clammy quality, sticking fast to every thing 

 that touched it, and capable of being spun into long 

 threads. At first I suspected it to be the produce of 

 spiders, but could find none. Nothing was to be seen 

 connected with it but many brown oval husky shells, which 

 by no means looked like insects, but rather resembled bits 

 of the dry bark of the vine. The tree had a plentiful 

 crop of grapes set, when this pest appeared upon it ; but 

 the fruit was manifestly injured by this foul incumbrance. 

 It remained all the summer, still increasing, and loaded the 

 woody and bearing branches to a vast degree. I often pulled 

 off great quantities by handfuls ; but it was so slimy and 



