THE GRAPE VINE. Iig 



interest of Britisli grape-growing, all who have any 

 knowledge or experience of this destroyer should pro- 

 claim its whereabouts, and record their experience and 

 observations; and at the same time, and above all, give 

 it no quarter by risking its existence by any half- 

 measures, . but remorselessly stamp it out as the most 

 formidable pest that ever found its way into a vinery. 

 Indeed I do not know that it is not a matter quite 

 worthy of being dealt with as the rinderpest in cattle 

 has been dealt with by the powers that be. 



It will be in the recollection of many of our readers 

 that in the 'Gardener' of 1869 (page 202), illustrations 

 of this insect are given, and a paper which originally 

 appeared from the pen of M. J. E. Plauchon in the 

 ' Comptes-Eendus de I'lnstitut ' is translated. The 

 history and habits, as far as then~known, of the pest, 

 are there minutely described : — 



" I will here give a brief risumi of all I learnt about the habits 

 of the Phylloxera vastatrix from a series of observations made on 

 the spot, in three short visits to the south of France ; also aU I 

 noticed with reference to the specimens which I kept in glass 

 bottles during forty consecutive days. 



" Its best-known form is that in which no trace of wings can 

 be discovered. When the insect is about to lay its eggs (that is, 

 in its adult female state), it forms a smaU ovoid mass, having its 

 inferior surface flattened, its dorsal surface convex, being sur- 

 rounded by a kind of fillet, which is very narrow when it touches 

 the thoracic part of its body which (formed by five rather indis- 

 tinct rings) is hardly separated from its abdominal part of seven 

 rings. 



" Six rows of sm£i;ll blunt tubercles form a slight protuberance 

 on the thoracic segments, and are found very faintly marked on 

 the abdominal segments. The head is always concealed by the 

 anterior protuberance of the buckler; the antennse are almost 

 always inactive. The abdomen, often short and contracted, be- 



