KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



61 



fields, and call attention to the proceedings of 

 several species of insects which have the instinct 

 to devour the corks, and so to cause the wine to 

 leak — thereby occasionally producing woful disap- 

 pointment to the expectant connoisseur. The 

 most injurious of all these wine-cork insects is the 

 caterpillar of a little moth which gnaws the cork 

 in all directions, weaving at the same time a slight 

 web, to which are attached small masses of 

 grains, which are the dried excrement of the 

 insect. The ravages these larvae commit are 

 fearful. , The larva itself is whitish-colored, 

 fleshy, and slightly clothed with erect scattered 

 setae ; and with a dark-colored head. When dis- 

 turbed it writhes about, quits its burrow, and 

 lets itself down from the cork by a fine thread. 

 When full grown, it forms an elongated cocoon, 

 attached to the surface of the material upon 

 which it has been feeding, formed of a fine layer 

 of silk, to the outside of which are attached par- 

 ticles of excrement and gnawings of its food. 

 Within this cocoon it is transformed to a small 

 chrysalis, rather slender in form, with the head- 

 ease pointed, and the antennae cases extending 

 quite to the extremity of the body. The perfect 

 insect is a minute moth belonging to the family 

 Tineidae, placed by Haworth in the genus 

 Gracillaria, and specifically named by him Gr. V. 

 flava, from the pale V-like mark on each of the 

 fore- wings, which measure rather more than one- 

 third of an inch in expanse, and are of a shining 

 brown color, with a narrow pale clay-colored angu- 

 lated transverse bar running across the fore-wings, 

 at about one-third of their length from the base, 

 resembling a >> placed side-ways, the point of the 

 letter being directed towards the tip of the wings, 

 and connected by pale scales with a large spot on 

 the fore-margin towards the end of the wings, 

 which is indistinctly formed into a fascia on the 

 hind margin. The fringe is very long, the hind 

 wings very slender and pointed, with very long 

 fringe, of a pale straw-colored buff. The head is 

 clothed with a dense tuft of buff-colored hairs, 

 truncated transversely. The palpi are of moderate 

 length, very slender, drooping, and extending out- 

 wards, so as to be seen at the sides of the head. 

 The antennae are very long and thread-like, 

 and the hind tarsi are considerably elongated. 

 This insect has formed the subject of several com- 

 munications made to the Entomological Society 

 during the last three or four years. It has no 

 taste for the wine itself ; as it invariably leaves 

 that portion of the cork which is saturated with 

 the wine, untouched. From recent observations, 

 communicated to us by Mr. Bedell, there is rea- 

 son to doubt whether its exclusive or perhaps even 

 natural food is cork, and whether it has not resort- 

 ed to the cork of the wine bottles because its- own 

 food has been destroyed or wanting. Mr. Bedell, 

 in fact, finds the moth in the vaults of the London 

 Docks, where the wine is never kept in bottles ; 

 and he has, moreover, found the caterpillars feed- 

 ing upon fungi or mould growing upon the walls 

 of cellars ; where, also, no corked wine bottles were 

 kept. Another circumstance is also worthy of 

 remark, namely, that the insect seems almost un- 

 known on the Continent ; whereas if it fed natur- 

 ally on the cork, it would surely be found more 

 commonly in the south of Europe. A communi- 

 cation by Dr. Felkin, of Kichmond, was made to 



the Entomological Society, on the 5th of April 

 last, in which it was stated that the corks of some 

 port-wine bottles which had been packed in straw 

 in wooden cases, in which it remained undisturbed 

 for seventeen or eighteen years, were found to 

 have been much gnawed, so that in some cases 

 leakage and evaporation had completely emptied 

 the bottles. In others, there was only a little loss ; 

 but in most cases the corks were more or less de- 

 stroyed. This partial destruction seemed as if it 

 were prevented from being complete by the wine 

 oozing out in a single drop, and being pernicious 

 to the insect. He moreover suggested that the 

 insect seemed to enter into the cork, and commence 

 its ravages at that part where there is a depression 

 caused by the instrument used by wine merchants 

 in corking wine, to compress the cork, and make 

 it enter more readily into the neck of the bottle. 

 He proposed, as a remedy against the mischief, to 

 cut the cork level with the mouth of the bottle, 

 and then to dip the top of the bottle for half-an- 

 inch into a mixture of — yellow bees*-wax, eight 

 ounces, and sweet oil four ounces, melted toge- 

 ther ; or to surround the upper part of the cork 

 with a thin coat of gutta percha, or after the bot- 

 tle has been corked, to immerse the mouth in a so- 

 lution of alum in vinegar. None of these plans, if ef- 

 fectual,would injure the wine, or render it less fit for 

 drinking. — I have recently been over some large 

 wine-cellars, Mr. Editor, and it is what I saw there 

 that has induced me to copy and send you the 

 above particulars from my paper. It appears that 

 various other species of insects feed on the corks of 

 wine-bottles. An account of them will be found 

 in the first volume of " The Transactions of the 

 Entomological Society," p. 55 ; " Kirby and 

 Spence's Introduction," 6th edition, vol. i., p. 

 197; and "Curtis's British Entomology, Genus, 

 Mycetaea," fol. 502. Nature is indeed wonderful 

 in all her works. — Curiosus, Hampstead. 



Diogenes and his Lantern. — A new weekly 

 periodical, Mr. Editor, yclept " Diogenes, ' has 

 appeared amongst us. His philosophic lantern 

 has been turned already upon a multitude of 

 dark subjects. It is now turned upon a very 

 dark locality indeed ! I mean Paternoster Row — 

 or " the grove of poor authors" as it stands re- 

 corded in history. The philosopher, and his lan- 

 tern, have been in " the Row" one whole month, 

 seeking to find " an honest bookseller." " When 

 found," he will no doubt be " made a note of." — 

 Quiz. 



[Diogenes will die, Mr. 'Quiz, — at least we 

 fear as much. He has undertaken too much. 

 Yet do we readily acknowledge that " we live in 

 an Age of Wonders."] 



New mode of Coloring Silk, previous to Spin- 

 ning. — It has long been known to physiologists, 

 that certain coloring matters, if administered to 

 animals along with their food, possess the pro- 

 perty of entering into the system and tinging the 

 bones. In this way, the bones of swine have been 

 tinged purple by madder ; and instances are on 

 record of other animals being similarly affected. 

 No attempt, however, was made to turn this 

 beautiful discovery to account until lately, when 

 Mons. Roulin speculated on what might be the 

 consequence of administering colored articles of 



