CHAPTER III. 



OF TJVSECTS THAT ATTACK THE VINE. 



The smaller that insects are, the more difficult of investigation does 

 their chain of being- V-eccme, the greater is the care of nature for 

 their preservation, and the more numerous and active are their means 

 of reproduction. Insects attack every created thing ; and there is not 

 a plant that does not bear one or several families. Some prefer the 

 roots, others the trunk ; some the leaves, others the flowers and 

 fruit ; indeed there is no part of the plant which is not consumed by 

 insects. 



The Vine, when introduced from its native country, brought with 

 it the peculiar insects it was destined to sapp .rt ; and it has also 

 made acquisitions of others which might as well be spared ; and 

 which too often cut off the hopes of the vine-dresser, and deprive him 

 of the dues of his cares and labours. The vine-eating insects the 

 most troublesome in France are, the tree-beetles, or chaffers ; some 

 kinds of loeevils ; the red chrysjtmela and the lady-bug among the 

 coleopterous kinds ; among the orthoptera, the grass-hopper, the red- 

 winged cricket, and the camel-cricket ; of the hemiptera ; the Cher- 

 mes-vitis or Vine-Fretter, of the hymenoptera, the Wasps; of the 

 lepidoptera, some of the Pyralis; the several Sphinges; the moth 

 that attacks the berry, and the Miner -moth. 



1. The Meloloiithu. 



Of the coleopterous genus under which this family ranks, there are 

 two individuals which are severe on the Vine, the common cock- 

 chaffer and the Vine-chaffer. 



The cock-chaffer, or Melolontha vitis, in the perfect state devours 

 the leaves ; the larva, or white grub is very troublesome about the 

 roots in vineyards newly set out. The species are abundant every- 

 where, but more particularly troublesome in the northerly depart- 

 ments. They also feed on the leaves of the willow, poplar, and fruit 

 trees. The Vine-chaffer, (Scarabeus vitis) has but half the size of the 



