100 NATURAL HISTORY 



*' perusing the works afterwards of M. de 

 " Reaumur, I found this matter perfectl y 

 " described and accounted for. Those 

 " husky shells, which I had observed, were 



no other than the female coccus, from 

 " whose sides this cotton-like substance 



exudes, and serves as a covering and 



security for their eggs." 



To this account I think proper to add, 

 that, though the female cocci are stationary, 

 and seldom remove from the place to which 

 they stick, yet the male is a winged insect ; 

 and that the black dust which I saw was 

 undoubtedly the excrement of the females, 

 which is eaten by ants as well as flies. 

 Though the utmost severity of our Winter 

 did not destroy these insects, yet the atten- 

 tion of the gardener in a Summer or two, 

 has entirely relieved my vine from this 

 filthy annoyance. 



As we have remarked above that insects 

 are often conveyed from one country to 

 another in a very unaccountable manner, I 

 shall here mention an emigration of small 

 aphides, which was observed in the village 



