49 



hatch, they stray off through the partly open 

 mouth of the gall on the upper surface of the 

 leaf, and found new galls either on the same 

 or on a younger leaf. After a time, and when 

 their stock of eggs is exhausted, the mother lice 

 die, and the galls inhabited by them gape widely 

 open at their mouths, and become gradually 

 flattened and obliterated. Thus upon a grape 

 cane the galls upon the oldest leaves will be 

 empty, while those on the young thrifty ones 

 will be swarming with inhabitants, and as fresh 

 leaves put out these are successively ' occupied 

 and possessed' by the enemy. The gall is 

 formed, as with all those constructed by plant 

 lice, by bark lice, or by mites, by one or more 

 young larva? stationing themselves on the up- 

 per surface of the leaf, and irritating it with 

 their pointed beaks until it bulges out in an tfic 51.— Color— Green, 



unnatural hollow, inside which the larvae 



remain. Finally, as the larvae grow to maturity the hollow becomes a fleshy green sack, 

 the mouth of which is almost closed up. The mother lice then lay eggs, and the same 

 old cycle of phenomena is repeated again and again till winter sets in. 



We do not apprehend that this is likely to become here a very formidable foe to vine- 

 culture, but its aspect is unsightly, and it may easily be checked on its first appearance by 

 picking off the infected leaves and burning them. Sir. D. W. Beadle, of St. Catharines, 

 informs us that he has seen it occasionally on his vines, but found no difficulty in staying 

 its progress by the method above referred to. It has also been seen occasionally in the 

 vineyards at Cooksville, but it has never spread much ; possibly this may be due in part 

 to the fact that it is preyed upon by a number of rapacious insects, such as the larvae of 

 Scymnus, a small dull colored lady-bird ; larva? of lace-wing fly, and those also of several 

 species of two winged flies. 



Since the above was in type a valuable paper on this insect has appeared in the 

 "American Entomologist," vol. 2, No. 12, written by the editor, C. V. Riley, Esq., con- 

 taining many new and interesting facts, some of which are so very important that we feel 

 it a duty we owe to vine-growers to give them as much publicity as possible. The follow- 

 ing we have condensed from Mr. Riley's paper : — 



Tor many years past a very serious disease has affected the roots of the vines grown 

 in many parts of France, and which was known under the name of pourridie or rotting. 

 So grievous and alarming had this disease finally become that the French Minister of Agri- 

 culture and Commerce offered a reward of 20,000 francs to any one who should discover 

 an efficacious and practical remedy, and appointed a special commission, including some of 

 the most eminent men in natural science, to test the proposed remedies and make the award. 



The disease appears in the form of little cankerous spots which cut off the supply of 

 nourishment and cause the roots to rot. These were ascertained by M. M. Planchon, one 

 of the members of the commission, and M. J. Lichtenstein, of Montpellier, to be caused 

 by a small louse called by M. Planchon, Phylloxera vastatrix, which bears a close resem- 

 blance to the insect which forms our leaf gall. Besides this, a leaf gall occurs there identi- 

 cal in appearance with ours, and after much observation it was discovered that the root- 

 inhabiting and gall-inhabiting insects were identical, and finally it was concluded by M. 

 J. Lichtenstein that their European species was in all respects the same as our American 

 one, and had been imported from this country. 



The expression of this view by so eminent a savant added much interest to the study 

 of the American Gall Louse, and induced Mr. Riley to devote much time to working out 

 the facts connected with its history, so as to definitely decide this question of identity. He 

 opened a correspondence with M. Lichtenstein and M, Signoret, of Paris, on this subject 

 and forwarded specimens of the American insect in its various stages to be compared with 

 theirs. The war has interfered sadly with the progress of all departments of science in 

 4 N.I. 



