THE NATURAL HISTORY 
[LETT. 
and increase, I cannot but suspect still tliat these cocci came to 
me originally from Andalusia. Yet, all tlie while, candour 
obliges me to confess that Mr. Lightfoot has written me word 
that he once, and but once, saw these insects on a vine at Wey- 
mouth in Dorsetshire; which, it is here to be observed, is a sea- 
port town, to which the coccus might be conveyed by shipping. 
As many of my readers may possibly never have heard of this 
strange and unusual insect, I shall here transcribe a passage 
from a natural history of Gibraltar, written by the Eeverend 
John White, late vicar of Blackburn in Lancashire, but not yet 
published : — 
" In the year 1770 a vine which grew on the east side of my 
house, and which had produced the finest crops of grapes for 
years past, was suddenly overspread on all the woody branches 
witli large lumps of a white fibrous substance resembling spiders' 
webs, or rather raw cotton. It was of a very clammy quality, 
sticking fast to everything that touched it, and capable of being 
spun into long threads. At first I suspected it to be the pro- 
duct of spiders, but could find none. Nothing was to be seen 
connected with it but many brown oval husky shells, which by 
no means looked like insects, but rather resembled bits of the 
dry bark of the vine. The tree had a plentiful crop of grapes 
set, when this pest appeared upon it ; but the fruit was mani- 
festly injured by this foul incumbrance. It remained all the 
summer, still increasing, and loaded the woody and bearing 
branches to a vast degree. I often pulled off great quantities 
by handfuls : but it was so slimy and tenacious that it could by 
no means be cleared. The grapes never filled to their natural 
perfection, but turned watery and vapid. Upon perusing the 
works afterwards of M. de Eeaumnr, I found this matter per- 
fectly described and accounted for. Those husky shells, which 
I had observed, were no other than the female cocc2is, 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. 
