2S2 
NATURAL HISTORY 
pected manner^ and have a wonderful power of maintaining 
their existence till they fall into a nidus proper for their 
support and increase, I cannot but suspect still that these 
Cocci came to me originally from Andalusia. Yet, all the 
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 Weymouth in Dorsetshire ; which, it is 
here to be observed, is a seaport 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 
Reverend John White, late vicar of Blackburn in Lan- 
cashire, 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 with large lumps of a white fibrous sub- 
stance resembling spiders' webs, or rather raw cotton. It 
was of a very clammy quality, sticking fast to every thing 
that touched it, and capable of being spun into long 
threads. At first I suspected it to , be the product 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 liko 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 manifestly 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 Reaumur, I found this matter perfectly described 
and accounted for. Those husky shells, which I had ob- 
served, 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/' 
