NEW VINE SCOURGE. 311 
more particularly of the sub-order Homoptera, the 
most commonly known of which are the grasshoppers, 
the lice, and the cochineal. It forms of itself a small 
family, which is a sort of connecting link between the 
lice or aphides, and the cochineal or ooccidese. 
According to the recently made investigations, the 
Phylloxera exists under two different forms — the 
wingless and the winged ; it is not viviparous, but 
during the whole season and under both forms it only 
lays eggs. We must add that the individuals hitherto 
observed, and they have not been few, have always 
been females. The male Phylloxera had not been 
found either in the winged or apteral state, although 
long diligently sought after. 
• The principal changes which these insects undergo 
are as follow :— They pass the winter on the roots of 
the vine in the wingless state, and never in the egg 
condition. So long as the weather is severe they 
remain in a state of perfect torpor ; but as soon as the 
warmth begins to make itself felt, all those individuals 
which have survived the cold and the damp of the 
winter begin to waken to renewed life. They feed 
with great avidity, and immediately begin to lay eggs. 
The increase of them soon becomes terrific, and stops 
only in October. It is during this time, which extends 
over seven or eight months in the south of France, 
that the Phylloxera works the greatest havoc. 
The Phylloxera is essentially subterranean in its 
wingless state, and in all probability makes its way 
along the roots of the vine, following the numerous 
fissures which it finds upon their surface. But it does 
not always remain in this state. 
During the warm season a few individual insects can 
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