130 
ST. HELENA. 
witli its variations in climate, its different altitudes, its alternating 
valleys, sheltered glens, and exposed plains, in some parts richly 
clothed with verdure, in others barren sunny wastes, there is an 
immense diversity of habitations for insect life. It is remarkable how 
in many cases insects occupy little colonies of their own, and I have 
often found that a turn in the road, the intervention of a small hill, 
or the addition of a few yards in altitude, would take me completely 
out of the habitat of that particular insect for which I was seeking. 
It has been remarked, and I am to some extent inclined to agree 
therewith, that introduced insects, after a period of existence, dis- 
appear from the Island. This is known to have been the case with 
the Honey Bee and also the Death’s-Head Moth ; and as peach trees 
are again plentiful and no insect now exists answering to the 
following description, it may be presumed that it also has taken its 
departure : — “ The Peach used to be the most abundant fruit in the 
Island, but there are few of these now remaining. This valuable 
fruit tree, which was introduced here many years ago, throve and 
multiplied amazingly.” . . . . “ But about thirty years ago an 
insect, imported either from the Mauritius or from the Cape of Good 
Hope, along with the Constantia Grape, has destroyed almost all the 
Peach trees, and no means have hitherto been found of checking its 
ravages. It settles on the trunk of the tree, which becomes covered 
with a white crust, and shortly after withers and dies. The 
inhabitants have tried all methods of destroying it, but hitherto 
without effect. They have smoked the trees, scraped off the white 
crust, and washed the stem with a decoction of tobacco, &c. But 
none of these methods have answered. This destructive insect is so 
minute that it is not visible to the naked eye. It attacks some other 
trees, particularly the native Gum-wood trees and the Mulberry; 
but the trunk of the Peach seems to be its favourite lodgment. It 
is a curious circumstance that this insect, which, according to the 
testimony and belief of the inhabitants, was imported with the 
Constantia Vine from the Cape of Good Hope, or with some shrubs 
from the Mauritius, should not now settle on any of the plants on 
which it is supposed to have been brought hither. Its ravages are 
almost exclusively confined to the Peach, the Mulberry, and one or 
two of the native island shrubs. An old inhabitant, describing and 
lamenting the ravages it had made, could not forbear crying out, the 
tears almost starting into his eyes — ‘ We would with pleasure have 
