ymouth
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 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 with 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 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 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
manifestly injured by this foul encumbrance. 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 observed, were no other than the female coccus,
from whose side 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, which is eaten by ants as well
as flies. Though the utmost severity of our winter did not destroy these
insects, yet the attention of the gardener in a summer or two has
entirely relieved my vine from this filthy annoyance.

As we have remarked above that insects are often conveyed from one
country to another in a very unaccountable manner, I shall her