Page:Scientific Memoirs, Vol. 1 (1837).djvu/214

 or Calandra granarius of our modern naturalists; the Curculio frumentarius of Linnæus, the Apion frumentarius of Schœnherr and Latreille. The former is of a dark fulvous colour; the latter is red and brilliant, and is, I think, that of which Pliny speaks, for it attacks wheat, while the other principally infests oats. These indications leave us in great uncertainty relative to the Cantharides of the Geoponics. But as it was undoubtedly their corrosive or vesicating properties which caused the Cantharis of the ancients to be employed in the liniment which was destined to destroy other insects, it is probable that their Cantharides of the vine were insects of the same nature, or other insects which, from the resemblance of their colour, were confounded with them. Now, as no Coleopterous insect, or Scarabæus, has vesicating properties, as no Mylabns, Lytta, Meloë, or Cantharis lives upon the vine, it is evident that the insect of which we are in search must be found among those which from their colour may be confounded or compared with them, especially with the yellow-banded Mylabris of the endive and the brilliant green Cantharis of apothecaries, for we know that these species were employed by the ancients in medicine and agriculture.

We will now pass in review all the Coleoptera or Scarabæi which injure the vine, and that which corresponds the best to these indications must be the Cantharis of the vine of the Geoponics. The largest of all these Coleoptera or Scarabæi is the Lethus Cephalotes, which gnaws the young shoots of shrubs in general, but particularly those of the vine, and carries them into its hole. But this species appears peculiar to Hungary, where it is named Schneider, cutter; it is also frequently found in the western parts of Russia; but neither our cultivators nor those of Italy make any complaint of it. I do not find anything relative to this insect in the ancient authors, and if they were acquainted with it, it must have been comprehended by them under the general name of Scarabæus.

It is different with the Curculiones (Charansons), of which we have several species which infest the vine. The one which I have found most frequently upon this plant is the Curculio picipes of Fabricius, which is perhaps the same species as the Curculio Corruptor of Host, and the Curculio Vastator of Marsham. The grey Curculiones, with globular bodies, devour the shoots of the vine as soon as they come out of the bud. They prevent its development and the production of grapes;