Page:Scientific Memoirs, Vol. 1 (1837).djvu/220

. The description of the industry attributed by Plautus to the Involvulis, to the little beast, "bestiola quæ in pampini folio intorta implicat se," can be applied only to caterpillars or the larvæ of the Lepidoptera. The caterpillar not only coils up the leaf of the plant in which it envelops itself, like the larva of the Eumolpus or Coupe-bourgeon, but it attaches itself to it, and by means of silken filaments which it draws from its own body, constructs for its metamorphosis a web of silk, in which it envelops itself, "implicat se." The caterpillars of a whole family of Lepidoptera envelop themselves in this manner in the leaves of plants. To discover the Involvulus or Convolvulus of the ancients it is therefore only necessary to examine those insects of the numerous family of the Phalænæ Tortrices of which the caterpillar attacks the vine. According to the observations of Bosc, the cultivators of the South of France give the name of Vine-moth to one of the Lepidoptera which is seldom found in the environs of Paris. The caterpillar or larva of this moth attacks the grapes when they have attained half of their full growth, and it proceeds from one grape to another by means of a gallery which it constructs. There is another species named Grape-moth, which also devours this fruit, and commences its ravages at the same period as the former, but it seldom attacks more than one grape at a time; this species committed great depredations in the vineyards in the vicinity of Constance a few years ago. A species similar to this, or to the preceding one, and of which one or two insects are sufficient to destroy a whole vine, was observed in the Crimea by Pallas. This species appears to be the caterpillar of a Procris or Zigæna (a genus separated from the genus Sphinx), and is said to be nearly allied to the Zigæna Statices; it is found upon the sorrel and dock in the environs of Paris. The Pyralis fasciana, which has anterior wings of a dark cinder colour, with a brown line and points of the same colour, has also been mentioned as infesting the vine, or as corresponding to one of the species just alluded to. There is also another species which may be ranked among the insects to which our cultivators have given the names of Vine-moth and Grape-moth, we mean Hübner's Tinea ambiguell. But