ABSTRACT
An early twentieth century classification of food plant selection among phytophagous insects Since the earlier classification of Hering (1950) of food habits among the phytophagous insects, quantities of papers have been published in the U.S. and England and by the Wageningen school in Holland. These have modi fied the original concepts. The classification was re-interpreted by myself (Jolivet, 1959,1992) and, even if theoretical, the new interpretation provides a better understanding of those types of selection than do the classical divisions of monophagous, oligophagous, and polyphagous. Let's examine first the botanical instinct that was so dear to Jean Henri Fabre, the French entomologist (1825-1889). Schoonhoven (1990, 1991) completely reviewed the subject using his wide experience with host plant-insect relationships during his stay at Wageningen Agricultural University.
