The flowers, from which some of the dissections here given 
were drawn, were produced in the stove of the Glasgow 
Botanic Garden, in September, 1826. 
The Cochineal Insect, which feeds upon the kinds of 
Cactus just mentioned, is too well known to need a parti- 
cular description here; as are also its valuable properties in 
producing the dye, which bears its name, and carmine. It 
is the Coccus Cacti of Linnzvus, a small Insect of the order 
tera, having a general appearance not very dissi- 
milar to that of the Mealbug of our gardens, and equally 
covered, with a white powdery substance. The male is 
winged. It is originally a native of Mexico, and was culti- 
vated for its precious dye, long before the conquest of that 
country; and these plantations, called Nopaleros, are most 
extensive in the Misteca and Oaxaca: the latter district 
alone has exported, according to Humsoxpr, upon the 
average, 32,000 arobas annually, estimated at 2,400,000 
piastres, above £500,000 sterling. 
A representation of a Mexican Nopalery, is given in 
Stoane’s Jamaica, vol. 1, t.9, from a drawing, made at 
Guaxaca, by an Indian : that author, however, particularly 
states, that though the plant be a kind of prickly pear, 
it has no thorns. In these small plantations or enclosures, 
they cultivate, either the fine sort (Grana fina of the 
Spaniards) or the common kind ( Grana sylvestre), which 
differ, by the first having a finer quality, and more powdery 
covering, ‘whilst the latter, less valuable in its produce, 
has a cottony covering,: but whether or not these two 
insects be specifically distinct, has not heen determined. 
The placmg of the females, when big with young, upon 
the Cacrus, is called the sowing. The proprietor of a 
Nopalery buys in April or May, the branches or joints 
of the Tunas de Castilla (Cactus Tuna ?); which are sold 
im the markets of Oaxaca, at about three francs a hundred, 
loaded with young Cochineals. ( Semilla). These are kept in 
cellars for twenty days, when they are exposed to the air, 
suspended under a shed. So rapid then is the growth of the 
insect, that by August or September, the females are big with 
young, and ready for the sowing, which is done m small 
nests, made of the fibrous parts of the foliage ofa Tillandsia, 
called Paxtle. In four months from the time of ‘sowing, 
the harvest commetices. The insects are brushed off, with 
a squirrel’s or deer’s tail, by women, who sit during this 
operation, for whole hours, at one Nopal plant ; so that, 
were it not for the extreme cheapness of labour in that 
country, 
andthe Getiiaeammentiillien” ded 
