50 UTILIZATION OP MINUTE LIFE. 



it is, therefore, essential to protect it from the 

 wet. 



The cochineal grower must also scrupulously 

 avoid the mixing of different species of Coccus on the 

 plants ; even the wild variety (sylvestra) must be 

 kept away from the cultivated (fina), or the latter 

 will become thin and maladive, and breed a cross 

 variety, which is inferior in quality. After gather- 

 ing the insects, the plants must be washed with a 

 sponge before being strewn with the mother-insects. 

 In 1853 there were already seventeen French no- 

 paleries in Algiers ; at which epoch M. Boyer col- 

 lected there 2000 francs worth of cochineal from 

 three thousand nopals, which occupied only one- 

 sixteenth of an hectare of ground. 



The Coccus cacti or cochineal from Mexico is 

 imported occasionally from South America to Liver- 

 pool : in 1855 one hundred and seventy-three hun- 

 dred weight arrived. 



Like the " Blue-bottle fly " and the Aphides 

 (or blight), the cochineal insects (Coccus) do not 

 always lay eggs like other insects, but give birth to 

 young larvae, having very close resemblance to 

 their mothers. Thus, with Aphides and Coccus, we 

 observe the following curious phenomena : In the 

 early part of the year the female insects do not lay 

 eggs, but bring forth young insects (without 

 previous fecundation), the whole of which are also 



