42 UTILIZATION OP MINUTE LIFE. 



collected in large quantities for dyeing red in the 

 Ukraine, Lithuana, etc., and though still employed 

 by the Turks and Armenians for dyeing wool, silk, 

 and hair, but more particularly for staining the 

 nails of the Turkish women, it is rarely used in 

 Europe except by the Polish peasantry. 



The same may be said of other species which the 

 cochineal has completely eclipsed, such as the Coccus 

 found upon the roots of Poterium sanguisorba, an 

 insect formerly used by the Moors for dyeing silk 

 and wool a rose colour ; and the Coccus uva-ursi, 

 which, with alum, dyes crimson. All these species 

 owe their colouring properties to a principle called 

 carmine, which I shall refer to presently. 



The discovery of the cochineal has not prevented 

 experiments being daily made with these and other 

 species of Coccus, which we shall mention here- 

 after. 



The cochineal (Coccus cacti, Latr., Fig. 3) was 

 already in use in Mexico when the 

 Spaniards arrived there in 1518; its 

 true nature was not, however, ascertained 

 till upwards of a century later. Although 

 Acosta declared cochineal to be an insect 

 ^acti, Latr! a s early as 1530, it required the labours 

 magnified), of many naturalists from that period till 

 1714, to place its real nature beyond doubt, so 

 generally was it supposed to be the seed of a plant. 



