BUGS. 123 



natural channel ! It is more than wonderful, it is 

 sublime, to view atom after atom of the whole creation 

 unceasingly changing place, that man, the lord of 

 creation,, may be abundantly supplied with all his 

 comforts and his luxuries ; to see the lilies of the field, 

 and the insects of the earth and air, living and dying 

 for, man yielding up their lives for man's sustenance 

 and adornment. True, "the lilies of the field take 

 no thought for the morrow," but the unseen finger, 

 that opens their petals to the day, points them out 

 as the appropriate food to some of those animals 

 whose life or death ministers to man ! The blooming 

 Cactus not only charms the eye of man, and makes 

 the arid desert blossom as the rose, but it furnishes 

 food for an Insect that lives upon it, and grows and 

 dies to clothe man with the same resplendent dye. 



This Insect is the Cochineal, a species of Shield- 

 louse, also called Scale Insect, of the genus Coccus, 

 and of the order Hemiptera. 



This little Insect has a curious history. It was 

 used for dyeing the most brilliant and beautiful red 

 and purple colours, and was considered a valuable 

 article of commerce, from which much money was 

 made, long before it was known what the substance 

 was composed of. 



The French Naturalist, Plunder, in 1692 excited 

 the ridicule of his nation, and was considered a fool, 



