THE PEACH-INSECT. 



173 



CH. IX.] 



transpires or exudes from the abdominal surface of 

 the insect." 



If the coccus of the peach be examined about the 

 end of May, it will be difficult to persuade ourselves 

 that the little skinny globe which presents itself to 

 the eye is an insect : there is no fleshy texture ; it has 

 the appearance of a little tortoise-shell, under which 

 is concealed an infinite number of very diminutive 

 grains ; these are the eggs of the insect, which, 

 when expelled, are hatched under the carcass of their 

 dead parent. If these protuberances be removed, 

 beginning at the top and proceeding downwards, so 



as not to let their eggs fall, they may readily be col- 

 lected. In these figures the little dots represent 

 the eggs ; if, however, the gall-like protuberance be 

 transversely divided with a penknife, both the con- 

 tents and the arrangement of the eggs will be ob- 

 served more readily. Hence it would seem, that at 

 first these creatures have a form like many other in- 

 sects, that after a time they fix themselves to the 

 tree, and suck its juice, and that their extraordinary 

 distention is owing to an innumerable quantity of 

 eggs contained at first within the abdomen, and ulti- 

 mately protruded. Nature has taught most other 

 insects to protect their young by furnishing them in 

 their period of helplessness with a habitation com- 

 posed of silk or some other substance. The coccus, 

 however, from the moment the eggs are laid, de- 



P2 



