174 NATURAL HISTORY. [CH. IX. 



fends them from the elements and their natural 

 enemies by its own body, and after death still shel- 

 ters them with its carcass. It may at first sight ap- 

 pear extraordinary that a fleshy body, when dead, 

 should not putrefy ; this, however, will be intelligi- 

 ble, if the following figures be attended to. The 

 first (fig. 1) represents the under surface of the in- 



sect; this is nearly plane, and is exactly fitted to the 

 tree. As the eggs are protruded, they are placed, 

 by a sort of peristaltic motion, between the skin of 

 the belly and the layer of cotton which covers the 

 spot of the tree to which the insect is attached. As 

 more eggs are laid, the skin of the belly is pushed 

 nearer that of the back, till at length the two skins 

 are thrust close together by means of the eggs, and 

 the under part of the insect assumes a concave shape 

 {fig. 2). Under the influence of this pressure, an 

 absorbing process goes on, which leaves no putres- 

 cible matter behind. Hence it arises that, when our 

 little insect yields to the general law, and dies almost 

 immediately after perpetuating the species, its car- 

 cass is as sure a protection to its young, when dead, 

 as its body was when alive. 



The time during which the young cocci remain 

 in the egg is not determined by Reaumur ; he conjec- 

 tures, however, that they take twelve days, and af- 

 terward remain several days under the skin of their 

 mother, before they emancipate themselves, and go 

 out into their little world of leaf or stem. At this 

 period of their existence, they exhibit, in their acti- 

 vity, nothing of the peculiarities just detailed ; they 

 soon, however, select and fix upon a suitable part 



