168 NATURAL HISTORY. [CH. IX 



that time ^own strong-, are put into little baskets 

 made of moss or the down that covers the eocoa-nut. 

 These baskets are placed on t-he nopal, and in a few 

 days the cochineal insects spread themselves over 

 the tree, and give birth to an infinite number of 

 young. In the immediate vicinity of Oaxaca, the 

 cultivators of this insect feed it in the plains during 

 the dry season, which extends from October to April. 

 In the month of April the rain sets in, and continues 

 until October. At the beginning of this season they 

 transport their stock of insects, and place them to 

 feed on plantations of nopals in the neighbouring 

 mountains, where the Aveather is more favourable. 

 The dams live but a little time after they have laid 

 their eggs, and are what may be called the first crop.^ 

 The young, forsaking the baskets, disperse them- 

 selves over all the verdure of the nopal, and thrive to 

 that degi-ee, that in the space of three months they 

 become prolific in their turn. The second brood are 

 permitted to live, but all the parents are carried home 

 and killed: the new offspring on the tree have like- 

 wise their young at the end of about three months ; 

 but lest they should all be destroyed by the rainy 

 season, the cultivators carry home the parents as 

 well as their offspring, and this is the third produce. 

 A sufficient number of the young insects are pre- 

 served to continue the species the next year, and all 

 the rest are killed in hot water, or ovens, or upon 

 the flat stones with which the American women 

 bake their bread. The inside of the insects thus 

 destroyed is filled with the beautiful red dust so well 

 known to dyers. Plantations containing fifty or 

 sixty thousand trees, growing in straight lines, may 

 be seen in some districts of America. The quan- 

 tity of insects annually exported from South Ame- 

 rica is valued at £500,000. The Spanish government 

 are jealous of its being naturalized elsewhere, Avhile 

 a reward of £6000 is offered by the East India Com- 

 pany for its introduction into our territories. Tlie 



