COCCID^E — SHIELD-LICE. 261 



with the exception perhaps of indigo, the most important of 

 dyeing materials. It is found on a liind of fig, called in 

 Mexico, where the insect is produced in any quantity, No- 

 pal or Tuna, which generally has been supposed to be the 

 Cactus cochinilifer, but according to Humboldt is unques- 

 tionably a distinct species, which bears fruit internally 

 white. 



Cochineal was discoyered by the Spaniards, on their 

 first arriyal in Mexico, about the year 1518 ; but who first 

 remarked this valuable production, and made it known in 

 Europe, Mr. Beckman says, he has been unable to discover. 

 Some assert that the native Mexicans, before the landing 

 of Cortes, were acquainted with cochineal, which they 

 employed in painting their houses and^yeing their clothes ; 

 but others maintain the contrary. Be that as it may, how- 

 ever, the Spanish ministry, as early as the year 1523, as 

 Herrera informs us, ordered Cortes to take measures for 

 multiplying this valuable commodity; and soon after it 

 must have begun to be quite an object of commerce, for 

 Guicciardini, who died in 1589, mentions it among the 

 articles procured then by the merchants of Antwerp from 

 Spain. 



Professor Beckman, who has given the subject particular 

 attention, thinks that with the first cochineal, a true ac- 

 count of the manner in which it was procured must have 

 reached Europe, and become publicly known. Acosta in 

 1530, and Herrera in 1601, as well as Hernandez and 

 others, gave so true and complete a description of it, that 

 the Europeans could entertain no doubt respecting its 

 origin. The information of these authors, however, con- 

 tinues this gentleman, was either overlooked or considered 

 as false, and disputes arose whether cochineal was insects 

 or worms, or the berries or seeds of certain plants. The 

 Spanish name grana, confounded with granum, may have 

 given rise to this contest. 



Illustrative of this great difference of opinion, Mr. Beck- 

 man narrates the following anecdote: "A Dutchman, 

 named Melchior de Ruusscher, affirmed in a society, from 

 oral information he had received in Spain, that cochineal 

 was small animals. Another person, whose name he has 

 not made known, maintained the contrary with so much 

 heat and violence, that the dispute at length ended in a 

 bet. Ruusscher charged a Spaniard, one of his friends, 



23* 



