41 



Ladybirds were formerly in repute as a remedy for colic and 

 measles ; and a squashed ladybird inserted in the cavit}' of a decayed 

 and aching tooth is stated by old authorities to give instant relief, 

 Pliny recommends a decoction of skipjack beetles for ulcers and 

 malignant growths ; and Lawiii/ris nnctiliica is said to be an efficient 

 remedy for stone. The medicinal virtues attributed to the dung- 

 beetles are many and varied ; and, according to Schroeder, a prepara- 

 tion of B;/rr/nts pilula is an efficient remedy for haemorrhoids and 

 certain diseases of the eye. Crickets, in ancient days were ad- 

 ministered in disorders of the ears and throat, and in more recent 

 times the ashes of (rnjllKs ilo)iiesticiis have been used in the cure of 

 weak sight and enlarged tonsils. In Sweden, Tettii/onia rernicinyra 

 is much prized by peasants who suffer from warts, the insects being 

 encouraged to bite the excrescence, a black fluid from the insect's 

 mouth during the operation being considered to burn away the wart. 

 The exuvife of a grasshopper are used in medicine in China and 

 Japan. 



Both Dioscorides H.nd Galen recommended roasted cicadas for 

 bladder troubles, whilst for colic the latter writer advised from five 

 to seven cicadas to be eaten with pepper. The Apldthc are used by 

 homceopathists, a tincture being prepared from Aphis chennpodii and 

 A. (ilaiici, both found on goosefoot. 



Females of the Scale-insects {(Joccidcti) have been used from the 

 earliest times, in medicine and art. Kerines ilicis, from the ever- 

 green oak, when acted upon by mordants of tin and other salts, 

 furnishes a blood-red dye. The Arabs received it from Armenia and 

 Persia as Kernies or Alkermes, and the Greeks knew it as Coccus. 

 At a later date this dye was supplanted by another, prepared from 

 Dactylopius coccuii, found on the prickly pear. Cochineal, as this 

 dye is called, once formed a staple article of commerce. Pliny says 

 the bed-bug is a neutraliser of the venom of serpents, and that the 

 heads of flies applied fresh to bare places is a remedy for baldness. 

 Another authority says the same end is reached by rubbing the 

 naked head with gnats. 



Scale-insects as a family are regarded with great disfavour by 

 economic entomologists ; but one species at least, by its general 

 utility does much to retrieve the reputation of its relations. This is 

 the Lac-insect {Tachardia larca), which in a single year has been 

 exported from India to the value of 33,000,000 rupees. Commercial 

 lac is the resinous secretion of the insect. Pelavvax is an important 

 commodity produced by another Scale-insect, Ericentf: pela. Accord- 



