PINE-LEAF SCALE BARK-LOUSE LADY-BIRd's PUPA. 261 



less pupse, retaining around them the prickly skins of their lar- 

 va state. The appearance which they now present is truly re- 

 markable, the twig thus covered bearing the most perfect resem- 

 blance to a stem covered with burrs or thorny seeds, like the 

 ripened spikes of the hound's tongue (Cynoglossum officinale) or 

 some more prickly plant. No bird will be djsposed to approach 

 anything having such a ?wli-me-tangere aspect. And how curi- 

 ous it is that the scale insect by killing the leaves and making 

 the twigs bare should be adapting them for the abode of its mor- 

 tal foe. With such a discriminating eye has the Author of na- 

 ture planned the economy of these useful little creatures, making 

 It on the one hand their especial work to destroy a pernicious 

 family of insects, and on the other hand shielding them from 

 being destroyed in their turn. They would thus appear to be 

 under the special protection of Providence, and it is remarkable 

 that long ago, in a superstitious age, and when the habits of this 

 tribe of insects could have been but vaguely if at all known, 

 they were regarded in this same light, and in different countries, 

 and are supposed to have thus obtained in France the name of 

 " God's cows " and " The Virgin's cattle "and in England " Our 

 Lady's birds," and children were incited to regard them with 

 kindness and leave them at liberty, by chanting to them to " fly 

 away home, your house is on fire, your children will burn." 



In this family, as stated in my last Report, the pupse remain 

 partly enveloped in the prickly skin of the larvse. In some spe- 

 cies, however^the larva skin is thrown entirely off, as I stated it 

 to be in the fifteen spotted or apple-tree lady-bird, and I observe 

 Mr. Westwood (Introduction, vol. i, p. 396) describes the C. bi- 

 pustulata as throwing off its skin in the same manner. In the 

 species now under consideration, the pupa appears from the 

 empty skins to be almost entirely enveloped in the skin of the 

 larva, with the rows of spines and their prickles protecting it in 

 every direction, and the head and legs of the larva retaining 

 their natural form, the latter being on the side towards the twig 

 from which the pupa is suspended. The empty pupa skin is 

 glassy and of a dull yellow color with blackish clouds. It re- 

 mains partly protruded from the lower or anterior part of the 

 cleft in the back of the larva skin. 



