86 NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 



Their color very nearly resembles that of the branches upon 

 which they alight, usually a brown or black, but sometimes 

 a reddish or violet, and hence they scarcely ever attract at- 

 tention unless looked for. The branches of peach-trees are 

 their particular resort, and may often be seen covered with 

 them, making the branches look rough and knotty, and the 

 leaves and fruit dirty and black from the rain washing upon 

 them from the bodies of these filthy Shield-lice. 



The Cochineal (Coccus cacti). 



My readers, I presume, will find it an agreeable transi- 

 tion to pass from an insect whose only distinguishing qual- 

 ity seems to be its noxiousness, to one justly celebrated for 

 its utility — to one abounding in interest and curiosity — to 

 one to which they are indebted for the most beautiful of the 

 colors which adorn their persons and " beautify the human 

 form divine." 



It is a wonderful thing to look abroad over the face of 

 Nature, and see how every mineral, vegetable, and animal 

 production is constituted so as to minister in some way to 

 the wants of man — to see the vegetable world silently en- 

 gaged in extracting mineral matters from the soil, and stor- 

 ing them up for man, and man, impelled by instinct, se- 

 lecting these as his own proper food — to behold not only 

 his food and drink flowing constantly to him through the 

 ever-revolving cycle of three kingdoms, but even his most 

 valued ornaments presented through the same natural chan- 

 nel ! It is more than wonderful, it is sublime, to view 

 atom after atom of the whole creation unceasingly changing 

 place, that man, the lord of creation, may be abundantly 

 supplied with all his comforts and his luxuries ; to see the 

 lilies of the field, and the insects of the earth and air, living 

 and dying for man, yielding up their lives for man's suste- 

 nance and adornment. True, " the lilies of the field take 

 no thought for the morrow," but the unseen finger that 



