118 THE CGCHINEAL IXSKCT. 



The Cochineal Insect. — Coccus Cacti. 





This insect is celebrated for the beauty 

 of the colour which it yields, when properly 

 prepared. It is a native of South America, 

 and is peculiarly cultivated in the country 

 of IVIexico, where it feeds on the plants 

 called cactus cochenillifer, and cactus opuntia. 

 The female Cochineal insect, in its full- 

 grown, pregnant, or torpid state, swells or 

 grows to such a size, in proportion to that 

 of its first, or creeping state, that the legs, 

 antennae, and proboscis are so small, with 



