448 MODERN CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS. 
of which, as well as other species of this family, I am indebted to 
M. Boyer de Fonscolombe of Aix) are of the size of peas, nearly 
globular, black, shining, and quite smooth, without the slightest traces 
of articulation.* Its history was first traced by Vallisnieri, Garidel 
(Ene. Aix, p. 250. t. 53.), and Réaumur (Mém. tom. iv. mém. 1. 
pl. 5.). See also Loudon’s Arboretum Britannicum, p. 1910., where 
I have given an account of the mode of its culture and collection, 
and Kirby and Spence, vol. i. p. 320. 
Another species, the Coccus Polonicus Linn. (G. Porphyrophora 
Br.), was likewise greatly employed in Poland as a dye, whence its 
name of the scarlet grain of Poland. This species, which is found 
on the roots of Scleranthus perennis, differs generically from the former 
in the fleshy texture of the unwieldy female, furnished with short an- 
tenne, and six very short feet, whilst the male has a thick bushy tail 
and a very broad costa to the fore wings. My friend Burmeister has 
given me specimens of this and other interesting spectes in the 
present family. 
A large species, allied to this, found in Armenia, upon the roots of 
Poa pungens, has been described by Brandt under the name of P. 
Hamelii (P. Armeniaca Burm.). Other European species have been 
employed in dyeing, as mentioned by Kirby and Spence, vol. i. p. 322. 
But the discovery of the cochineal insect of Mexico, Coccus 
Cacti Linn., has almost superseded the employment of these dyes, 
and has proved one of the most productive sources of the riches of 
that country. It is found upon the Cactus cochinellifer, and is col- 
lected in such quantities that, according to Humboldt, 800,000 lbs. of 
cochineal are annually brought to Europe, each pound containing 
about 70,000 insects; and Dr. Bancroft estimated the annual con- 
sumption in England at 150,000 lbs., worth 375,000/. This insect, 
which has been imported by the French into Algiers, and by the 
Spaniards into Spain +, with apparent success, and which is to be 
found in many of our hot-houses on the Cacti, belongs to a genus dis- 
tinct from the preceding species, and which I propose to name Pseudo- 
Coccus, the male (fig. 118. 7.) more nearly resembling that of the true 
Cocci, whilst the female (fig. 118. 9.) is more like that of Porphyro- 
phora, being slightly active, with short antennz and feet, and enveloped 
* Réaumur states that it is covered with a white powder. 
+ Vincent in Annal. Sci. Nat. vol. viii. Ist series; and Theis in Annal. Soc. 
Ent. France, tom. v. p. 1. 
