3166 



THE JOINTED ANIMALS 



had spread with great rapidity. Experts were sent to Australia to try and 

 discover the natural enemies of the insect in its native country; it was found that 

 the scale insect was there kept in check by dipterous and hymenopterous parasites, 

 but chiefly by the larvae of a ladybird beetle. A number of these beetles and para- 

 sitic insects were brought to America, and set to prey upon the Coccidce. When 

 they had multiplied sufficiently, they were distributed among several orange plan- 

 tations, with the result that many were soon almost entirely cleared of the scaly 

 bug. Though many species of Coccidce have to be combated because of their 

 injuries, there are a few which are cultivated on account of the useful products 

 they yield. Among these, the cochineal insect {Coccus cacti) is a native of Mexico 

 and other parts of Central America, where it feeds on a species of cactus; but it has 

 been introduced into Spain, Algeria, and a few other countries. The male is of a 

 dark red color, with pale wings; the female has a reddish-brown color, but her 

 body, which shows a distinct segmentation until the time of laying, is covered with 



COCHINEAL INSECT ( Coccus cacti), with enlarged figures to the left of (i) the male and (2) female. 



a white powder. About seventy thousand dried bodies of these insects, chiefly 

 females, are said to be contained in a single pound of cochineal. Long before the 

 introduction of cochineal into Europe, two native species of Coccidce had been used 

 for similar purposes. The dye with which the ancients produced their deep red or 

 crimson colors was obtained from Cermes vermilio, known to the Greeks as kokkos 

 and to the Arabians and Persians as kermes or alkermes. Another species (Por- 

 phyrophora polonica] , formerly known as the scarlet grain or Poland, is found in 

 many parts of Central Europe, and was at one time extensively collected for the 

 sake of the red dye it afforded. The lac insect (Carteria lacca) of the Oriental 

 countries, not only furnishes the coloring matter called lac dye, but causes also an 

 exudation of a resinous substance, gum-lac, from the bark of the trees on which it 

 lives. Stick-lac is the name given to this substance in its native state while still 

 adhering to the twigs of the tree; when separated, pounded and freed by washing 

 from its coloring matter, it is known as seed-lac, which after further preparation 

 becomes lump-lac or shellac. 



