ENTOMOLOGY. 177 



to appear about the commencement of summer, and is col- 

 lected in the autumn. This wax is used by the nobility, 

 and also by public speakers, to excite them. To the Lac, 

 and also to the Cochineal Coccus, I have referred above. 

 Besides the dying property of the Cochineal Coccus, 

 while many unhesitatingly deny it any medicinal virtues, 

 it is still employed by numerous physicians of experience 

 and eminence, as a stimulant medicine. 



Like the larva? of the preceding order, some of the 

 individuals belonging to this, are used as articles of food. 

 That genus which has often produced such extensive 

 suffering, the locust, has in many countries had its 

 devourers. At Mecca, in times of famine, they have 

 been ground up and mixed with flour for cakes : in 

 Greece, and the Barbary powers, they have been an ar- 

 ticle of merchandize ; and the Hottentots, although their 

 vegetation may be ruined, joyously fatten themselves upon 

 cooked locusts. 



The third order is composed of such insects as have 

 their wings covered with scales. This is called Lepi- 

 doptera, from lepis, a scale. Three genera only are in- 

 cluded in this order. The butterfly, hawkmoth and 

 moth. The individuals of this order are the most beau- 

 tiful of the class, and often claim the admiration of those 

 who would absurdly cherish for others an inexplicable 

 disgust. Few as are the genera belonging to this order, 

 their ravages are far from being slight ; their advantages 

 are far from unimportant although the caterpillars of the 

 1st genus, Papilio, the butterfly, are sometimes slightly 

 pernicious, to the other genera, the moth and hawk- 

 moth, we are to look principally for the causes of our 

 injuries. A species of moth does incredible mischief in 

 some seasons to grass. We are told that about half a 

 century since, the fields of Sweden were rendered quite 

 dry by these, as if a fire had passed over them. A 

 small species of moth destroys our grain ; our vege- 

 tables also suffer from their inroads ; while others 

 destroy the bark, and leaves, and blossoms of our 

 fruit trees. Many forests also, in our country, have thus 

 been seriously injured. The foliage being removed when 

 the heat was very great, the unsheltered trunks have 



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