310 INSECTS. 



undergo their final transformation, and become winged 

 about May ; and by the end of June the females, which 

 never obtain wings, but, on the contrary, become less 

 and less perfect and insect-like as they approach 

 maturity, are found in the shapeless state already 

 described. 



The males are comparatively perfect insects. Only 

 one pair of nearly nerveless wings, however, is developed, 

 which they carry overlapping each other, and the mouth, 

 in the young and the females so powerful an instru- 

 ment for mischief, is in them in a rudimentary state. 

 The male has two long bristle-like tails resembling those 

 of the Ephemera. They are necessarily less frequently 

 observed than the larger and stationary females, but at 

 the end of May or beginning of June specimens may 

 easily be found which have not yet taken wing. These 

 are to be found sheltered under a tiny white scale-like 

 cocoon, from which the insect's two slender white tails 

 project, and on raising which the insect is exposed. One 

 of the most common English species is the Coccus of the 

 sycamore, on the branches of which these cocoons are 

 plentiful. 



Many of the Cocci, probably imported with the plants 

 on which they live, infest the foreign trees in our hot- 

 houses and conservatories, as the pine-apples, orange- 

 trees, oleanders, &c. Others, natives of England, are 

 extremely injurious to apple and other trees, upon which 

 they multiply to such a degree as to kill them outright. 

 Hence, in England, the Cocci, whether native or im- 

 ported, are known only by the injuries which they inflict. 



Abroad the ease is .far different, and the Coccus or 

 Cochineal insect is a most valuable article of mer- 

 chandize. So precious is it indeed, in proportion to its 



