THE BEETLE. 16 1 



on the prickly pear-plant in a certain order, and 

 are very industrious in defending them from other 

 insects, for if any other kind come among them, 

 they take care to brush them off with foxes tails. 

 Towards the end of the year, when the rains and 

 cold weather are coming on, which are fatal to 

 these insects, they take off the leaves or branches 

 covered with cochineal, that have not attained 

 their utmost degree of perfection, and keep them 

 in their houses till winter is past. These leaves 

 are very thick and juicy, and supply them with 

 sufficient nourishment while they remain within 

 doors. When the milder weather returns, and 

 these animals are about to exclude their young, 

 the natives make them nests, like those of birds, 

 but less, of tree-moss, or soft hay, or the down of 

 cocoa nuts, placing twelve in every nest. These 

 they fix on the thorns of the prickly pear-plant, 

 and in three or four days' time they bring forth 

 their young, which leave their nests in a few days, 

 and creep upon the branches of the plant, till 

 they find a proper place to rest on, and take in 

 their nourishment, and until the females are 

 fecundated by the males, which, as in the former 

 tribe, differ very widely from the females, being 

 winged insects, whereas the others only creep, 

 and are at most stationary. When they are im- 

 pregnated, they produce a new offspring, so that 

 the propagator has a new harvest thrice a-year. 

 When the native Americans have gathered the 

 cochineal, they put them into holes in the ground, 

 where they kill them with boiling water, and after- 

 wards dry them in the sun, or in an oven, or lay 



VOL. VI. L 



