130 THE INSECT WORLD. 



hairs, longer than its body. The wings, perfectly transparent, reach 

 beyond the extremity of its abdomen, and cross each other horizontally 

 over its back. It is lively and active. The female presents quite a 

 different appearance. It is in the first place twice as large as the 

 Xnale (Fig. 92), convex above, flat below. It resembles a larva, and 

 has no wings. Its body is formed of a dozen 

 segments, covered with a glaucous dust. The 

 beak is very fully developed, and the two hairs 

 or bristles on the abdomen are much shorter than 

 in the male. 



The weight of the body, combined with the 

 shortness of the legs, prevents these creatures 

 from being active. The lego only serve, in fact, 

 for clinging to the vegetable from which they draw 

 their nourishment. The circumstances attending 

 the birth of the cochineal insect are very curious. 

 Fig. 92. The larv?e are born in the dried-up body of their 



^°S"/»i^Sr' ^^^^ mother, the skeleton of their mother serving 

 male and female. them as a cradlc. This happens thus : — The eggs 

 are attached to the lower part of the mother's 

 body. When the abdomen of the mother is empty, its lower side 

 draws up towards the upper side, and the two together form a pretty 

 large cavity. When the mother dies, which is not long in happening, 

 her abdomen dries up, her skin becomes horny, and forms a sort 

 of shell. It is in this membranous cradle that the larvae of the 

 cochineal insect are born. The cochineal insect in its wild state 

 lives in the woods. But it can without difliculty be reared artificially. 

 Every one knows that the little insect called the cochineal, 

 furnishes, when its body has been dried and reduced to powder, a 

 colouring matter of a beautiful red, peculiar to itself. This circum- 

 stance has saved the cochineal from the persecution to which so 

 many other kinds of insects have been devoted by the hand of man. 

 In hot climates, in which the cochineal insect delights, it has been 

 preserved,* and is cultivated as an article of commerce. This is 

 how the cochineal is reared in Mexico : — An open piece of land is 

 chosen, protected against the west wind, and of about one or two 

 acres in extent. This is surrounded with a hedge of reeds, planted 

 in lines, distant from each other about a yard, with cuttings of cactus 

 at most about two feet apart. The cactus garden made, the next 

 thing is to establish in it cochineals. With this object in view they | 

 are sought in the woods, or else the females of the cochineal insect 

 which are pregnant are taken off plants which have been sheltered 



