72 



COCCOLOBA COCHLEARIA. 



ornamented with spots and marks of various colours, 

 amongst which black, yellow, and red are most con- 

 spicuous. They appear early in the spring, and are 

 amongst the earliest of our youthful recollections ; 

 they creep but slowly, although they fly well, and are 

 found upon various plants, especially those infested 

 with aphides ; hence the injury done by the latter 

 insects has by ignorant persons been attributed to the 

 coccinella, whereas so far is this from being the case, 

 that the last-mentioned insects feed, on the contrary, 

 upon the aphides both in the larva and perfect state, 

 and never (ouch the vegetables infested. The eggs 

 are laid in patches on various kinds of leaves in the 

 midst of the aphides, and are of a bright yellow colour. 

 The larvae when hatched are accordingly in the midst 

 of their food. They are -very active, provided with 

 six legs. The body is depressed and elongated, gra- 

 dually narrowed behind to a point, and furnished at 

 the extremity with a fleshy tubercle which is employed 

 as a seventh leg, and by which on assuming the pupa 

 state they attach themselves, with the aid of a gluti- 

 nous secretion, to the under side of leaves, where 

 their skin by degrees wrinkles up, the body of the 

 pupa being much shorter than that of the larva. The 

 imago is produced in about twelve or fifteen days. 

 There are several broods in the course of a year ; the 

 service which these insects render to the agriculturist 

 must be very great when the vast myriads of coccinellae, 

 which are occasionally noticed, are taken into con- 

 sideration. In the " Introduction to Entomology," we 

 find various statements relative to their appearing, in 

 certain seasons, in immense profusion, especially upon 

 the sea coast, to the no small alarm of the superstitious, 

 by whom they were regarded as forerunners of some 

 direful evil, and who were, of course, ignorant that 

 these little visiters were emigrants from some neigh- 

 bouring hop-ground, where each had slain his thousands 

 and tens of thousands of the aphides, which, under 

 the name of the fly, so often blasts the hopes of the 

 hop-grower. In France they are regarded as sacred 

 to the Virgin, and are accordingly called Betes de la 

 Vicrge ; Vachcs a Dicu, &c. Even the hop-growers 

 are beginning to be sensible of their services, and 

 hire boys to prevent birds from destroying them. It 

 may also be mentioned that it is an easy thing to 

 clear a favourite plant from the destructive aphides 

 by placing upon it several larvae of the lady-cows, or 

 of some of the aphidivorous flies, which may constantly 

 be found in the midst of the plant-lice upon other 

 neighbouring plants. When these insects are touched 

 they immediately fold up their legs, and emit from 

 the joints a yellow mucilaginous fluid of a very 

 disagreeable odour, and which in the common seven- 

 spotted lady-bird, C, septem-punctata, has been con- 

 sidered as a remedy for the toothach. The variations 

 in colour exhibited by some of the individuals of the 

 same species is very striking, and has caused great 

 confusion in the systematic description of these insects, 

 varieties having been regarded as species, and vice 

 versa; moreover, individuals of different colours are 

 found coupled together, but the result of this kind of 

 union has not been observed. 



The genera belonging to this family are Chilocorus, 

 Coccinella, Splusrosoma, Scymnus, Rhyzobius, and Caci- 

 cula, all of which are British. Latreille likewise adds, 

 in the Regne Animal, two other genera, Lithophilus, 

 which is nearly allied to Triplax, and Clypeaster, which 

 is more naturally placed by Mr. Stephens with Pha- 

 lacrus, &c. 



The genus coccinella is distinguished by having 

 the elytra smooth, without rows of punctures, and 

 destitute of pubescence, and the thorax is angulated 

 behind. There are about thirty species of this genus, 

 varying in length from one-third to one-eighth of an 

 inch, nearly all of which are subject to a very great 

 variation in colouring. The type of the genus, and 

 one of the largest and commonest species, is the 

 C. septertt-punctata of Linna3us, mentioned above, and is 

 of a red colour, the elytra having seven circular black 

 spots. 



COCCOLOBA (Linnaeus). A genus of fruit, 

 timber, and ornamental West-India trees, belonging 

 to the eighth class and third order of the sexual sys- 

 tem, and to the natural order Polygoni-ee. Generic 

 character: calyx five-parted, persisting, and at last 

 becoming thick ; corolla none ; filaments awl-shaped - r 

 anthers twined ; style spreading, nut one seeded ; 

 berry included in the persisting calyx. Most of these 

 plants have very large leaves ; one of them, C. sativa, 

 is called the sea-side grape, because it yields eatable 

 fruit. Some of them grow well in our stoves and are 

 increased by cuttings. 



COCCULUS (Boschin). A genus of East-Indian 

 climbers belonging to Hexandria Trigynia, and to the 

 natural order Menispermaceee. Generic character : 

 calyx of from three to six bractea-likc sepals ; corolla 

 of three or six petals ; nectarium of six scales ; sta- 

 mens opposite the petals ; filaments awl-shaped ; 

 anthers two-celled. Fruit drupaceous one-seeded 

 berries. The C. indicus is a well-known drug, and 

 forms a considerable article of commerce, and for one 

 purpose or other is used in great quantities in this 

 country. Its hot acrid quality is useful in medicine ; 

 and it is said that it is also used by the compounders 

 of stimulating liquors. Several of the species are kept 

 in our hothouses, and propagated by cuttings. 



COCHINEAL FIG is the Opuntia cochinillifera 

 of Haworth. It is an icosandrious plant, and belongs 

 to the natural order OpuntiacctB. This opuntia is a 

 native of South America, and the plant on which the 

 coccus insect is found, and when collected and dried, 

 forms the famous cochineal dye. For this purpose it 

 is extensively cultivated in its native country, and 

 has been carried to other parts with a view to the 

 introduction of the insect also, but with only partial 

 success. The plant is easily transported, as we have 

 already had occasion to state. It grows well in our 

 greenhouses, and no plant is easier propagated, as every 

 joint of the stem will strike root if kept in dry earth. 



COCHLEARIA (Tournefort) is the scurvy grass 

 of English herbalists. It belongs to Teiradyiutmia, 

 and to the natural order Cruciferee. The C. armoracia, 

 or horse-radish, is a well-known and extensively culti- 

 vated condiment in cookery, and is perhaps as profit- 

 able a crop as can be grown by the market gardener. 

 A piece of ground judiciously planted with horse- 

 radish yields in the third and fourth year afterwards 

 a vast number of marketable roots. 



As the under-ground stem is the only useful part 

 of the plant, the object of the cultivator is to have 

 this as large and long as possible. The most com- 

 mon and successful method is trench planting, and 

 which is performed in the following manner: the 

 ground to be planted is divided into parallels, marked 

 by the line and spade, two feet wide each. The 

 earth of the first trench is dug out and thrown or 

 harrowed to the opposite side to fill up the last. The 

 sides of the trench should be worked upright, and to 



