coc 



to M, as it had from E to i, and in this manner pro- 

 ceeds until it has nearly formed half its case, when 

 turning round, it begins at the other end, and at 

 length unites the two halves together, " thus inclosing 

 itself," as Lyonnet says, "en une jolie cage" of net- 

 work, which occupies only half an hour in the con- 

 struction, but which is subsequently rendered much 

 more firm by a strong layer of silk within. 



The other instance which we propose to notice, is 

 that of another small moth (Microsetia ruficapitelln), 

 the larva of which forms the curious lines of a brown 

 colour, often to be noticed upon rose leaves, by eating 

 away the internal fleshy part of the leaf, leaving the two 

 surfaces entire. When full grown it eats its way out 

 of the leaf, and crawls down the branches and stem, 

 until it has found a convenient place to fix its cocoon, 

 which is formed by stretching out its body, and 

 attaching a thread to the branch ; it then crosses its 

 body to the other side, and there fastens it. By 

 proceeding thus on all sides, keeping the hinder part 

 of the body fixed, it forms the upper part of the 

 cocoon, or that exposed to the weather, which is 

 convex, and generally circular; the under part is 

 oblong-shaped to hold the pupa, and much smaller 

 than the upper, which projects considerably beyond 

 it on all sides, so as to form a defence against the 

 rain, somewhat after the fashion of a parasol. At 

 one end the threads are not interwoven, and leave a 

 space through which the pupa can force a passage. 

 This remarkable cocoon is very flat, and at first of a 

 pure white, but soon assumes a dark colour. It is 

 formed towards the end of October, and the moth 

 appears in the middle of the following May. It is 

 an elegant little creature, the upper wings being gold 

 coloured, with the extremity purple, and the head 

 red. The expansion of the wings is nearly a quarter 

 of an inch. E. W. Lewis in Entom. Mag., vol. i. 



COC OS (Linnaeus). A genus of palms, and cer- 

 tainly the most useful of all of them to the inhabitants 

 of the countries where the trees naturally grow. 

 Linnaean class and order Monaecia Hexandria, and 

 natural order Palmcc. Generic character : flowers 

 androgynous, that is, male and female are on the same 

 plant ; calyx of three sepals ; corolla of three petals ; 

 stigmas sitting ; drupe fibrous, shell with three pores 

 at the base ; kernel equal in thickness, and hollow ; 

 embryo within the pores at the base. 



This magnificent tree gives a peculiar character to 

 the scenery of the country to which it is indigenous. 

 The vast number of the trefcs crowded together, the 

 height and equal diameter of their branchless stems, 

 the spreading tuft of fronds which crown the head 

 like an immense umbrella, together with the bunches 

 of fruit suspended from among the footstalks of the 

 fronds, forms altogether a spectacle the most imposing. 

 The coast of the beautiful island of Ceylon, and that 

 of Coromandel from Cape Comorin to Balasore at 

 the mouth of the Ganges, is embellished with groves 

 of cocoa-nut trees at shorter or longer distances from 

 each other. To the voyager along these shores, the 

 tree under notice is certainly the most prominent 

 feature, and when he lands and enters a grove of 

 them he feels astonished at their numbers and height. 



The tree serves many purposes of the inhabitants. 

 The regular form of the stem makes it easily convert- 

 ible to the purposes of building, fencing, or the like ; 

 and though the grain is exceedingly porous and 

 coarse, the wood is notwithstanding very durable. 

 The leaves or fronds make excellent thatch for their 



OS. 75 



huts ; the outer covering- of the nnt, after being 

 macerated or soaked in water long enough to dissolve 

 the pulpy cellular matter, leaves the mass of fibres, 

 after some further preparation, fit for spinning into 

 cordage, coarse wrappers for packing, and many other 

 purposes. The shells are easily manufactured into 

 various sorts of cups, &c., and converted into button- 

 moulds, for which last purpose the substance is suit- 

 able, except that it discharges a brown colour when 

 used on white or light coloured garments. When 

 the nut is quite ripe, by opening one or two of the 

 bottom pores, a fine pleasant flavoured fluid issues 

 which is called " milk," and when the nut is split, a 

 part not so fluid as the milk, nor so solid as the 

 kernel, and easily scraped off with a spoon, is called 

 the "cream," accounted a delicacy. Next follows 

 the kernel, serving for more substantial food, and 

 which many partake of as diet. 



But the principal use of the tree to the inhabitants 

 of India is the refreshing beverage drawn from it. and 

 after fermentation drank under the name of " toddy. 1 ' 

 To obtain this, a part or the whole of the raceme of 

 fruit is sacrificed. Soon after the fructification appears 

 and begins to bend downwards below the fronds, the 

 point is cut off, and to the stump is slung a pitcher- 

 like vessel to receive the flow of sap from the wound. 

 When one vessel is full it is replaced by an empty 

 one, and this is continued so long as the sap flows 

 freely. The place where this drink is manufactured 

 is called by the English " a Toddy Tap," and where 

 any one may be supplied with a draught on very low 

 terms. The labourers who attend the bleeding of the 

 trees have perhaps a score or two under the operation 

 at the same time, so that considerable quantities are 

 got together in a large vessel to be fermented at 

 once. 



This drink is most suitable for labourers and tra- 

 vellers in such a warm climate, for while it allays 

 thirst it does not inebriate, a circumstance of no small 

 advantage to the tippler, as almost all are inclined to 

 be in that thirsty land. But here the art of the dis- 

 tiller is brought into action : an ardent spirit may be 

 drawn from the toddy, which serves for other and far 

 less sanatory purposes than merely quenching thirst. 



Another valuable extract is procured from the 

 cocoa-nut, namely, an useful oil, which is manufactured 

 and sold at a reasonable price. The Cingalese, it is 

 said, have a mode of extracting some nutritious mat- 

 ter resembling sago from the heart of the stems, but 

 the process has not as yet been clearly detailed. 



The cocoa-nut has the property of keeping sound 

 for a long period ; it has consequently been readily 

 transmitted to every clime where it has a chance of 

 succeeding. Already the West Indies and other 

 warm parts of America possess the cocoa-nut in 

 abundance, and from thence and other places Europe 

 is supplied with the nuts in great plenty. It may 

 here be asked, how do the almost naked natives 

 manage to climb those lofty and branchless trees so 

 readily? This is a very simple though expert ma- 

 noeuvre. The climber first binds his ankles together 

 with a soft bandage, the toes turned outwards, so that 

 the hollow of each foot may cling to the circular sur- 

 face of the tree. His head and upper part of his 

 body is raised through a strong collar of rope which 

 surrounds both the body of the tree and that of the 

 man. This collar is rather slack and held on each 

 side by the hands, the body being sustained by that 

 part of the rope which passes round the climbers 



