328 INSECTS. NEUROPTERA. 



rous, furnished with a rostrum ; antennae of eleven joints, fili- 

 form, or setaceous. 



The insects of this genus are very small and singularly different in the form of 

 the sexes. The males have an elongated body, a rounded head, small eyes, and 

 antennae of eleven joints ; no organs of manducation, and a rounded thorax for the 

 attachment of the wings. The females, on the contrary, have an oval apterous body, 

 with short antennae, a semicircular head, the thorax indistinct, and a mouth con- 

 sisting of a short conical rostrum inserted between the first and second feet* formed 

 of a sheath and a sucker of three setee. It is by means of this rostrum that they 

 suck the juices of the vegetables on which they feed. When the male has ful- 

 filled the purpose of nature by impregnating the female he dies : and the female, fixed 

 to the spot, sucks the nutritive fluids till the body acquires, from the increase of the 

 ova, the form of a gall, including the young, and soon after ceases to exist. After the 

 death of the mother the larva? spread themselves upon the leaves of the plant, but on 

 passing into their last form the females fix themselves immoveably to a spot, and 

 pass the winter in this state. Two species of Cocci are employed in the arts ; the 

 others are only known for the devastations they commit on plantations of oranges, 

 figs, and olives. The beautiful scarlet or purple colour furnished by the cochineal 

 insect has occasioned its being imported into Europe and employed as a dye ; and 

 for a long period the nature of the substance which produced this colour was doubt- 

 ed. Pliny considered it to be the fruit of a tree. It is now chiefly imported from 

 Mexico, where the animal is reared on the Cactus cochcnillifcr by the Indians for 

 this purpose. The insects are gathered from the plants several times a-year. They 

 are dried by fire or in the sun, in which operation they lose much of their weight, 

 and put into boxes, in which they may be kept for any length of time without los- 

 ing their colouring quality. Two kinds are particularly known in America, the 

 tine, which is procured by the rearing of the insect on cultivated plants ; and the 

 common or wild, which is collected from plants which grow without culture. The 

 colour of the most esteemed cochineal is of a slate-gray, mixed with reddish, and 

 covered with a whitish dust. 



C. cacti, Lin. Cochineal Insect. Male very small, with the an- 

 tennae shorter than the body ; body elongated., of a deep red, ter- 

 minated by two long diverging setae ; wings large, white, crossed 

 over the abdomen. The female is nearly twice as large as the 

 male, deep brown, covered with a white farina ; antennae short ; 

 body flattened below, convex; feet short. Inhabits Mexico.* 

 Shaw, vi. pi. 61. 



ORDER VII. NEUROPTERA. 



Four naked, reticulated, transparent wings ; mouth proper for 

 mastication ; jaws and lips straight, extended ; joints of the 

 tarsi various, generally entire. 



The insects of this order have no spine at the anus, and the female is rarely pro- 

 vided with an ovipositor. All the known larvae are hexapodal. Many of these larvae 

 live in the water, and do not leave it till they change to the perfect insect ; others 

 are terrestrial ; some are found under the bark of trees, and others are concealed 

 in the sand. These larva are generally carnivorous. Their metamorphosis is not 

 the same in all the species. The larvaa which are found in the water have organs 

 which at first sight appear analogous to the gills of fishes, but which are in point of 

 fact tracheal appendages. Some of them construct a case of different kinds of ma- 

 terials, which they carry about with them. Many of the Neuroptera in their per- 

 fect state, such as the EpJiemercc, take almost no food, and in that state live for a 

 very short period, while others, as the Libdlulcc, are truly carnivorous, hover over 

 the places where they expect to find their prey, and dart upon it with eagerness. 



