THE BEETLE. 



32f 



return every feven years. Such numbers of thefe infedts have been fcen 

 together in the air, that they appeared like fwarnns of bees j they have fo 

 dilagreeable a fmell, that it may be perceived a great way off, efpecially 

 about fun-fet, though they are not feen. When caught and dried, they arc 

 fo light, that fifty will hardly weigh a dram. They kill them with vapours of 

 hot vinegar, after which they dry them in the fun, and keep them in boxes j 

 they are penetrating, corrofive, and, applied to the Ikin, raife blifters. 



The Kermes is produced in the excrefcence of an oak, called the 

 berry-bearing ilex ; is at firft wrapt in a membranaceous bladder, the fize 

 of a pen, fmooth, Ihining, browniih red, covered with very fine afh-co- 

 loured powder. This bladder in May or June teems with a number of 

 redd ifh eggs or infecls, which being rubbed emit a crimfon liquor. In 

 April this inied is the fize and fhape of a peaj its eggs foon after burfl: 

 from the womb, and becoming worms, run about the tree : fuch are the 

 females. The males are a fort of flies like gnats, with fix feet, the four 

 forward fhort, the two backward long, divided into four joints, and armed 

 with three crooked nails, two feelers on the head, moveable, ftreaked, 

 and articulated, a quarter of an inch long ; the tail very fhort, forked. 

 The whole body is covered by two tranfparent wings, and they leap about 

 like fleas. The women gather them before fun-rifing, tearing them off 

 with their nails, for fear there fhould be any lofs from their hatching. 

 They fprinkle them with vinegar, and lay them in the fun to dry, where 

 they acquire a red colour. 



The CocHiKEAL Insect is oval, the fize of a fmall pea, with fix- 

 fee:, and a fnout or trunk ; brings forth its young alive ; is noariflied by 

 fucking the juice of a plant. Its body confifts of I'everal rings, and 

 when once fixed on the plant, it continues immoveable, being fubjcfl 

 to no change. There are two forts, the domcflic and the wild ; the 

 wild feeds on uncultivated trees, but the domeftic is carefully attended and 

 removed to cultivated trees of the prickly pear-plant, and defended from 

 other infects. When the rains and cold weather arc coming on, they 

 take off the leaves or branches covered with cochineal, not ye: at per- 

 fection, and keep them in their houfes. Thefe leaves are very thick and 

 juicy, and fuppiy them nourifhment. When milder weather returns, and 

 they are about to exclude their young, the natives make them nefts of 

 tree-mofs, pr fofc hay, or the down of cocoa-nurs, placing twelve in 

 every 'ntft. Thtfc they fix on the thorns of ihc prickly pear-phnt; in 



thre^ 



