390 



HISTORY OF 



only met with in warm countiies in the months of May and 

 June. In the month of April this insect becomes of the size 

 and shape of a pea, and its egg:s some time after burst from the 

 womb, and soon turning worms, run about the branches and 

 leaves of the tree. They are of two sexes, and the females 

 have been hitherto described ; but the males are very distinct 

 from the former, and are a sort of small flies like gnats, with 

 six feet, of which the four forward are short, and the two back- 

 ward long, divided into four joints, and armed with three crooked 

 nails. There are two feelers on the head, a line and a half long, 

 which are moveable, streaked, and articulated. The tail, at 

 the back part of the body, is half a line long, and forked. The 

 whole body is covered with two transparent wings, and they 

 leap about in the manner of fleas. The harvest of the kermes 

 is greater or less in proportion to the severity of the winter, and 

 the women gather them before sun-rising, tearing them off with 

 their nails, for fear there should be any loss from the hatching 

 of the insects. They sprinkle them with vinegar, and lay them 

 in the sun to dry, where they acquire a red colour. 



An insect, perhaps, still more useful than either of the for- 

 mer, is the Cochineal, which has been very variously described 

 by authors; some have supposed it a vegetable excrescence 

 from the tree upon which it is found ; some have described it 

 as a louse ; some, as a bug; and some, as a beetle. As they 

 appear in our shops when brought from America, they are of 

 an irregular shape, convex on one side, and a little concave on 

 the other ; but are both marked with transverse streaks or 

 wrinkles. They are of a scarlet colour within, and without of a 

 blackish red, and sometimes of a white, reddish, or ash colour, 

 which are accounted the best, and are brought us from Mexico. 

 The cochineal insect is of an oval form, of the size of a small 

 pea, with six feet, and a snout or trunk. It brings forth its 

 young alive, and is nourished by sucking the juice of the plant. 

 Its body consists of several rings, and when it is once fixed on 

 the plant, it continues immoveable, being subject to no change. 

 Some pretend there are two sorts, the one domestic, which is 

 best ; and the other wild, that is of a vivid colour ; however, 

 they appear to be the same, only with this difference, that the 

 wild feeds upon uncultivated trees, without any assistance, 

 whereas the domestic is carefully, at a stated season, removed 



