137 



of the substance of the body. On the under side of 

 the insect is a sucker, with which it pierces the cuti- 

 cle of the plants, and extracts their juices. Soon 

 after impregnation the female dies, and her body be- 

 comes a protection for the eggs, which are covered 

 with long white wool, and sometimes completely en- 

 velope the shoots of the vines, or of plants, growing 

 underneath them. The males are furnished with 

 four wings, and are apterous. Their powers of pro- 

 pagation are immense ; and, where l^ 

 they once become very numerous, they ||\\ 

 are exceedingly difficult to eradicate. 

 This species belongs to the true genus 

 Coccus, characterized by the female 

 having a scale inseparable from her 

 body. While young, both sexes are 

 alike, but the male larvae produce 

 two-winged insects, with two tail 

 threads. The females have no wings, 

 and their dead bodies, beneath which 

 the young are sheltered, appear as in 

 the annexed wood-cut. 



Coccus adonidum, the Mealy Bug, feeds on tropical 

 plants, with which it has been introduced into our 

 hothouses, especially Coffee, Cestrum, Justicia, Canna, 

 Musa, Renealmia, &c. ; but it also is very injurious 

 to the vine and pine-apple ; though it is of much 

 rarer occurrence than the C. vitis. The female is not 



