134 THE INSECT WOKLD. 



less they resemble living things. When the coccus is in a state 

 for multiplying its species, when it is engaged in laying its 

 thousands of eggs, it resembles only an excrescence of the tree. 



The Gallinsecta are found on the elm, the oak, the lime, the 

 alder, the holly, the orange tree, and the oleander. Some of the 

 species are remarkable for the beautiful red colouring matter 

 which they furnish. Such are the Coccus cacti, the Chermes 

 variegatus, or Oak Tree Cochineal, and the Coccus polonicus. 



The common cochineal, Coccus cacti, is found in Mexico, on the 

 Nopal, or prickly pear (Opuntia), particularly on the Opuntia 

 vulgaris, the Opuntia cocci/era, and the Opuntia una, plants 

 which belong to the family of the Cactacese. 



These insects are rather remarkable, in that the male and female 

 are so unlike, that one would take them for 

 animals of different genera. 



fJlL The male presents an elongated, depressed body, 

 T JJR f a dark-brown red. Its head small, furnished 

 MiM with two long feathery antennae, has only a rudi- 

 w'f mentary beak. The abdomen is terminated by 

 two fine hairs longer than its body. The wings, 

 perfectly transparent, reach beyond the extremity 

 of its abdomen, and cross each other horizontally 



over its back - Tt is livelv and active. The female 

 ale ' presents quite a different appearance. It is in 

 the first place twice as large as the male (Fig. 92), convex above, 

 flat below. It resembles a larva, and has no wings. Its body 

 is formed of a dozen segments, covered with a glaucous dust. 

 The beak is very fully developed, and the two hairs or bristles 

 on the abdomen are much shorter than in the male. 



The weight of the body, compared with the shortness of the 

 legs, prevents these creatures from being active. The legs only 

 serve, in fact, for clinging to the vegetable from which they draw 

 their nourishment. The circumstances attending the birth of the 

 cochineal insect are very curious. The larvse are born in the 

 dried-up body of their dead mother, the skeleton of their mother 

 serving them as a cradle. This happens thus : The eggs are 

 attached to the lower part of the mother's body. When the abdo- 

 men of the mother is empty, its lower side draws up towards the 



