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INSECTS HEMIPTEBA DIAGRAM 6 



Plant-lice, The plant-lice are small insects "which have two 



projecting tubes at the 

 end of the abdomen. 

 The females have no 

 wings ; the males alone 

 fly, and they are seen 

 with their large trans- 

 parent wings among the 

 clusters of plant-lice on 

 the stalks of the rose 

 bush. The females 

 Plant-louse, highly magnified move slowly, and pump 



up the sap of plants with their proboscis. They bring forth 

 small living plant-lice, which grow round them and increase the 

 swarms for the greater part of the year. It is only at the end 

 of summer that they lay eggs which do not hatch till spring, and 

 which produce males as well as females. The summer broods 

 generally consist of females only, which are able to continue the 

 race without the intervention of the males, until the cold 

 weather sets in. 



The cochineal is an insect of this order found in Mexico, from 

 which a beautiful colour used in the arts under the name of 

 carmine is obtained. The male has wings, as, in the plant-lice, 



and the female has none ; 

 the latter lives on a kind of 

 cactus, where she fixes 

 herself, by inserting her 

 proboscis. These plants 

 are cultivated for the sake 

 of the insect. When the 

 time comes to gather them, 



Cochineal the- females are collected, 

 natural size - -, M1 -, , ... ., 



and magni- and killed by putting them 



into boiling water, or by 



t 



Male Cochineal natural size 

 and magnified. 



Female 



fied. 



exposing them to the heat of an oven. Cochineal as met with 



