246 THE MICKOSCOPE AND ITS LESSONS. 



of two hundred every minute in every twelve hours, with- 

 out intermission, would have required more than two 

 millions of years to reckon up. Their market value, in 

 the year in which I made this curious calculation, 

 amounted to 350,000. 



But we began this apparently out-of-place story with 

 an allusion to the remarkable manner in which some 

 insects preserve their young; and, because this is displayed 

 in the case of the cochineal insect, I have introduced the 

 curious account from the oldest book in my possession. 



When the apparently loving mother begins to provide 

 for her family, which is not to emerge that season, " she 

 stoops down and deposits her eggs under her body, which 

 become glued to the spot ; she then dies, and her body 

 becomes a covering for the eggs. In this state the 

 insects appear on the bark of trees like small warts, some 

 species in the form of a boat, some kidney-shaped, and 

 others globular ; and, before their history was understood, 

 they were, with some plausibility, supposed to be vege- 

 table galls by the French." * 



Why have I introduced the story of the cochineal 

 insect here ? Because it serves to direct your attention 

 to another species a Coccus, also of the cochineal family, 

 which may be found both upon apples and oranges, and 

 which may enable you to instruct and very much amuse 

 your young friends. 



You may have seen, especially upon an orange, very 

 small mussel-shaped, dark-brown specks glued on to the 

 rind. When I first took notice of these little specks, 

 wondering what they could be, I carefully detached 

 several, and, on turning them over, to my great surprise 

 I found them filled with eggs, carefully packed in the 

 hollow shell-like covering, arid preserved with what 



* Kennie. 



