SECRETARY'S REPORT. 147 



to require description, is produced from the bodies of the little 

 Coccus cacti of Mexico. The Shell-lac, from which sealing-wax 

 and several valuable varnishes and cements are n[i^de, is the 

 secretion of i\\Q Coccus ficus, and the sweet and nutritious manna 

 of eastern fame is deposited by the Coccus manniparus. 



In continuing our investigation of the insect exhausters upon 

 the apple-tree, we occasionally discover a light brown, flattish 

 bug, of gigantic size compared with his congeners we have been 

 examining, being about half an inch in length, and furnished 

 with the invariable weapon of his tribe, a jointed tube bent 

 beneath him, or inserted in the tender twigs, and sucking busily 

 away as if his life depended on it, which indeed it does. He is 

 intimately related to the squash-bug, and to those other delicious 

 morsels which we often eat on blackberries and raspberries, and 

 has, like them, a sort of Ethiopian odor, of which he makes no 

 secret when handled. He is of rather angular outline, approach- 

 ing a pentagonal or five-sided form, and belongs to the large 

 group called Pentatompides from their peculiar cut, and to the 

 still larger one Scutata from the immense size of the scutel or 

 shield-shaped plate which fits into the triangular space between 

 the thorax and the folded wings, and in most insects is of very 

 insignificant dimensions. In his case, however, it is about one- 

 half of the breadth of his whole body, and not far from a third 

 of its length. His wings are neatly folded over each other at 

 the point, but if we raise them with a pin, we find that the half 

 of the upper wing nearest the head, is of a firm, stiff texture, 

 and the rest as fine and thin as those of fly or wasp. From this 

 in connection with his other idiosyncrasies we learn that he 

 belongs to the true bug-order, the Hemiptera or half-wings of 

 some authors, and the Heteroptera or dissimilar-wings of others. 

 If he were subject to like passions with ourselves, he might well 

 be proud that his order had furnished the popular American 

 title of bugs to so many other insects which have no legal claim 

 to that distinction. Far from exhibiting any vanity, however, 

 he is merely thinking of making his escape ; and if not checked 

 in his mischievous career, by the timely pressure of the thumb 

 and finger, or if his captor be fastidious, the boot-heel, will be 

 off in an instant to some other tree to found a new colony. On 

 the lower side of a green leaf his spouse makes her preparations 

 for the expected addition to the family. 



