KEUROPTERA. 405 



towards the end of autumn approach the branches, on which they place them- 

 selves to pass the winter. 



The Gallinsects appear to injure trees by a superabundant sudoresis through 

 the punctures they make in them, and of course those who cultivate the peach, 

 orange, fig, and olive are particularly on their guard against them. Certain 

 species fix themselves to the roots of plants. Some are valuable for the rich 

 red colour they furnish to the art of dyeing. Further researches on these 

 insects might teminate in the discovery of others which would prove of 

 similar utility. 



C. cacti, Lin. (The Cochineal Insect.) Female of a deep brown, covered 

 with white dust, flat beneath, convex above, and bordered; the annuli are 

 tolerably distinct at first. The male is of a deep red, with white wings. 



This insect is cultivated at Mexico, on a species of Opuntia, and is cele- 

 brated for the crimson dye it furnishes, which, by being combined with the 

 solution of tin in nitro-muriatic acid, produces a scarlet. It is also from this 

 insect that we obtain carmine. It is one of the richest productions of Mexico. 



ORDER VIII. 



NEUROPTERA*. 



THE Neuroptera are distinguished from the three preceding orders by their 

 two upper wings, which are membranous, generally naked, diaphanous, and 

 similar to the under ones, in texture and properties. They are distinguished 

 from the eleventh and twelfth by the number of these organs, as well as by 

 their mouth, fitted for mastication or furnished with mandibles and true 

 maxillae, or in other words organised as usual, a character which also removes 

 this order from ihe tenth or that of the Lepidoptera, where, besides, the four 

 wings are farinaceous. The surface of these wings in the Neuroptera is finely 

 reticulated, and the under ones are most commonly as large as those above 

 them, but sometimes wider, and sometimes narrower and longer. Their 

 maxillae and the inferior portion of their labrum or the mentum are never 

 tubular. The abdomen is destitute of a sting and rarely furnished with an 

 ovipositor. 



Their antennae are usually setaceous, and composed of numerous joints- 

 They have two or three ocelli. The trunk is formed of three segments, inti- 

 mately united in a single body, distinct from the abdomen, and bearing the 

 six legs ; the first of these segments is usually very short, and in the form of a 



* Nerve.winged. 



