552 



HISTORY OF INSECTS. 



young alive, and is nourished by sucking the 

 juice of the plant. Its body consists of seve- 

 ral rings, and when it is once fixed on the 

 plant, it continues 'immovable, being subject 

 to no change. Some pretend there are two 

 sorts, the one domestic, which is best ; and 

 the other wild, that is of a vivid colour ; 

 however, they appear to be the same, only 

 with this difference, that the wild feeds upon 

 uncultivated trees, without any assistance, 

 whereas the domestic is carefully, at a stated 

 season, removed to cultivated trees, where it 

 feeds upon a purer juice. Those who take 

 care of these insects, place them on the prickly 

 pear-plant in a certain order, and are very in- 

 dustrious in defending them from other insects; 

 lor if any other kind come among them, they 

 take care to brush them off with foxes' tails. 

 Towards the end of the year, when the rains 

 and cold weather are coming on, which are 

 fatal to these insects, they take off the leaves 

 or branches covered with cochineal, that have 

 not attained their utmost degree of perfection, 

 and keep them in their houses till win- 

 ter is past. These leaves are very thick and 

 juicy, and supply them with sufficient nour- 

 ishment, while they remain within doors. 

 When the milder weather returns, and these 

 animals are about to exclude their young, the 

 natives make them nests, like those of birds, 

 but less of tree moss, or soft hay, or the down 

 of cocoa-nuts, placing twelve in every nesf. 

 These they fix on the thorns of the prickly- 

 pear plant, and in three or four days' time 

 they bring forth their young, which leave 

 their nests in a few days, and creep upon the 

 branches of the plant, till they find a proper 

 place to rest in, and take in their nourish- 

 ment; and until the females are fecundated 

 by the males, which, as in the former tribe, 

 differ very widely from the females, being 

 winged insects, whereas the others only creep, 

 and are at most stationary. When they are 

 impregnated, they produce a new offspring, so 

 that the propagator has a new harvest thrice 

 a-year. When the native Americans have 

 gathered the cochineal, they put them into 

 holes in the ground, where they kill them 

 with boiling water, and afterwards dry them 

 in the sun, or in an oven, or lay them upon 

 hot plates. From the various methods of kill- 

 ing- them, arise the different colours which 

 they appear in when brought to us. While 

 they are living they seem to be sprinkled over 

 with a white powder, which they lose as soon 

 as the boiling water is poured upon them. 

 Those that are dried upon hot plates are the 

 blackest. What we call the cochineal are 

 only the females, for the males are a sort of 

 fly,. as already observed in the kermes. They 

 are used both for dying and medicine, and are 

 said to have much the same virtue as the 



kermes, though they are now seldom used 

 alone, but are mixed with other things for the 

 sake of the colour. 1 



1 To the beetle kind also belong those animals which 

 cause such alarm to the superstitious by their ticking 

 noise, which is vulgarly called the death-watch. Vari- 

 ous species of this insect are to be found in Britain. 



The Death-watch or Ptinvs, is a dusky or somewhat 

 hairy insect, with irregular brownish spots, about a 

 quarter of an inch in length. Notwithstanding its 

 smallness, this creature is often the cause of serious 

 alarm among the lower classes of people, from the noise 

 that it makes at a certain time of the year, resembling 

 the ticking of a watch. From this it has its name ; for, 

 whenever this faculty is exerted, it is esteemed portentive 

 of death to some one of the family in the house where it 

 is heard. It is chiefly in the advanced state of spring 

 that this insect commences its noise, which is no more 

 than a call or signal by which they are mutually attracted 

 to each other ; and it may be considered as analogous 

 to the call ofbirds. This noise does not arise from the voice, 

 but from the insect's beating on any hard substance with 

 the shield or fore-part of the head. The general number 

 of successive distinct strokes is from seven to nine, or 

 eleven. These are given in pretty quick succession, 

 and are repeated at uncertain intervals : and in old 

 houses, where the insects are numerous, they may be 

 heard, if the weather be warm, every hour in the day. 

 The noise exactly resembles that made by beating with 

 the nail upon a table. The insect being difficult to dis- 

 cover, from its obscure grayish brown colour, nearly re- 

 sembling that of decayed wood, it is not always easy to 

 say from what exactly the sound proceeds. 



Mr Stackhouse observed carefully the manner of its 

 beating. He says the insect raises itself on its hinder 

 legs, and with the body somewhat inclined, beats its head 

 with great force and agility against the place on which 

 it stands. One of them, on a sedge-bottomed chair, ex- 

 erted so much force, that its strokes were impressed and 

 visible in the exterior coat of the sedge, for a space equal 

 to that of a silver penny. Mr Stackhouse took this insect 

 and put it into a box. On the following day he opened 

 the box, and set it in the sun. It seemed very brisk, and 

 crept about with great activity on the bits of sedge and 

 rotten wood, till at last getting to the end of the pieces, 

 it extended its wings, and was about to take flight ; he 

 shut down the lid, when it withdrew them, and remained 

 quiet. He kept it by him about a fortnight. 



Strange as it may appear, this little animal is capa- 

 ble of being tamed. Dr Derham kept a male and fe- 

 male together in a box for about three weeks ; and by 

 imitating their noise, (beating with his nail, or the point 

 of a pen, on a table or board,) he made them beat when- 

 ever he pleased, and they would not only answer very 

 readily, but even continued their beatings as long as 

 required. At the end of this time one of them died, soon 

 after which the other gnawed its way out and escaped. 



The Death-watch Termes. This insect, which is 

 sometime mistaken for the ptinus just mentioned, is of 

 a very different tribe, and about a tenth of an inch long. 

 At first sight it has greatly the appearance of a louse: its 

 mouth, however, with a glass, is seen to be reddish, and 

 its eyes are yellow. The antennae are sharply pointed, 

 and somewhat long. It is sometimes, though very rarely, 

 observed to have wings. 



This insect is usually found in old wood, decayed 

 furniture, museums, and neglected books ; and both 

 the male and female have the power of making a tick- 

 ing noise, not unlike that of a watch, to attract each 

 other. The female lays her eggs in dry and dusty places, 

 where they are likely to meet with the least disturbance: 

 these are exceedingly small, and are not unlike the nits 

 or eggs of lice. When they are disturbed, they are 



