COLOUR-PRODUCING INSECTS. 



COLOUR-PRODUCING insects come next, 

 perhaps, in importance to those we have 

 already noticed. The cultivation or breed- 

 ing of these useful little animals forms 

 one of the most interesting and profitable 

 branches of industry. 



I shall begin by speaking of the Cochineal, which 

 will constitute the most important feature of this 

 chapter ; but I prefer drawing attention, in the first 

 instance, to the Kermes (or Chermes), a little insect of 

 the same genus as the former, known and employed 

 long before the cochineal insect was discovered. 



The insects of which I am about to treat all 

 belong to Latreille's genus Coccus, in the family of 

 the Hemiptera. The number of species belonging 

 to this genus being very great, and being possessed 

 of extraordinary colouring properties, they consti- 

 tute a wide field for research and experiment. The 

 more so, as very few are, as yet, cultivated to any 

 extent, although many species appear to possess all 

 the necessary qualifications, and many others are 

 ignored in a practical point of view. 



