336 ARTICULATA. INSECTA. 



of limpid drops from the abdomen of the Aphides, 

 and is the sweet, varnish-like substance called honey- 

 dew, so often observed on the leaves of plants. Ants 

 may generally be seen crowding to this repast, and 

 they possess even the power and the intelligence to 

 procure a more abundant supply by tickling the 

 Aphis with the tips of their antennae, on which a 

 drop of the fluid is immediately yielded. It seems 

 incontrovertible, indeed, that the Ants often im- 

 prison a number of Aphides to serve as domestic 

 cattle by yielding their milk at home. 



If we examine young branches of the Lime-tree 

 in summer, we find many little excrescences of a 

 skinny texture, about as large as half a sweet pea, 

 adhering to the bark. On removing one, we see 

 that it is merely a skin covering a little bunch of 

 eggs. This skin is the female of a species of Coc- 

 cus* which, in laying her eggs, fixes them beneath 

 her, so that at last they occupy nearly the same posi- 

 tion as at first, save that the skin of the abdomen is 

 now over instead of under them. The female never 

 moves afterwards, her dead and dry body forming, 

 as we have seen, a covering glued around them. 

 She has no wings, but the male has two, laid flat 

 on the body. From an American species (C. Cacti) 

 we obtain the rich crimson dye, called cochineal, 

 which, with a solution of tin, becomes scarlet. An 

 Indian species produces shell-lac. 



* Koxxos, kof&os. scarlet. 



