THE MIGRATIONS OF INSECTS 69 



of the last century the possibility of introducing the 

 cochineal insect was much discussed in India. Red 

 dye was expensive and scarce ; but red was a colour 

 highly prized, and for which there was a great demand. 

 Clearly, if the cochineal could be introduced there 

 would be a sale to a vast local population. The 

 cultivation of the cactus on which it fed, and of the 

 insects themselves, which are planted out in little 

 communities on each young cactus-plant, seemed 

 exactly suited for the laborious Hindoos. To add 

 to the wealth of the many nations and languages of 

 the peninsula by the induced migration of one hardy 

 plant and a little red blight seemed almost a natural 

 miracle, yet a possible one. Yet for some reason, 

 though the economic arguments were all sound, the 

 cochineal insect refused to migrate with a cheerful mind. 



It flourished when taken from its native Mexico to 

 the Canary Islands, that Western foster-mother of 

 other tropical products, and to some degree in Java 

 and Algiers. But the parts of India to which it was 

 taken did not suit it. 



On the other hand, an equally insignificant insect 

 has crossed the Atlantic, and not only the Atlantic 

 but the New World itself, and been settled on the 

 Pacific coast by the aid and desire of the Cali- 

 fornian fruit-growers. The story of its journey 

 and establishment is like an echo of some anecdote 

 by Herodotus of Greek rites rationalised by refer- 

 ence to some Egyptian " mystery." The ancients 

 had an immemorial custom of hanging up branches 

 of a wild fig, which they called the goat fig (just 



