•THE COCHINEAL, 443 



Genus II. — Coccus, The CochineaL 



1 HE infea s of this tribe, prefent the moft lingular fbrm 

 which we have, perhaps, yet furveyed in this department 

 of animated nature. They were long imported into Eu~ 

 rope as en article of commerce, before their claim to ranK 

 among animals was admitted. 



The males ai'e commonly of a fmaller fize than the fe- 

 Inales ; the former have two ereft wings, while the lat- 

 ter are apterous ; the rodrum is fituated in the breaft i 

 the antennae are fetaceous, and the poifers or halters are 

 wanting; the pofterior part of the abdomen is briftly, 05 

 velveted *. 



Several fpecies of thefe infers are found upon EurQa, 

 pean plants j that, however, upon the pimpinella roots, 

 called the grain of fcarlet of Poland, was long known iii 

 this part of the world, as a dye, before the Mexican co- 

 chineal was introduced. A particular hiftory of this 

 infeft, which is now no longer an article of commerce^ 

 lince the difcovery of Mexico, may be found in BreyniuSf 

 as quoted by Reaumur f . 



The drug at prefent moft in eftimation, for the fine 



colour it gives our clothes, is the cochineal of Mexico^ 



an infeft domefticated and reared with great care by the 



Indians. It grows not upon the root, but upon the 



3 K a leaver 



^ Syftcma Naturje, Ord. IJ. Gen, %, . f Tom. IV. p. 1/5, 



