NEUROPTERA. 573 



wings, the males make their escape from the posterior extremity of their cocoons backwards, and then 

 seek the females, which are much larger than them. Reaumur observed two small points like ocelli 

 at that part of the head which corresponds with the mouth. I have discovered in the head of the male 

 of the Coccus of the elm ten small similar points, as well as two balancers on the sides of the thorax. 

 Geoffroy states that the females have at the extremity of the body four white filaments, which appear 

 only on pressing the body of the insect. 



Dorthez observed upon the Euphorbia Characias a species which appears to diifer in several respects 

 both of structure and habits from the other species, and which determined M. Bosc to form this insect 

 into a distinct genus, named Dorthesia. The antennse have nine joints, much longer and slenderer in 

 the male than in the female ; the latter continues to live and to be active for some time after depositing 

 her eggs ; the male has the extremity of the body furnished with a thick brush of long white threads : 

 hence this insect is nearer allied to the Aphides than to the Cocci. 



The Cocci appear to injure the trees, by causing by their punctures a too abundant overflowing of 

 the sap. Hence they require the attention of those persons who cultivate peaches, oranges, figs, and 

 olives. Some species attack the roots of plants ; some are precious on account of the splendid scarlet 

 colour they furnish for the dyer. Further researches on these insects might detect others equally 

 useful in this respect. 



Geoffroy divided these insects, which are called by the French GaJle insectes, or, by contraction, GallinsectcS, 

 into two genera, Chermes and Coccus; the latter was called by Rdaumur, Progall-insecte. 



The Mealy-bug, C adonidum, is somewhat of a rosy hue, with the body covered with a white mealy powder; 

 the wings and anal setae of the male are of the latter colour. The female has the sides of the body furnished with 

 appendages, of which the two posterior are longer, and form a kind of tail. The female envelopes its eggs in a 

 white cottony secretion, which serves them as a nest. It is naturalised in our hothouses, where it does much 

 mischief. 



The female of Coccus Cacti [the Cochineal insect of commerce], is of a dark brown colour, covered with a white 

 down, flat beneath, convex above, margined, with the segments rather distinct, but becoming obliterated at the 

 period of oviposition. The male is of a dark red, with white wings. It is cultivated in Mexico upon a species of 

 Cactus or Opuntia, and is distinguished by the name of Mesteque, or fine cochineal, from another closely allied 

 species, smaller and more cottony, called the wild cochineal. It is celebrated for the crimson dye that it pro- 

 duces ; it also furnishes carmine. This production is one of the chief riches of Mexico. 



Coccus polonicus [or the Scarlet Grain of Poland], was also employed in Poland as a considerable object of com- 

 merce, before the introduction of the Coccus Cacti as a dye. It lives upon the roots oi Scleranthus perennis, and 

 some other plants. The colour produced from this species is almost equal to that of the Coccus Cacti. 



Coccii* //('d*, Linn., which lives upon a small kind of oak in the south of Europe, and of which the female 

 reaches the size of a pea, was employed before the introduction of cochineal. It is also still employed in 

 medicine. 



A species from the East Indies produces gum lac, and another is employed in China for the manufacture of 

 wax tapers. 



A male Coccus, from Java, remarkable for having the antennae composed of about 22 joints, moniliform, and 

 very pilose, having two thick and nearly coriaceous wings, composes tlie genus MonopMeba of Leach. 



[These insects have recently been divided into several other genera by lUiger, Bouch^, Burmeister, &c.] 



THE EIGHTH ORDER OF INSECTS,— 



THE NEUROPTERA (Odonata, and the major part of Synistata, Fabr.),— 



Is distinguished from the preceding orders by the fore-wings being membranous, generally 

 naked, transparent, and similar to the two posterior in respect to their consistence and uses ; 

 from the 10th and following, by the number of these organs as well as by the structure of the 

 mouth, which is fitted for mastication, or furnished with true mandibles and maxillae, that 

 is, formed on the ordinary plan [for biting], a character which se{)arates this order from the 

 tenth, or that of the Lcpidoptera, of which the fore-wings arc, moreover, mealy. In the 

 Neuroptera these wings have their surface furnished with a very fine net-work ; the inferior 

 being mostly as large as the superior, or sometimes larger, sometimes narrower, but longer. 

 The maxillpe and the inferior piece of the lower lip, or the mentum, has never a tubular 



