HEMIPTERA. 138 
upper side, and the two together form a pretty large cavity. When 
the mother dies, which is not long in happening, her abdomen 
dries up, her skin becomes horny, and forms a sort of shell. It 
is in this membranous cradle that the larve of the cochineal insect 
are born. The cochineal insect in its wild state lives in the 
woods. But it can without difficulty be reared artificially. 
Every one knows that the little insect called the cochineal 
furnishes, when its body has been dried and reduced to powder, 
a colouring matter of a beautiful red, peculiar to itself. This 
circumstance has saved the cochineal from the persecution to 
which so many other kinds of insects have been devoted by the 
hand of man. In hot climates, in which the cochineal insect 
delights, it has been preserved, and is cultivated as an article of 
commerce. This is how the cochineal is reared in Mexico :—An 
open piece of land is chosen, protected against the west wind, 
and of about one or two acres in extent. This is surrounded 
with a hedge of reeds, planted in lines, distant from each other 
about a yard, with cuttings of cactus at most about two feet 
apart. The cactus garden made, the next thing is to establish 
in it cochineals. With this object in view they are sought in the 
woods, or else the females of the cochineal insect which are gravid 
are taken off plants which have been sheltered during the winter, 
and placed in dozens, in nests made of cocoa-nut fibres, or in little 
plaited baskets made of the leaves of the dwarf palm, and hung 
on the prickles of the cactus. These are very scon covered with 
young larve. The only thing now required to be done is to 
shelter them from wind and rain. . 
The larvee are changed into perfect insects, which take up their 
abode permanently on the branches of the cacti, as Fig. 93 repre- 
sents. The Mexicans gather them as soon as they have reached 
the perfect state. The harvest cannot be difficult, considering 
the immobility of these little creatures. When collected, the 
cochineals are killed, packed in wooden boxes, and sent to Europe, 
to be used in dyeing. 
Such is the method, very simple, as we see, of rearing the cochi- 
neal, a method which has been followed for centuries in Mexico. 
Towards the end of the year 1700, a Frenchman named Thierry 
de Menouville, formed the project of taking this precious insect 
