HEMIPTERA. 137 
ceeded in bringing from Mexico into Europe some live cochineals. 
He gave them to the professor of botany at Toulon; but this 
attempt to preserve them was unsuccessful. 
In 1827 the naturalisation of the cochineal was attempted in 
Corsica, but without success. During the same year the cochineal 
was introduced into the Canary Islands, but the inhabitants did 
not understand the importance of the experiment. They counted 
the cochineal among the number of noxious insects, and tried in 
all ways to rid themselves of it. It was only after results obtained 
by some more intelligent farmers, that the inhabitants of the 
Canary Islands perceived the profits they might derive. From 
that time its cultivation was extended, and after the year 1831 it 
increased rapidly. Thus the cochineal imported from the Canary 
Isles in that year amounted to only 4 kilogrammes. In 1832 the 
amount was 60 kilogrammes, in 1833 it was 660 kilogrammes, 
in 1838, 9,000 kilogrammes, and in 1850, 400,000 kilogrammes. 
The French colonists in Algeria also tried to raise it. In 1831, 
M. Limonnet, a chemist of Algiers, collected some cochineals, 
and had the merit of first introducing the insect into the colony. 
On account of bad weather, these first essays were fruitless, but 
it was not long before they were repeated. 
_ M. Loze, surgeon in the navy, undertook to introduce the 
insect again, and with M. Hardy, director of the central garden 
of Algiers, gave himself up, with great intelligence, to the 
naturalisation and rearing of the cochineal in Algeria. 
In 1847 the French Minister of War, for the purpose of having 
the value of the Algerian cochineal fixed by commerce, caused to 
be sold publicly on the market-place of Marseilles a case of 
cochineal, the produce of the harvests of 1845 and 1846, from the 
experimental garden of Algiers, and which contained 17 kilo- 
grammes of this commodity. Since that time the cultivation of 
this insect, the beginning of which was due to M. Limonnet, has 
rapidly developed. In 1853, in the province of Algiers alone, 
there were fourteen nopa/leries, or cactus gardens, containing 61,500 
plants. The Government at that time bought the harvests for 
fifteen frances the kilogramme. 
We have only pointed out in a general way how the cochineal 
harvest is conducted. We will now enter into some details on the 
