NEUROPTERA. 5 73 



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

 seek the females, which are much larger than them. Reaumur ohservcd 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 tlie Coccus of the elm ten small similar points, as well as tvi-o halancers on the sides of the tliorax. 

 GcofTroy states that the females have at the extremity of the hody four white filaments, whicli appear 

 only on pressing the body of the insect. 



Dortliez observed upon tlic Euplioiijia Clmracias a species which appears to differ in several respects 

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

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

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

 her cLrgs ; the male has tlie 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 overfiowiug of 

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

 ohvcs. Some species attack the roots of plants ; some arc precious on account of tlie splendid scarlet 

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

 useful in this respect. 



GcoflVoy divided tliese insects, vvhicli are called by the French Galle inscctes, or, by contraction, Gatllnsecteti, 

 into two genera, C/iermes and Cocctis ; the latter was called by Reaumur, Progall-insecte, 



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

 the wings and anal sets of the male are of the latter colour. The female has the sides of the body famished 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 Cadi [tlie Cochineal insect of commerce], is of a dark brown colour, covered with a white 

 down. Hat beneath, convex above, maigiiied, 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 Mcittqite, or tine cochineal, from another closely allied 

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

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



Coccus polouicus [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 of 'telecanthus perenals, and 

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



Coccus llicis, Linn., which lives upon a small Ivind 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 antenna; composed of about 22 joints, moniliform, and 

 very pilose, having two thick and nearly coriaceous wings, composes the genus Monophlcba of Leach. 



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



THE EIGHTH ORDER OF INSECTS,— 



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



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

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

 from the lOtli 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 maxillte, that 

 is, formed on the ordinary plan [for biting], a character which separates this order from the 

 tenth, or that of the Lepido|itera, of which the fore-wings are, moreorer, mealy. In the 

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

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

 Tlic maxilhe and the inferior piece of the lower lip, or the mentum, has never a tubular 



