Marvels of the Universe 



279 



iibertv to use them. Its bodj- is red and its wings white. It has also large eyes and a pair 

 of wonderful ten-jointed feelers ; but it lacks a mouth, and is so quite unable to feed. Needless 

 to say, its Ufe is of short duration. 



The Female Cochineal Insect becomes, at the close of her life, a vei"itable egg-sac ; and it is at 

 this period that her commercial value is at its zenith, as her tissues then contain' the greatest amount 

 of colouring matter. The insects are brushed or scraped in their thousands from the cactus plant 

 and fall upon sheets which have 

 been placed upon the ground. 

 The strange harvest is then killed, 

 either bj^ immersion in hot water 

 or by the heat of a specially con- 

 structed kiln or oven. It is after- 

 wards subjected to a careful drj-- 

 ing process, at the conclusion of 

 which it is ready for the market. 

 For commercial purposes. Cochi- 

 neal is separated according to its 

 quality and place of origin into a 

 number of grades, some of which 

 command far higher prices than 

 others. Cochineal was formerly 

 used medicinally, by the way, 

 chiefly as a specific for whooping- 

 cough. It has been estimated 

 that a pound of the dried com- 

 mercial Cochineal contains about 

 seventy thousand insects. From 

 these about ten per cent, of pure 

 dye is obtained. 



If the female insect is left un- 

 disturbed upon the cactus plant 

 — as, indeed, some of them must 

 be in order that the species may 

 continue — she deposits her eggs 

 beneath her body. A few hours 

 later she dies, and her body sub- 

 sequently dries up and hardens, 

 forming a kind of concave scale, 

 or shell, which protects the eggs. 



and from beneath which the young 



riwtn >„,■] 



COCHINEAL INSECTS ON CACTUS. 



The Cochineal Insects are here seen closely attached lo 

 spending their lives in sucking its juices. The dried bodies 

 shown here constitute the Cochineal of commerce. 



lllunhl /laslin. 



the Cactus and 

 )f the insects as 



eventually creep. 



It is this scale-like form of the female of the Cochineal Insect and its allies that has earned 

 for the group to which it belongs the general designation of Scale Insects. Any amateur gardener 

 who has a greenhouse in which a collection of cacti is growing may find either the Cochineal 

 Insect or one of its near relations somewhat disfiguring his plants by their brown scales attached 

 firmly to the skin. As a rule these are not suspected of being insects, but are regarded as marks 

 of decay. 



