DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 819 



sections and microscopical observations incontrovertibly 

 proved its real origin a . 



This insect, which comes to us in the form of a red- 

 dish shrivelled grain covered with a white powder or 

 bloom, feeds on a particular kind of Indian fig, called in 

 Mexico, where alone cochineal is produced in any quan- 

 tity, Nopal, which has always been supposed to be the 

 Cactus cochinilifer, L., but according to Humboldt is 

 unquestionably a distinct species, which bears fruit in- 

 ternally white. 



Cochineal is chiefly cultivated in the intendency of 

 Oaxaca; and some plantations contain 50 or 60,000 no- 

 pals in lines, each being kept about four feet high for 

 more easy access in collecting the dye. The cultivators 

 prefer the most prickly varieties of the plant, as affording 

 protection to the cochineal from insects ; to prevent 

 which from depositing their eggs in the flower or fruit, 

 both are carefully cut off. The greatest quantity, how- 

 ever, of cochineal employed in commerce, is produced 

 in small nopaleries belonging to Indians of extreme po- 

 verty, called Nopaleros. They plant their nopaleries in 

 cleared ground on the slopes of mountains or ravines 

 two or three leagues distant from their villages ; and when 

 properly cleaned, the plants are in a condition to main- 

 tain the cochineal in the third year. As a stock, the 

 proprietor in April or May purchases branches or joints 

 of the Tuna de Castilla, laden with small cochineal in- 

 sects recently hatched (Semilla). These branches, which 

 may be bought in the market of Oaxaca for about three 

 francs (2.9. 6d.) the hundred, are kept for twenty days in 



a Bancroft,!. 413. Reaum, iv. 88. 



