OF THE PINE-APPLE. 



313 



insects, he will hardly suspect to belong to the 

 same animal, as they put on so different an appear- 

 ance. They are semitubular, and their length 

 scarce exceeds the diameter of one of the small 

 round scales, and their breadth is not more than a 

 third or fourth part of their length : these, how- 

 ever, contain the males in one of their last stages, 

 under which they assume the form of nymphs, 

 and become flies. In order to be satisfied of this, 

 a person need only break open, with the point of a 

 needle, a few of these scales, when they are arrived 

 at maturity, and he will perceive contained within 

 each of them a very beautiful, but small fly, with 

 all the characters of the flies of the Coccus kind. 



The length of this fly, from the head to the tail, 

 exclusive of the wings, and those long hairs which 

 are so characteristic of the flies of this kind, is about 

 the thirtieth part of an inch ; and the length, in- 

 cluding the wings when folded one over the other 

 on the back of the fly, exclusive of the hairs before 

 mentioned, is about the eighteenth part of an inch. 

 A deep magnifying glass must be used to dis- 

 tinguish the parts of these flies, as they are too 

 small to be seen by the naked eye. 



The insects of this last-mentioned species are of 

 a very pernicious nature. When Pine-plants are 

 infested with them, there will be much trouble, and 

 great expense, in cleaning them, even to keep the 

 insects under ; and notwithstanding the greatest 

 care, the plants will suffer much, and in time grow 

 very unsightly ; their leaves will appear yellow and 



