( \6x6 ) 
they rpread them abroad in a like Cloath on a Sandy 
Place, or a Stone*floor, where they are exposed to the 
Heat of the Sun, till tley are dry'd that is, till their fmall 
Eodies are ftiiivel d up together, and rubb'd between 
the Hands, till their Wings, Legs, &c. fall off, which are 
garbrd out, and then the remaining Trunks of the Ani- 
mals are pot into (hallow Cof per Boxes, till they be- 
come quite dry. " 
The abovefaid Plant has no Flowers or Bloflbms on it, 
and ihe Fruit of it is of a flefhy fubftance 9nd red, and 
when it is ripe, if you handle it, your Fingers will look 
as if they were ftain d with Mulberries. 
Some fay, that the Cochinecl Worms feed upon the 
Bloffoms and Fruit of this Plant, which caufes their Bo- 
dies to be of ^hat red colour. 
And that if you take the Seed of the Plant, or the 
dead Worms, and dry them after » he above-mentioned 
manner, that Cochineel is not fo good as when thofe 
Animals have got Wings, and are then fmother'd* 
Now for my further fatisfaftion, I took feveral Parti- 
cles of this fame Cochineel, as well of the largefl as of the 
fmalleft, and having difTefted them, 1 found that they 
had all Eggs in their Bellies, fave only one that was ex- 
ceeding fmall, and there I could difcover no Eggs. 
When I had open'd fome of the biggeft Trunks, and 
feparated the Eggs, which I took out of their Bodies as 
well as I could from each other, and counted 'em alfo as 
nicely as I was able, I judgd that there were above two 
hundred ^ and having obfcrv'd feveral of them with ray 
Microlcope^, I could perceive not only a Membrane or 
Shell upon the mod of them, but alfo an Animalculum of 
an oval Shape included in the faid Shell, and almofl: as 
big as the Shell, that contained it, this feem*d tome at 
firft very ftrange, and a Phenomenon almoft incredible 
in fo large a Species of Flies, as is the Cochineel. 
I 
