52 
PECULIARITIES OF THE INSECT. 
they are ready for exportation. Ninety full sized insects 
weigh forty-eight grains, and after dessication, twenty- 
five; this gives about twenty-seven thousand to the 
pound of prepared insects. 
They are propagated at different seasons, as the insects 
happen to he matured. A few full sized females are 
placed in a little piece of green gauze, and fastened to 
the cactus by one of the prickles ; in a few days, if the 
w^eather be fine, the little insects — which are viviparous — 
begin to come forth, each one in a very fine transparent 
silky looking cocoon, which it almost immediately throws 
off. The female soon settles, but the male being winged 
moves about for the necessary offices. The former 
appears to change the cuticle at least once if not oftener, 
and it is this and the remains of the cocoons which form 
the chief part of the powderj^ substance which covers 
them. The female never stirs from the spot where it 
first commences to feed. The emigration of the young 
insect, as mentioned in popular works, by means of the 
spider’s web, may occasionally take place, but not often, 
as they mostly settle on the nearest spot, from which 
they have no reason to move. It is probably sometimes 
wafted by the soft filaments of the cocoons — in which 
it is embedded — to a different plant, to which these 
fibres then readily adhere. 
Before lea^dng Teneriffe, we visited the Museum 
which has been formed with some difficulty, and con- 
tains many objects of deep interest ; among these 
may be mentioned the skeleton of a Guancho, the 
