7o 
Of Flies . 
There is a fly with grey and black ffreaks oa the 
Ihoulders % and chequered on the tail with the fame 
colours $ upon opening the female of this fly, which 
may be diftinguifhed by a rednefs on the extremity of 
the tail, you will find two bags of live white worms, 
long and round in fhape, with black heads, moving both 
on the hand and in the unopened veficles backwards and 
forwards, being difpofed in cells according to the length 
of the animal’s body* 
Of the cochineal fly. 
H E microfcope hath difcovered to us that cochi- 
JL neal, fo valuable for its ufe in dying erimfon, 
fcarlet, and. purple, is an infect bred upon the plant 
called prickly pear, or Indian fig *; and upon the leaves 
or twigs thereof are fmall knobs or protuberances, which 
produce little worms that in time become flies, refembling 
cow-ladies, or lady-birds; which, when arrived at their 
full growth, are taken by the inhabitants (of the iflands 
of Cuba, Hifpaniola and Jamaica, from whence it molt 
commonly comes) and expofed to the heat of the iun to 
dry, and rubbed between the hands till their wings, legs, 
&c, fall off, Upon fteeping fome of the grains of cochi¬ 
neal twenty-four hours in water, a trunk with fcales, 
and legs will appearj and if their bodies he opened, 
jnany eggs of different fizes may be alfo found. 
Fig. 116. reprefents a grain of cochineal j fig. 117, 
another giain, as it appeared through a microfcope, in 
which at the extreme parts C and E F, an orifice appears, 
from whence the firing was broken off, whereby both 
parts of the body were joined together. The concave 
arches 
6 Phil. Tranf. No. 72. i Phil. Tranfi. No. 292, 
