c u s. 
c o c 
Hate is towards- the end of May, a little fooner or later, 
according to the warmth of the feafon. The hulk appears 
replete with fmall eggs, lei's than the feed of a poppy. 
Theie are ranged under the belly of the infedl, progref- 
fively placed in the nell of down that covers its body, 
which it withdraws in proportion to the number of eggs; 
after this work is performed, it foon dies, though it Hill 
adheres to its pofition, rendering a further lervice to its 
progeny, by fhielding them from the inclemency of the 
weather, or the holtile attacks of an enemy. In a good 
feafon they multiply exceedingly, having from 1800 to 
2000 eggs, which produce the lame number of afnimal- 
cules. When obferved with the microlcope in July or 
Auguft, we find, that what appeared as dull:, are fo many 
eggs or open capfules, as white as fnow, out of each of 
which iffues a gold-coloured animalcule, of the lhape of a 
cockroach, with two horns, fix feet, and a forked tail. 
The cultom of lopping off the boughs to take them, is 
very injudicious, as by tnis means they deftroy the next 
year’s harveft. Strong dews will occaiionally make them 
fall from the trees looner than ufual; but when the pro¬ 
per lealon pafles, they fall off of themfelves, and become 
food for birds, particularly doves. Sometimes there will 
be a fecond produdlion, which is commonly of a lefs fize, 
with a fainter tinge. The firft is generally found adher¬ 
ing to the bark, as well as on the branches and ilalks'; 
the fecond is principally on the leaves, as the worms 
choole that part where the nutritious juice preferves it- 
felf the longelt, is moll: abundant, and can be moll ealily 
extradited in thelhort time that remains of their exiltence, 
the baik being then drier and harder than the leaves. 
Thofe who procure the kermes to fend to foreign parts, 
fpread it on linen, taking eare to iprinkle it with vinegar, 
to kill the worms that are within, which produces a red 
dull, which in Spain is fep mated from the relt. Then 
they let it dry, palling it through a learce, and make 
it up into bags. In the middle of each package, its 
proportion of red dull, put in a little ieather bag, aJfo 
belongs to the buyer; and then it is ready for exporta¬ 
tion, being always in demand on the African coalt. The 
people of Hinojos, Bonares, Villalba, and other parts of 
Seville, dry it on mats in the fun, ftirring it about, and 
feparating the red dull, which is the fin&t part, and being 
mixed with vinegar, goes by the name of pafd. The 
fame is done with the hulks; but thefe have but half the 
value of the dull. The kermes of Spain is preferred on 
the coalt of Barbary, on account of its goodnefs. The 
people of Tunis mix it with that of Tetuan, for dying 
thole fcarlet caps fo much ufed in the Levant. 
5. The coccus ficus, or gum-lac infedl, a native of the 
Ealt Indies. The head and trunk form one uniform, 
oval, compreffed, red body, of the lhape and magnitude 
of a fmall aphides, confining of twelve tranfverfe rings. 
The back is carinated ; the belly flat; the antennae half 
the length of the body, filiform, truncated, and diverging, 
fending off two, often three, delicate diverging hairs, 
longer than the antennae ; the mouth and eyes cannot be 
feen with the naked eye. The tail is a little white point, 
fending off two horizontal hairs as long as the body. It 
has three pair of limbs, half the length of the infedl. 
This is the ftate in which it fallies forth from the womb 
of the parent in the months of November and December. 
They traverfe the branches of the trees upon which they 
were produced for l’ome time, and then fix themfelves 
upon the fucculent extremities of the young branches. 
By the middle of January they are all fixed in their pro¬ 
per fituations; they appear as plump as before, but (how 
no other marks of life. The limbs, antennae, and fetae 
of the tail, are no longer to be feen. Around their edges 
they are environed with a fpilfid fubpellucid liquid, which 
feems to glue them to the branch ; it is the gradual ac¬ 
cumulation of this liquid which' forms a complete cell 
for each infedl:, and produces what is called gum lacca, 
though it is not properly a gum. About the middle of 
March the cells are completely- formed, and the infedl is 
7 2 3 
in appearance an oval, fmootli. red bag, without life, 
about the lize of a fmall cochineal infedl, emarginated at 
the obtufe end, full of a beautiful red liquid. In Octo¬ 
ber and November we find about twenty or thirty oval 
eggs within the red fluid of the mother. When this fluid 
is all expended, the young infects pierce a hole through/ 
the back of their mother, and walk off one by one, leav¬ 
ing their exuviae behind, which is that white membra¬ 
nous fubltance found in the empty cells of the Hick lac. 
Thefe infedls are the inhabitants of four trees: 1. Ficus 
religiola ; 2. Ficus indica ; 3. Plafo, called by the natives- 
bibar -, and, 4.. Rhamnus jujuba. 
The lacca infedls generally fix themfelves fo clofe toge-. 
ther, and in fuch numbers, that fcarcely one in fix can 
have room to complete her cell: the others die, and are 
eaten by various infedls. The extreme branches appear 
as if they were covered with a red dull, and their lap is 
fo much exhaufted, that they wither and produce no fruit, 
the leaves drop off, or turn to a dirty black colour. Thefe 
infecls are tranfplanted by birds; if they perch upon theie 
branches; they mull carry off a number of the infedts up¬ 
on their feet to the next tree they reft upon. It is worth 
obferving, that theie fig-trees when wounded drop a milky 
juice, which inftantiy coagulates into a vilcid ropy fub- 
ftance, which, hardened in the open air, is fimilar to the 
cell of the coccus lacca. A red medicinal gum is alfo 
procured by incifion from the plafo-tree, fo fimilar to the 
gum lacca, that it may readily be taken for the fame fub¬ 
ltance. Hence it is probable, that thole infects have little 
trouble in animaliling the fap of thefe trees in the forma¬ 
tion of their cells. The lacca is rarely leen upon thd 
rhamnus jujuba ; and it is inferior to what is found upon 
the other trees. The lacca brought into this country is 
principally found upon the uncultivated mountains on 
both Tides the Ganges, where bountiful nature has pro¬ 
duced it in fuch abundance, that, were the confumptiora 
ten times greater, the markets might be lupplied by this 
minute inledl. The only trouble in procuring the lac is 
in breaking down the branches, and carrying them to 
market. The bell lac is of a deep red colour. If it is 
pale, and pierced at the top, the value diminifhes, becaufe 
the infedls have left their cells, and confequently the dye 
or colour mull be very weak and imperfedl. This infedl 
and its cell lias gone under the various names of gum 
lacca, lack, and loc-tree. In Bengal, la-, and by the Eng¬ 
lish it is diltinguilhed into three kinds, differently deno¬ 
minated; for which, and their feveral ufes, lee the arti¬ 
cle Lag-. 
6. Coccus Pdlonicus,- a fpecies which- may properly 
enough be called the cochineal infedl of the northern part 
of the world. As the cochineal loves only the warm cli¬ 
mates, fo this affedls only the cold ones. It is colledled 
for the ufe of dyers ; but the crops of it are much fmaller, = 
more difficultly made, and the drug itfelf greatly inferior 
to the true cochineal. It is commonly known by the 
name of coccus Polonicus, or the fcarlet grain of Poland . 
That country is the place where it is gathered in the 
greatell abundance; but it is not the only one where it 
is found. It is to be met with in many of the northern 
countries ; and poflibly may be found in fome of the 
more temperate ones, where it is not yet known; as it is 
very much obfcured by nature from the eyes of common • 
oblervefs. It is found affixed to the root ot a plant, and 
ufually to plants of that fpecies from thence called poly¬ 
gonum coccferum ; though authors have informed us of 
the fame berry, as it is often called, being found at the 
roots of the. moule-ear, rupture-wort, pimpernel, and 
pellitoryof the wail; and that it is in no other than 
Tandy places that it is found at the roots of thole plants. 
Breynius, in 1731, printed at Dantzick a very curious 
account of this produdlion, which proved it inconteftably 
to be an animal. Towards the end of June the coccus 
is in a fit Hate for being gathered.. Every one of the in¬ 
fedts is then nearly of a fpherical form, and of a fine vio¬ 
let colour. Some of them, however, are not larger than 
poppy- 
