
134 THE INSECT WORLD. 
less they resemble living things. When the coccus is in a state 
for multiplying its species, when it is engaged in laying its 
thousands of eggs, it resembles only an excrescence of the tree. 
The Gallinsecta are found on the elm, the oak, the lime, the 
alder, the holly, the orange tree, and the oleander. Some of the 
species are remarkable for the beautiful red colouring matter 
which they furnish. Such are the Coccus cacti, the Chermes 
variegatus, or Oak Tree Cochineal, and the Coccus polonicus. 
The common cochineal, Coccws cacti, is found in Mexico, on the 
Nopal, or prickly pear (Opuntia), particularly on the Opuntia 
vulgaris, the Opuntia coccifera, and the Opuntia una, plants 
which belong to the family of the Cactacez. 
These insects are rather remarkable, in that the male and female 
are so unlike, that one would take them for 
animals of different genera. 
The male presents an elongated, depressed roa 
of a dark-brown red. Its head small, furnished 
with two long feathery antenne, has only a rudi- 
mentary beak. The abdomen is terminated by 
two fine hairs longer than its body. The wings, 
perfectly transparent, reach beyond the extremity 

of its abdomen, and cross each other horizontally 
Ge hoo eee over itsback. Itis lively and active. The female 
male andfemile- “presents quite a different appearance. It is in 
the first place twice as large as the male (Fig. 92), convex above, 
flat below. It resembles a larva, and has no wings. Its body 
is formed of a dozen segments, covered with a glaucous dust. 
The beak is very fully developed, and the two hairs or bristles 
on the abdomen are much shorter than in the male. 
The weight of the body, compared with the shortness of the 
legs, prevents these creatures from being active. The legs only 
serve, in fact, for clinging to the vegetable from which they draw 
their nourishment. The circumstances attending the birth of the 
cochineal insect are very curious. The larve are born in the 
dried-up body of their dead mother, the skeleton of their mother 
serving them as a cradle. This happens thus:—The eggs are 
attached to the lower part of the mother’s body. When the abdo- 
men of the mother is empty, its lower side draws up towards the 
