182 
or foaked in fpirit of wine, throws off the 
wax, then both parts of the web, as well 
that which is difcharged in the form of threads, 
as that which is like a membrane, being now 
joined together, nay, the whole figure of the 
web, which is hexagonal below, and {pherical 
above, may be feen. 
Before I enter upon the defcription of the 
Nymph more accurately, I fhall beg leave to 
obferve, that the Cochineal infect if fteeped 
or foaked for fome time in fpirit of wine, ap- 
pears almoft like our Bee-Worm; its body 
being divided by many annular incifions: but 
there is this difference, that it is fhorter and 
thicker than the Bee-Worm, and it alfo ex- 
hibits fome veftiges of legs. ‘The Cochineal 
Worm, as I have heard and been affured by 
fome who {poke pofitively, is produced out of 
an egs, which the parent infect lays on the 
leaves of that very well known American 
plant called Tuna. When thefe Worms are 
firft come out of their eggs, they are as {mall 
as thofe minute Worms which are newly pro- 
duced in cheefe: they are increafed afterwards 
fo much by means of the food, which they 
get from the leaves of this plant, that in a 
{hort time they cover the whole furface: nay, 
they multiply to fuch a degree that in the 
{pace of one year, they will occupy or poffefs 
a field that has an hundred fuch plants, and 
may be collected from thence for exportation 
four or five times yearly. There muft only 
be care taken that the plants be clear of all 
other infects whatfoever, and that no fowls be 
admitted into the place ; for both will greedily 
hunt after and feed upon thefe Worms. When 
the owner is inclined to gather thefe Worms, 
he frft confiders whether they are arrived at 
their full fize, and then fome throw afhes on 
them, and brufh or gather them off the plant, 
and then dry them in the fhade: if thefe 
Worms are left longer to themfelves, they 
then fix themfelves to the leaves when they 
_ are about to change into Nymphs by accre- 
tion: and the Nymphs, cafting off fome time 
after a thin skin, are changed into very {mall 
and almoft orbicular winged Beetles, of a 
brown black colour, adorned with bright pur- 
ple fpots, and diftinguithed into males and feu 
males, who foon after coition lay eggs again. 
Thefe Beetles are not, like the Worms, ufed 
in dying, though they are fometimes brought 
to us mixed with Cochineal, as I myfelf have 
feen, and now have fome that I picked out 
of that drug in my cuftody. 
In our country alfo on the leaves of the 
lillies, Worms are often found which are 
fomewhat thick and of a pale red colour, like 
Cochineal, but they differ from it in that 
they are furnifhed with fix remarkable black 
legs, and havea very confpicuous head. Thefe 
Worms are transformed in a very fhort time 
into an oblong bright red Beetle with black 
legs and horns. This Worm has one thing 
peculiar to it, which is that it covers itfelf 
‘with its own excrements againft the fun’s heat, 
The BO:O0 K. of NAP UR E;- of, 
and by that means renders itfelf in a manner 
invifible ; fince it walks over the leaves of 
lillies covered with its excrements. I have 
likewife in my colleétion of infects fome little 
creatures not unlike the Cochineal Beetle, only 
that they are fomewhat lefs and in fome mea- 
fure different in regard to their colouring. 
Hence I am inclined to think that the Cochi- 
neal may probably be difcovered and fed in 
our country, though I have never yet found 
it. This {pecies of Beetles, which have all 
knobbed horns, are by our country people 
called Lieven Heers Haantjes, or Onze Vrou- 
wen Haantkens: but I fhall now return to 
the Bees. 
The Nymph of the Bee-Worm contains 
nothing elfe but an elegant difpofition and 
well-ordered reprefentation of all the limbs 
and parts of the future Bee ; which, as they 
have been to this time increafing, at length 
become externally confpicuous; but they are 
immoveable until the humours with which 
they are filled and diftended are exhaled and 
diffipated : after that the creature can move 
them. Hence it is that the Bee while in the 
Nymph weighs confiderably more, than when 
it is changed into a perfect Bee. Before I 
exhibit the parts and limbs of this Nymph, I 
fhall defcribe its parts while yet in the Worm, 
with more accuracy and method than -has been 
hitherto done by others. In doing this I fhall 
follow the order according to which the 
Worm infenfibly and naturally approaches to 
the change of its skin, or to the difclofure of 
thefe hidden members: it is as follows. The 
old skull, which is to be immediately caft off, 
becomes infenfibly filled with a limpid hu- 
mour, by force of which it is feparated by 
degrees towards the foremoft parts from the 
head ; hence the horns, teeth and trunk, which 
lie folded and complicated together under the 
skin, are difpofed in fuch a manner, that they 
may be extended and inflated by the imbibed 
humour, all which happens gradually; in 
the mean time the head, which infenfbly and 
in a manner fcarce to be perceived, recedes or 
goes back from the skull, is gently extended 
and expanded ; this is principally occafioned 
by the eyes and their adjacent parts being in- 
flated or diftended with air, blood, and other 
fluids rufhing in; the thorax likewife now 
becomes extuberant, by reafon of the air and 
fluids introduced ; as do alfo the legs them- 
felves in like manner fwelling confiderably 
both above and. under the thorax; they are 
placed in a very elegant manner under the 
- skin: the firft or foremoft pair of legs adhere 
underneath near the probofcis, which together 
with all its parts’ is {tretched upwards, to the 
head in fuch a manner, that the extreme ends 
are in the upper part, and the thighs in the 
lower place; then follows the fecond pair of 
lees which are depofited in like manner; near 
thefe the wings are fituated, whereof the lefs 
are placed by the fides of the greater and a 
little under them ; then follows the laft pair 
of 
