438      CULTURE  OF  COCHINEAL  IN  THE  CANARY  ISLANDS. 
pear  to  be  wholly  exhausted,  are  collected  and  killed.  These 
yield  the  finest  and  most  valuable  cochineal;  mother  cochineal, 
when  dried,  is  quite  black.  It  is  known  in  commerce  under  the 
name  of  black  cochineal,  cochineal  renigrida,  grana  nigra,  and  the 
pound  costs  eighteen  reals. 
It  must  not  be  forgotten,  that  the  more  leafy  the  nopal  is,  the 
less  the  insects  like  it,  and  for  this  reason  the  plants  are  allowed, 
just  before  putting  out  the  young  insects,  to  fade  slightly,  and 
are  then  watered  some  time  afterwards  to  revive  them.  The  in- 
insects  become  fall-grown  in  fifty  or  sixty  days.  The  males  are 
very  small,  dirty-white,  and  winged ;  they  die  immediately  after 
the  impregnation  of  the  females.  The  form  of  the  latter  is  that 
of  an  ellipse  divided  lengthways;  they  are  from  three  to  four 
lines  in  length.  The  insects  remain  upon  the  same  spot  of  the 
leaves  after  once  settling,  and  when  once  removed,  they  are  un- 
able to  attach  themselves  again  either  there  or  elsewhere. 
In  from  sixty-five  to  one  hundred  and  fifteen  days,  the  breed- 
ing time  of  the  new  generation  comes  on,  and  the  insects  are  re- 
moved to  make  place  for  the  succeeding  young  ones.  This  is 
done  with  a  broad  knife  with  rounded  end,  and  a  piece  of  metal 
attached  covering  two-thirds  of  the  convex  surface,  and  attached 
to  the  handle,  which  extends  afoot  and  a  half  in  a  tongue  shape, 
so  that  the  insects,  when  removed,  fall  into  the  hollow.  The  in- 
sects are  detached  from  the  leaf  by  the  tongue-shaped  handle, 
and  swept  off  by  the  knife  into  a  tin  box  held  in  the  left  hand. 
It  is  about  five  or  six  inches  deep,  triangular,  and  furnished  with 
a  handle  at  one  side. 
As  the  value  of  the  cochineal  depends  upon  the  size  of  the  in- 
sects, the  largest  are  gathered  first,  and  in  this  way  an  opportuni- 
ty is  provided  for  the  remaining  ones  to  become  larger.  The 
breeding  insects  are  collected  from  among  the  larger  ones.  Their 
collection  requires  great  dexterity  and  quickness. 
The  insects  collected  are  killed  daily,  and  for  this  purpose 
they  are  spread  out  in  layers  about  an  inch  deep,  upon  trays  of 
tin  or  clay,  which  are  placed  in  an  oven  heated  to  131°  F. 
Great  care  must  be  taken  not  to  burn  the  insects,  or  allow  them 
to  adhere  to  the  bottom  of  the  tray.  When  they  are  all  dead, 
they  are  put  into  boxes  and  exposed  to  the  sun  until  perfectly 
dry,  and  care  must  be  taken  that  they  do  not  become  mouldy. 
