| rustic buildings. 
glossy covering of a well-kept horse. 
article GRooMING. 
COB. A wicker basket for carrying on the 
arm, or the small seed-basket carried by a sower ; 
likewise, a mud-wall; and formerly also a spider, 
—hence the word cobweb. 
COBAIA. Asmall genus of ornamental climb- 
ing plants, constituting the natural order Cobzea- 
ceze, and recently separated by Mr. Don from the 
bignonias. The climbing species, C. scandens, is 
the only one in Britain, and was brought hither 
in 1792 from Mexico. It has pinnated tendrilled 
leaves, and large purple flowers; and it usually 
attains a height of from 20 to 40 feet, and blooms 
from May till October. It generally requires 
greenhouse protection during winter ; and it 
grows with such amazing rapidity that, even 
where it cannot resist the effects of winter in 
the open air, it might be successfully and most 
ornamentally employed for covering bowers and 
It is easily renewed every year 
from cuttings or from seed. . 
COBURGIA. A genus of very beautiful, ten- 
der, bulbous-rooted plants, of the amaryllis tribe. 
The vermilion species, C. méniata, was introduced 
to Britain from Peru in 1844. Its leaves are 
bright green, three feet long, and an inch broad ; 
its flower-stem rises to the height of three feet ; 
and its flowers are drooping, narrow, tubular, 
and about 23 inches long,—they are produced in 
a cluster at the top of the flower-stem,—and they 
are at first nearly white, but afterwards become 
overspread with a vermilion tint. The scarlet 
species, CO. coccinea, was introduced from Lima in 
1839; and has considerable affinity, in the form 
of its flower, to Carpodetes recurvata. The flesh- 
coloured species, C. ¢ncarnata, was brought from 
Quito in 1826, resembles a pancratium, grows 
two feet high, has a light scarlet flower, and 
produces an imposing effect. 
COCCINELLA. A large genus of coleopterous 
insects, forming the type. of the Coccinellide 
tribe. About thirty species have been observed 
in England; and are as varied among themselves 
in colour and markings as any of our domestic 
animals. They are beautiful objects; they have 
always been popular favourites ; they everywhere 
secure the admiration and good feeling of chil- 
dren; and they bear the pet names of lady-birds 
and lady-cows among ourselves, and vache-a- 
Dieu and bétes de la Vierge among the French. 
They hybernate in dry fallen leaves, in the cracks 
of palings, beneath the loose bark of trees, and 
in similar situations; they are allured from their 
retreats by sunny days so early in winter as De- 
cember; they sport freely and finally abroad at 
the earliest period of true spring; and the fe- 
males, at the last of these periods, lay their eggs, 
in clusters of about fifty, beneath leaves. The 
eggs are cylindrical, buff-coloured, and set on 
end; and the larve, Plate XVJ., Figs. 17 and 18, 
are of a leaden colour, with orange or scarlet 
spots. They speedily emerge from the eggs, and 
See the 
COCCULUS. 831 
spread themselves over palings, the foliage of trees, 
and the grass of the fields, there to commence a 
course of devastation among the aphides. See the 
article Apuis. ‘Two of the most numerous and 
beneficial species of Coccinella, C. b¢punctata and 
C. septempunctata, Figs. 20 and 21, may be noticed 
both for their own sakes, and as illustrative speci- 
mens of the whole genus. 
The two-spotted coccinella, though always con- 
vex, about 23 lines in length, and quite specifi- 
cally uniform in character, is so variable in col- 
our and markings as to have been called by some 
entomologists Coccinella dispar. One variety of 
it has scarlet wing-cases, with a black spot on 
the centre of each, and cream-coloured spots at 
the inside of the eyes and on each side of the | 
thorax; another variety has a large red patch 
on each shoulder, a round red spot on each wing- 
case, and only the margin of the eyes and of the 
thorax whitish; and while both these varieties 
have a basis colour of black, they constitute the 
extremes of a considerable intermediate grada- 
tion of varieties——The seven-pointed species is 
nearly 3 lines broad, upwards of 34 long, and 
pretty uniform in appearance. It is hemi- 
spherical or very convex, and black; its wing- 
cases are bright brick red, and have a large black 
spot in the centre of the base, with three smaller 
and triangularly arranged dots; at the base of 
the head are two cream-coloured dots; and at 
each of the anterior angles of the thorax is a 
large cream-coloured dot. 
COCCOLOBA. See Srasipr GRAPE. 
COCCOON. ‘The envelope of silky or finely 
hairy material with which many an insect pro- | 
vides itself for protection during its pupa or 
chrysalis state. It consists, in some cases, wholly 
of fine threads spun from the insect’s own secre- 
tions, and, in others, of such threads combined 
with adjacent extraneous materials. Some coc- 
coons, as those of the weevils, the chrysomelide- 
ous beetles, and the gipsy and satin moths, are 
formed simply of a few threads, spun into an | 
open case-work, through the meshes of which the 
pupa can be easily seen; and others, as that of 
the silk-worm, are very elaborate in construction, 
and seem to consist of two distinct portions,— | 
externally a loose, gauze-like covering, and in- 
ternally a closely-woven and compact oval ball. 
As the silk-worm works from the outside to the 
inside of its case, the former is of course first 
spun; but the whole is formed of a single thread; 
and this, in some instances, can be unwound to 
the length of about a thousand feet: Malpighi 
thinks that six distinct layers of silk can be ob- 
served in the coccoon of the silk-worm; and 
Reaumur suspects the number to be still greater. 
COCCULUS.. A genus of tropical, evergreen, 
climbing plants, of the moonseed tribe. ‘I'welve 
species were introduced to Britain from India, 
between 1790 and 1820; and about forty other 
species have been scientifically described. All 
the introduced species are ornaments of the hot- 
