832 
house; they range in usual height from 6 to 25 
feet ; and all have oblong-ovate or partially cor- 
date leaves, and whitish-green or greenish-yel- 
low flowers. ‘wo of the introduced species, C. 
palmatus and C. Plukenetit, are medicinal; the 
former of these yields the calumba-root of the 
British pharmacopeias; and some one of the un- 
introduced species, probably C. tuberosus, yields 
the large poisonous seed, called Cocculus Indicus, 
commonly sold in drug shops, and somewhat ex- 
tensively used in some large manufactories of 
malt liquor. See the articles CanumBa and Atz. 
A peculiar, bitter, poisonous principle, now pretty 
well known under the name of picrotoxia or 
picrotoxine, is obtained from cocculus indicus. 
COCCUS. A genus of insects of the order of 
heteroptera, family gallinsecta. Generic charac- 
ter: antennee filiform, of 10 or 11 articulations 
in both sexes, shorter than the body ; rostrum 
pectorale, conspicuous only in the females ; 
males with two large incumbent wings ; fe- 
males apterous, subtomentose, fixed, and becom- 
ing gall-shaped or shield-shaped after impregna- 
tion. 
These little insects are remarkable for many 
peculiarities in their habits and conformation. 
| The males are elongated in their form, have long, 
| large wings, and are destitute of any obvious 
| means of suction; the females, on the contrary, 
are of a rounded or oval form, have no wings, 
but possess a beak or sucker, attached to the 
breast, by which they fix themselves to the 
plants on which they live, and through which 
they draw their nourishment. At a certain 
period of their life, the females attach themselves 
to the plant or tree which they inhabit, and re- 
main thereon immoveable during the rest of their 
existence. In this situation, they are impreg- 
nated by the male; after which, their body in- 
creases considerably, in many species losing its 
original form, and assuming that of a gall, and, 
after depositing the eggs, drying up, and forming 
a habitation for the young. ‘This change of form 
is not, however, constant to all the species, which 
has given rise to a division of the genus into two 
sections :—those which assume a gall shape, in 
which the rings of the abdomen are totally obli- 
terated, are called hermes by some authors; and 
those which retain the distinct sections of the 
abdomen, notwithstanding the great enlargement 
of the body, are called true cocci, or cochineal. 
They are impregnated in the spring, after having 
passed the winter fixed to plants, particularly in 
the bifurcations, and under the small branches. 
Towards the commencement of summer, they 
have acquired their greatest size, and resemble a 
little convex mass, without the least appearance 
of head or feet, or other organs. Many species 
are covered with a sort of cottony down. Hach 
female produces thousands of eggs, which are 
expelled by a small aperture at the extremity of 
the body. As soon as they are produced, they 
pass immediately under the parent insect, which 
COCCUS. 
becomes their covering and guard; by degrees, 
her body dries up, and the two membranes flat- 
ten, and form a sort of shell, under which the 
eggs, and subsequently the young ones, are found 
coccated. Soon after the death of the mother, 
the young insects leave their hiding-place, and 
seek their nourishment on the leaves, the juices 
of which they suck through the inflected ros- 
trum, placed beneath their breast.—But it is 
with a view to their importance as an article of 
commerce, arising from their use in the arts, 
that the insects of this genus are particularly 
interesting. When it is considered that the 
most brilliant dyes and the most beautiful pig- 
ments, as well as the basis of the most useful 
kinds of cement, are their product, it will be ac- 
knowledged, that to none of the insect tribe, ex- 
cept, perhaps, to the bee and the gall insect, are 
we more indebted than to these singular and 
apparently insignificant little beings. Kermes, 
the scarlet grain of Poland, cochineal, lac-lake, 
lac-dye, and all the modifications of gum-lac, are 
either the perfect insects dried, or the secretions 
which they form. 
The first mentioned substance is the Coccus 
drcis. It is found in great abundance upon a 
species of evergreen oak, Quercus coccifera, which 
grows in many parts of Europe, and has been 
the basis of a crimson dye from the earliest ages 
of the arts. It was known to the Phcenicians 
before the time of Moses; the Greeks used it | 
under the name of xoxx0s, and the Arabians un- 
der that of cermes. From the Greek and Ara- 
bian terms, and from the Latin name vermicula- 
tum, given to it when it was known to be the 
product of a worm, have been derived the Latin 
coccineus, the French cramoisis and vermeil, and 
the English crimson and vermilion. The early 
Jews, the Greeks, the Romans, and, until lately, 
the tapestry-makers of Hurope have used it as 
the most brilliant red dye known. ‘The scarlet 
grain of Poland, Coccus Polonicus, is found on 
the roots of the Scleranthus perennis, which grows 
in large quantities in the north-east of Europe, 
and in some parts of England. This, as well as 
several other species, which afford a similar red 
dye, have, however, fallen into disuse since the 
introduction of cochineal. This valuable and 
most important material is the Coccus cacti, a 
native of Mexico, and an inhabitant of a species 
of cactus, called nopal, which was long thought 
to be the Cactus cochinilifer, but which Hum- 
boldt considers a distinct species. The trees 
which produce the cochineal are cultivated for 
this purpose in immense numbers; and the ope- 
ration of collecting the insects, which is exceed- 
ingly tedious, is performed by the women, who 
brush them off with the tail of a squirrel or stag. 
The insects are killed by being thrown into boil- 
ing water, placed in ovens, or dried in the sun. 
Those which are killed by the latter method 
fetch a higher price, from the white powder, 
covering the insect, being still retained, and 
