ANOTHER INTERIOR OF A BEE-HIVE.
MALE COCHINEAL INSECT.—(Magnified.)
FEMALE.—Upper surface.
FEMALE.—Under surface.
CHAPTER VI.
MANUFACTURE OF COCHINEAL BY THE COCCUS CACTI, OR COCHINEAL INSECT.
The cochineal insect is extremely valuable in commerce, as yielding a brilliant red dye, and we may with propriety class it among insect manufactures, because, although its destruction is necessary to obtain the colouring matter, (the actual body of the insect forming the dye,) yet this beautiful colour is elaborated from the food on which it feeds, as honey and wax are elaborated by the bee, or silk by the silkworm. We do not find, it is true, any especial care or effort on the part of the insect in the production of the cochineal, and in this respect it differs from the examples already given; but the rich colour which pervades the body of the insect appears to result simply from the juices of the particular species of cactus on which it feeds. Yet being to us the only means of obtaining the brilliant dye in question, the cochineal insects must be reckoned highly useful, though involuntary, manufacturers.
Cochineal insects are very small, delicate creatures, remarkable for the great difference in the form of the male and female. The former has a slender body, long antennæ, and two large wings; the latter an oval body, without wings, and short antennæ. The mouth in both insects consists of a small conical bill and sucker, adapted for feeding on the juices of vegetables. At first, all the young brood, whether male or female, resemble tiny red tortoises, and are busily engaged in feeding on the stems and leaves of plants, which they pierce with their sharp beaks so as to do much injury. During this active period of their lives the insects continue to increase in size, but the period soon arrives when they undergo a transformation. All the insects fix themselves firmly to plants or stems, and the male soon appears in his new dress as a fly, while the female merely changes her skin, and remains fixed to the bark, which she gradually becomes so nearly like, that it is difficult to distinguish her. She now lays her eggs, which are very numerous, and which she accumulates beneath her body; but, at the same time, she gradually dwindles in size until her body becomes a mere pellicle or thin membrane enclosing the brood. The mother then dies, but her dried body remains as a sort of shell or cocoon for the protection of her young. When these are hatched, they soon make their way from beneath the scaly covering, and commence feeding vigorously on the juices of the plant.