COCHINEAL INSECT AND PLANT.


[Illustration: COCHINEAL INSECT AND PLANT.]


The frequent mention of the Cochineal Insect and Plant in our pages
will, probably, render the annexed cut of more than ordinary interest
to our readers.[3]

[3] See the Propagation of the Insect in Spain, MIRROR, vol. xii.
and an attempt to naturalize the same at the Cambridge Botanical
Garden, page 217, of the present volume.

The plant on which the Cochineal Insect is found, is called the _Nopal_,
a species of Opuntia, or Prickly Pear, which abounds on all the coasts
of the Mediterranean; and is thus described by Mr. Thompson, in his work
entitled, _Official Visit to Guatemala;_ "The nopal is a plant
consisting of little stems, but expanding itself into wide, thick
leaves, more or less prickly according to its different kind: one or two
of these leaves being set as one plant, at the distance of two or three
feet square from each other, are inoculated with the cochineal, which, I
scarcely need say, is an insect; it is the same as if you would take the
blight off an apple or other common tree, and rub a small portion of it
on another tree free from the contagion, when the consequence would be,
that the tree so inoculated would become covered with the blight; a
small quantity of the insects in question is sufficient for each plant,
which in proportion as it increases its leaves, is sure to be covered
with this costly parasite. When the plant is perfectly saturated, the