environs of Cholula and Huejotzingo. The vexations to which the natives were exposed in the beginning of the conquest, and the low price at which the encomenderos forced the cultivators to sell the cochineal, occasioned this branch of Indian industry to be every where neglected, excepting in the intendancy of Oaxaca. It is scarcely 40 years since the peninsula of Yucatan still possessed considerable nopaleries. In a single night, all the nopals, on which the cochineal lives, were cut down. Indians pretend that the government took this violent resolution to raise the value of a commodity, of which they wished to secure the exclusive property to the inhabitants of Misteca. On the other hand, the whites maintain that the natives, irritated and discontented with the price fixed by the merchants on the cochineal, came to a general understanding, to destroy at once, both the insect and the nopals. The The quantity of cochineal which the intendancy of Oaxaca furnishes to Europe, may be estimated, communibus annis, including the three sorts, grana, granilla, and polvos de grana, at 4000 zurrones, or 32,000 arrobas, which, calculating the arroba at 75 double piastres, amounts to 2,400,000 piastres, or 12 millions of livres Tournois *. The cochineal exported from Vera Cruz, was weight In 1802, 46,964 arrobas, or 3,368,557 p. pound no * 1803, 29,610 arrobas, or 2,238,673 p. But part of one harvest being frequently added to the harvest of the following year, we are not to judge of the progress of the cultivation from the exportation alone. It appears that in general the nopaleries increase very slowly in Misteca. In the intendancy of Guadalaxara there is scarcely 800 arrobas of cochineal produced in a year. Raynalt estimates the whole exportation of New Spain at 4000 quintals, an estimate too low by one half. The East Indies have only begun to pour their cochineal into commerce, but the quantity is very inconsiderable. Captain Nelson carried off the insect from Rio Janeiro in 1793, and nopaleries have been established in the environs of Calcutta, Chittagong, and Madras. Much difficulty was experienced in procuring the species of cactus proper for the nourishment of the insect. We know not if this Brasilian cochineal transported to Asia, be the mealy species of Oaxaca, or if it be the cotton cochineal (grana silvestre). *500,0401. sterling. Trans. I shall not here repeat what Thiery de Menonville, and other naturalists after him, have published on the cultivation of the nopal, and the rearing of the valuable insect which is maintained on it. M. Thiery has displayed as much sagacity in his researches, as courage in the execution of his projects. His observations on the cochineal introduced into St. Domingo, are certainly very accurate; but, ignorant of the language of the country, and afraid of exciting suspicion by a display of too great curiosity, he could only collect, during his stay in the intendancy of Oaxaca, a very imperfect knowledge of the Mexican nopaleries. I had occasion to observe the wild cochineal in the kingdom of New Granada, Quito, Peru, and in Mexico, though I was not fortunate enough to see the fine cochineal; but having consulted persons who have lived long in the mountains of Misteca, and having had at command extracts from several manuscript. memoirs, drawn up by order of the Count de Tessa, during my stay at Mexico, by alcaides and ecclesiastics of the bishoprick of Oaxaca, I flatter myself that I shall be able to communicate some useful information, respecting an insect which has become of the very first importance to European manufactures. Is the mealy fine or Mistec cochineal (gra na fina) specifically different from the cotton or wild cochineal (grana silvestre), or is the latter the primitive stock of the former, which consequently would only be the produce of a degeneracy, originating in the care ofman? This problem is as difficult to decide as the question, whether the domestic sheep descends from the ovis ammon, the dog from the wolf, and the ox from the aurochs. Whatever relates to the origin of species, to the hypothesis of a variety become constant, or a form which perpetuates itself, belongs to problems in zoonomy, on which it is wise to avoid pronouncing decisively. The fine cochineal differs from the wild one, not only in size, but also in being mealy and covered with a white powder, while the wild one is enveloped in a thick cotton, which prevents its rings from being distinguished; but the metamorphoses of the two insects are the same. In those parts of South America where for ages the wild cochineal has been reared, it has never yet lost its down. It is true, that in the nopaleries, established by M. Thiery at St. Domingo, it was thought to be observed, that the insect under the care of man increased in size, and underwent a sensible change in the thickness of its cotton covering; but Mr. Latreille, a learned entomologist, who is inclined to look upon the wild cochineal, as a different species from the fine one, believes that this diminution of down is merely apparent, and that it must be attributed to the thickness of the body of the insect. The rings on the back of the female being more dilated, the hairs covering this part must appear less close, and consequently clearer. I was informed by several persons who had long lived in the environs of the town of Oaxaca, that sometimes among the small coccus recently brought into the world, individuals are observed covered with very long hair. One might be tempted to consider this fact as a proof, that nature when she deviates from her primitive type, returns to it from time to time. In this way the seed of the fragaria monophylla of M. Duchêsne, constantly produces some common strawberries with parted leaves. But we must not forget that the fine cochineal, on leaving the body of the mother, is wrinkled in the back, and covered with twelve silks frequently very long, which disappear when it becomes adult. Those who have not attentively compared the offspring of the fine cochineal, with that of the wild cochineal, are naturally struck with the presence of these hairs. The fine cochineal appears powdery ten days after its birth, when it frees itself from its fringy dress of small silks, whereas the wild cochineal is |