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COCHINEAL

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 621 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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COCHINEAL , a natural dye-stuff used for the See also:

production of See also:scarlet, See also:crimson, See also:orange and other tints, and for the preparation of See also:lake and See also:carmine. It consists of the See also:females of Coccus cacti, an See also:insect of the See also:family Coccidae of the See also:order See also:Hemiptera, which feeds upon various See also:species of the Cactaceae, more especially the nopal plant, See also:Opuntia coccinellifera, a native of See also:Mexico and See also:Peru. The dye was introduced into See also:Europe from Mexico, where it had been in use See also:long before the entrance of the Spaniards in the See also:year 1518, and where it formed one of the See also:staple tributes to the See also:crown for certain districts. In 1523 See also:Cortes received instructions from the See also:Spanish See also:court to procure it in as large quantities as possible. It appears not to have been known in See also:Italy so See also:late as the year 1548, though the See also:art of See also:dyeing then flourished there. See also:Cornelius See also:van Drebbel, at See also:Alkmaar, first employed cochineal for the production of scarlet in 1650. Until about 1725 the belief was very prevalent that cochineal was the See also:seed of a plant, but Dr See also:Martin See also:Lister in 1672 conjectured it to be a See also:kind of See also:kermes, and in 1703 Antony van See also:Leeuwenhoek ascertained its true nature by aid of the See also:microscope. Since its introduction cochineal has sup-planted kermes (Coccus ilicis) over the greater See also:part of Europe. The male of the cochineal insect is See also:half the See also:size of the See also:female, and, unlike it, is devoid of nutritive apparatus; it has long See also:white wings, and a See also:body of a deep red See also:colour, terminated by two diverging setae. The female is apterous, and has a dark-See also:brown piano-See also:convex body; it is found in the proportion of 150 to 200 to one of the male insect. The dead body of the See also:mother insect serves as a See also:protection for the eggs until they are hatched. Cochineal is now furnished not only by Mexico and Peru, but also by See also:Algiers and See also:southern See also:Spain.

It is collected thrice in the seven months of the See also:

season. The See also:insects are carefully brushed from the branches of the See also:cactus into bags, and are then killed by See also:immersion in hot See also:water, or by exposure to the See also:sun, See also:steam, or the See also:heat of an oven—much of the variety of See also:appearance in the commercial See also:article being caused by the mode of treatment. The dried insect has the See also:form of irregular, fluted and See also:concave grains, of which about 70,000 go to a See also:pound. Cochineal has a musty and bitterish See also:taste. There are two See also:principal varieties—silver cochineal, which has a greyish-red colour, and the furrows of the body covered with a white See also:bloom or See also:fine down; and See also:black cochineal, which is of a dark reddish brown, and destitute of bloom. Granilla is an inferior kind, gathered from uncultivated See also:plants. The best See also:crop is the first of the season, which consists of the unimpregnated females; the later crops contain an admixture of See also:young insects and skins, which contain proportionally little colouring See also:matter. The black variety of cochineal is sometimes sold for See also:silver cochineal by shaking it with powdered See also:talc or heavy-spar; but these adulterations can be readily detected by means of a See also:lens. The See also:duty in the See also:United See also:Kingdom on imported cochineal was repealed in 1845. Cochineal owes its tinctorial See also:power to the presence of a sub-stance termed cochinealin or carminic See also:acid, C17H1801o, which may be prepared from the aqueous decoction of cochineal.

End of Article: COCHINEAL

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