Note 59 — SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN. (continued 2)

"Cactus Opuntia." The belief that the cochineal was the seed of a plant, was prevalent for a very long period after the conquest of Mexico. In a drawing which Champlain gives of the plant, the "seeds" are shown exactly as the insects fix and feed on the leaves. The jealousy of the Spanish government, and the severe monopoly of this production, prevented the true nature and mode of propagation from being known, and gave rise to a variety of fables and conjectures.