15th century. This eastern region was occupied in the 17th century by
the Annamese, who in the 18th century absorbed the western provinces.
From this period the history of Cochin-China follows that of Annam
(q.v.) till 1867, when it was entirely occupied by the French and became
a French colony. In 1887 it was united with Cambodia, Annam and Tongking
to form the Indo-Chinese Union (see INDO-CHINA, FRENCH).

FOOTNOTE:

[1] See also INDO-CHINA, FRENCH; and ANNAM.

COCHINEAL, a natural dye-stuff used for the production of scarlet,
crimson, orange and other tints, and for the preparation of lake and
carmine. It consists of the females of _Coccus cacti_, an insect of the
family _Coccidae_ of the order _Hemiptera_, which feeds upon various
species of the _Cactaceae_, more especially the nopal plant, _Opuntia
coccinellifera_, a native of Mexico and Peru. The dye was introduced
into Europe from Mexico, where it had been in use long before the
entrance of the Spaniards in the year 1518, and where it formed one of
the staple tributes to the crown for certain districts. In 1523 Cortes
received instructions from the Spanish court to procure it in as large
quantities as possible. It appears not to have been known in Italy so
late as the year 1548, though the art of dyeing then flourished there.
Cornelius van Drebbel, at Alkmaar, first employed cochineal for the
production of scarlet in 1650. Until about 1725 the belief was very
prevalent that cochineal was the seed of a plant, but Dr Martin Lister
in 1672 conjectured it to be a kind of kermes, and in 1703 Antony van
Leeuwenhoek ascertained its true nature by aid of the microscope. Since
its introduction cochineal has supplanted kermes (_Coccus ilicis_) over
the greater part of Europe.

The male of the cochineal insect is half the size of the female, and,
unlike it, is devoid of nutritive apparatus; it has long white wings,
and a body of a deep red colour, terminated by two diverging setae. The
female is apterous, and has a dark-brown plano-convex body; it is found
in the proportion of 150 to 200 to one of the male insect. The dead body
of the mother insect serves as a protection for the eggs until they are
hatched. Cochineal is now furnished not only by Mexico and Peru, but
also by Algiers and southern Spain. It is collected thrice in the seven
months of the season. The insects are carefully brushed from the
branches of the cactus into bags, and are then killed by imme