Encyclopaedia Britannica; or, A dictionary of arts and sciences, compiled upon a new plan … > Volume 2, C-L

C O C (2
The cochineal infeft may, in fome circumftances,
be compared to the filk worm, particularly in the
manner of depofiting its eggs. The infedts deltined,
for this particular are taken at a proper time of their
growth, and put into £ box well clofed, and lined with
a coarfe cloth that none of them be loft: and in this
confinement they lay their eggs and die. The box
is kept clofe fhut till the time of placing the eggs on
the nopal, when, if any motion is perceived, it is a
fufficient indication that the animalcule has life, tho’
the egg is fo minute as hardly to be perceived ; and
this is the feed placed on the foliage of the nopal, and
the quantity contained in the fhell of a hen’s egg is
fufficient for covering a whole plant. It is remarkable
that this infedt does not, or at leaft in any vifible
manner, injure the plant, but extradts its nourifhment
from the moft fucculent juice, which it fucks by means
of its probofcis through the fine teguments of the
leaves.
The pi-incipai countries where the cochineal infedts
are bred, are Oaxaca, Flafcala, Chulula, Nueva Gal-
licia, and Chiapa, in the kingdom of New Spain;
and Hambato, Loja, and Tucuman in Peru : but it
is only in Oaxaca, that they are gathered in large
quantities, and form a branch of commerce, the cul¬
tivation of thefe little creatures being there the chief
employment of the Indians.
COCCOTHRAUSTES, in ornithology, the trivial
name of a fpecies of loxia. See Loxia.
COCCULUS INDICUS, the name of a poifonous
berry, too frequently ufed by brewers in order to
render their malt liquors intoxicating. It is the fruit
of the menifpermum cocculus. See Menispermum.
COCCUS, in zoology, a genus belonging to the order
of hemiptera. The roftrum proceeds from the breaft;
the belly is briftly behind ; the wings of the male are
eredt; and the female has no wings. The fpecies are
twenty-two, denominated principally from the plants
they frequent.
COCCYG/EUS musculus, in anatomy. SeeVol.I.
p. 220.
COCCYX, or Coccvgis os, in anatomy. SeeVol. I.
p. 171.
COCHIN, a port-town of India, on the Malabar-coaft,
about on hundred miles fouth of Calicut: W. long.
750, and N. lat. q0' 30'. Here the Dutch have a fac¬
tory, and a very ftrong fort.
Cochn china, a kingdom of India, fituated between
104° and 109° E. long, and between io° and 170 N.
lat. being bounded by the kingdom of Tonquin on the
north, by the Indian ocean on the eaft and fouth, and
by the kingdom of Cambodia on -the weft: it is up¬
wards of four hundred miles long, and one hundred
and fifty broad, producing chiefly filk and rice.
COCHINEAL. See coccinella.
COCHLEA, the snail-shell, in zoology. See
LI M A X.
Cochlea, in anatomy. See Vol. I. p. 297.
COCHLEARIA, scurvy-grass, in botany, a genus
of the.tetradynamia filiculofa clafs. The pod is emar-
ginated, turgid, and fcabrous j and the valves are ob-
id ) C I R
tufe and gibbous. The fpecies are eight, fix of which
. are natives of Britain, viz. the officinalis, or common
fcurvy-grafs, the leaves of which are famous for curing
the fcurvy; the groenlandica, or Greenland feurvy-
grafs ; the anglica, or common fea feuryy grafs; the
danica, or Danifh fcurvy-grafs ; the coronopus, or
fwine-creffes ; and the armoracia,' or horfe-radifh..
COCHLITES, in natural hiftory, an appellation given
to the petrified fhells of the cochlese, or fnails.
COCK, in zoology, the Englifh name of the males of
gallinaceous birds, but more especially ufed for the
commorvdunghill-cock. See Phasianus.
Cock’s-comb, in botany. See Pninanthus.
Cock-pit, a fort of theatre upon which game-cocks
fight.
Cock-pit, in a man of war, a place on the lower floor,
or deck, abaft the main capftain, lying between the
platform and the fteward’s room, where are partitions
for the purfer, furgeon, and his mates.
Cock-swain, or Coxon, an officer on board a^man
of war, who has the care of the barge and all things
belonging to it, and muft be alfo ready with his crew
to man the boat on all occafions: he fits at the ftern
of the boat, and fleers.
COCKERMOUTH, a borough-town of Cumberland,
fituated on the river Derwent, near the Irifh fea, a-
'bout twenty five miles fouth-weft of Carlifle: W. Jon.
30 io/, and N. lat. 540 35'. It fends two members
to parliament. - t
COCKET is a feal belonging to the king’s cuftom-houfe,
or rather a fcroll of parchment fealed and delivered by
the officers of the cuftoms to merchants, as a warrant
that their merchandifes are cuftomed.
It is alfo ufed for the office where goods tranfport-
ed were firft entered, and paid their cuftom, and had
a cocket or certificate of difeharge.
COCOA, or Cacao, in botany. See Theobroma.
COCOI, in ornithology. See Arctea.
COCONATO, a town of Italy in the province of Pied¬
mont, about twenty miles eaft of Turin; it is faid to
be the birth-place of the famous Columbus, who dif-
covered America: E. long. 8°, and N. lat. 440 50'.
COCTION, a general term for all alterations made in
bodies by the application of fire or heat.
COD, in ichthyology. See Gad us.
Cod is alfb a term ufed, in fome parts of the kingdom,
for a pod. See Pod.
Cod-cape, in geography, a promontory on the coaft of
New England, near the entrance of Bofton harbour :
W. long. 69° ?o', and N lat. 420.
CODDY MODDY, the Englifh name of a fpecies of
larus. See Larus.
CODE, a colledfion of the laws and conftitutions of the
Roman emperors, made by order of Juftinian. See
Law.
CODEX, in antiquity, denotes a book or tablet, on
which the ancients wrote. It was of the bark of a
tree, of ivory, of pardhment, or of paper.
CODIA, among botanifts, fignifies the head of any
plant, but more particularly a poppy-hea^, whence its
fyrup is called diacodium.
CODICIL,