22 BRITISH APHIDES. 



winged ; but anatomical evidence that the insects in 

 question were of this sex is desirable. 



The apterous male I have discovered in Chermes 

 abietis, and this sex I have clearly proved by dissec- 

 tion. 



Passerini's* remarks on the propriety of retaining 

 the genus Chermes amongst the Aphididas appear to 

 be judicious. It is true that the tribe as now restricted 

 does not fully accord with the characters originally set 

 forth by Linnaeus, nevertheless some confusion would 

 now arise by a transfer of the name to Coccus, as has 

 been proposed by Geoffrey, and afterwards carried out 

 by Vallot in his genus Adelges. As regard should be 

 paid to priority, I follow Kaltenbach, Koch, and many 

 other authors in retaining the name of Chermes 

 amongst the Aphididae. 



The ancient Persians seem first to have given this 

 name, Kermes, to the red dye obtained from the insect, 

 called afterwards by Linnaeus Kermes ilicis (now Coccus 

 ilicis). The red produced from Kermes is not of such 

 a vivid scarlet as that yielded by Coccus cacti, the 

 cochineal scale-bug. 



The name, Kermes mineral, given by the old chemists 

 to one of the ores of antimony, a substance used in the 

 East to dye the eyelids, probably has the same etymo- 

 logical source. The Moors have left a similar word, 

 Kermez, in Spanish, for a dye. 



Though the galls commonly found on the English 

 oaks are not the work of an Aphis, we may conceive 

 that this insect was called upon to act a part in the 

 adjuration so playfully set forth by Mr. Tennyson in 

 tho soliloquy of the talking oak of Sumner Chase : — 



" I swear ! and else may insects prick 

 Each leaf into a gall." 



* Passerini, ' Flora degli Afidao Italiani,' p. 3. 



