CHEEMES ABIETIS. 25 



Legs short and greenish. Rostrum short, but fur- 

 nished with long setae. 



Early in April ; as soon, indeed, as the shoots of the 

 spruce begin to push forth, the foundress commences 

 her operations at the axils of the young leaves. A 

 small swelling here makes its appearaDce, within which 

 she encircles herself. This swelling occasionally attains 

 the size of a hazel-nut ; and sometimes it grows very 

 much larger. 



In the month of May she may be found surrounded 

 with numerous larvae, larger than herself, all of which 

 develop rudiments of wing-cases. It would appear 

 that, with the exception of the above queen- Aphis, all 

 individuals become alate. 



The cautious and indefatigable naturalist De Geer 

 was the first to give a full history of Chermes abietis. 

 Observers who came after him have only amplified and 

 very generally confirmed his discoveries. " In early 

 summer the shoots of the spruce-fir may often be 

 seen covered with excrescences, which are so similar to 

 true fir-cones that they readily deceive the casual 

 observer as to their true nature." De Geer proved 

 that these are produced by the punctures of an insect, 

 exactly as we have seen the galls produced by Tetra- 

 neura and the like. 



The queen Chermes or Altmiitter certainly hyber- 

 nates ; and it is clear that she only wakes upon the 

 return of spring, just as the sap begins to rise into 

 the buds. By absorption she soon passes out of her 

 shrivelled dry condition into plumpness, and then she 

 lays one or more heaps of eggs in the neighbourhood 

 of a bud, which she selects at the axils of two or more 

 succulent branches. 



The punctures she continues to make at the base of 

 this bud cause an arrest of its usual growth, and by 

 a diversion of the sap a thickening and swelling at the 

 bases of the needle-like leaves are produced, which 

 eventually take the form of numerous cells, the aper- 

 tures of which gradually approximate to each other. 



