CHERMES ABIETIS. 27 



and numerous pellucid globules may be found inter- 

 spersed, which I regard as fascal matter.* 



Although these insects are too closely packed 

 together to allow of any locomotion, they walk readily 

 after removal from their nidus. Fine black bristles 

 protrude from the points of their rostra, by which 

 they hold firmly to the inside of the chamber. 



As a cone may have fifty or more inhabitants in 

 each separate chamber, a single structure, even at a 

 moderate computation, may contain two thousand 

 inhabitants. A section of one of these pseudo-galls 

 often shows the spruce shoot as an axis around which 

 the various cells are symmetrically placed. 



Shortly after the middle of June the scales contract 

 and open, so as to form clear exits for the pupas. These 

 on a sunny day will emerge by hundreds and mount on 

 the spines to dry their expanding wings. A gleam of 

 bright sunshine will call them forth in clouds ; each 

 insect taking wing with a whirling motion, and a 

 " buzz " very loud for a body so small. After the escape 

 of the Chermes the cones dry up and form hard masses 

 of open cells, which remain long afterwards on the 

 trees. 



I have in vain searched for winged males amongst 

 the thousand forms I have bred under bell-glasses 

 during different seasons. Leuckart, indeed, some 

 years ago denied the existence of any male ; but after 

 the recent interesting discoveries on the dissimilar 

 genera of Neuroterus and Spathegaster by Dr. Adler, 

 and the remarks by M. Lichtenstein upon the Cynipidce, 

 it will be hazardous now to commit oneself to such 

 an opinion. 



Ratzeburg believed that he had discovered the 



* This mealy matter is insoluble in alcohol, but it dissolves in benzole. 

 It is composed of an abundance of broken and flattened threads, which 

 polarise light. Doubtless these are minute portions of the corkscrew- 

 like, silky masses, which are secreted by certain glands, and which are 

 pressed through certain apertures to be seen on the body-rings, by em- 

 ploying a microscope with a suitable amplifying power. This mealy 

 matter, and the corresponding secreting glands, are figured in Plate C, 

 vol. i, figs. 6, 7, 8, and 9. 



