^216 EARON WALCKENAER ON THE INSECTS 



lead us to any probable conjecture upon the subject of the Thola or 

 Tholea, if this word, which in the Bible is employed separately, were not 

 elsewhei'e frequently found in conjunction with the word Dihaphi* tp 

 denote the insect that the Arabs term Kermes, and which, when heated 

 with vinegar, produces a fine red colour, in a word, the Cochineal in- 

 ject. The species of cochineal which produces this colour in Europe 

 are the Coccus Ilicis, which attaches itself to the green oakf, and w Inch 

 consequently may be the insect mentioned in the Bible as the destrojer 

 of a tree giving shade ; and the Coccus Polonicus, which adheres to 

 the roots of the annual Scleranthus and other plants :]:. The Coccus of 

 the vine does not produce this colour, but the resemblance of these in- 

 sects, and their generic affinities, must have caused them to be con- 

 founded with the other Coccus, or the TJiolaath Dihaphi, or at least 

 comprehended under the same denomination. Thus we say, and with 

 much less propriety, the worm of the apple and the nut, though these 

 are the larvae of insects of veiy dissimilar genera. The word Thola or 

 Tholaath in the Bible was employed for vermin, louse, a small, insig- 

 nificant, ^ ile, and contemptible insect, as the Phtheir ; but the epithet 

 Dihaphi, designating the Kermes or insect useful in dyeing, which was 

 sometimes added to the word Thola or Tholaath, indicated sufficiently, 

 by the similarity of the species, the nature of the insect or vermin in- 

 tended by the word, and which was productive of so great injury to 

 the vine and certain trees. 



XI. Means which are to he employed to destroy the Insects which infest 

 the Vine. — The recipes of Pliny and Columella for the protection of 

 the vine from the insects which attack it appear to prove that the Cocci 

 committed greater ravages upon the vines in ancient than in modern 

 times. Their directions were to rub the stems and branches of this plant 

 with greasy substances, such as oil or bear's fat, to which m as also added 

 the use of vesicating substances. INIodern cultivators, as I have said, 

 protect the vine from the Coccus by pruning it. But other methods 

 must be employed for the destruction of the Weevils (^Becmares) and 

 Coupe-bourgeons, the Rhynchites Bacchus and Rhynch. Betuleti, and 

 the Eumolpus Vitis. The best of all is to choose the moment when 

 these insects have undergone metamorphosis and begin to copulate, and 

 to place under each vine a kind of basin made for the purpose in the 

 form of a deeply recurved crescent, so as to surround the stem or branch 



* Bochart, Hierozoicon, p. 22. 



•f- Coccus Ilicis, Fabr. Syst. Rhyiigolor., p. 308. Reaumur, Insect., iv. tab. 5. 

 Gavidel, Plantcs des Environs d'Aix, p. 250. pi. 35. Boyer de Fonscolonibe, 

 Ann. de la Societe Entom., vol. iii. p. 210. 



X Coccus Polonicus, Fabr. Syst. Rhyrtgotor., p. 310, No. 26. Frisch., Insect., 

 56. Walckenaer, Faun. Pnris., vol. ii. p. 3C3. 



