192 THE COCCIDAE 



cerores. The anal ring is distinct in the first nymphal stage and bears 

 six anal ring setae. The anal lobes are distinct and each bears a 

 single large anal seta. The caudal end of the rectum is not strongly 

 chitinized, forming a rectal tube with one or more rings of anacerores 

 excreting a long glassy tube of wax. The caudal abdominal segment 

 is not short, narrow, and projecting. 



The male has ten ocellanae, five on each side of the head. The ab- 

 domen is not provided with long lateral filaments or with tufts of long 

 wax filaments, but bears two long caudal filaments. The stylus is short. 



This subfamily contains a single genus, Kermes, and about 

 forty species all of which with only two exceptions feed upon 

 various species of oak. The single species found in Australia feeds 

 upon Acacia and one of the Japanese species feeds upon Quercus 

 and Rhamnus. The great majority of the species are found in 

 Europe and America, with the larger number in the latter country. 



One of the species, Kermes ilicis, is found abundantly upon 

 a small species of live oak, Quercus coccifera, in southern Europe. 

 It has been used as a dye from the earliest times for dyeing cloth 

 blood red or crimson. The Phoenecians before the time of Moses 

 used it as a dye and it was also used in ancient times by the 

 Greeks, Romans, Arabians, and Persians. The latter people knew 

 it under the name of Kermes. The crimson of the Greeks and 

 Romans was produced with this color and the imperishable reds of 

 the Brussels and other Flemish tapestries were produced with this 

 same dye. It was universally used before the discovery of the 

 new world and the introduction of cochineal from America by the 

 Spaniards. 



The adult females, which have the body naked or rarely 

 covered with a slight bloom of mealy wax or sparsely pubescent, 

 are usually attached to the smaller branches of young trees. The 

 insects vary greatly in color, brownish or blackish or dirty yellow- 

 ish, with or without darker markings, which are generally arranged 

 as light or dark transverse bands. The portion of the body applied 

 to the plant is flat or concave or irregular so that the insect fits 

 securely against the bark of the branch. The most of the species 

 are globular or subglobular in form and resemble very closely the 

 minute smooth bullet galls found on the stems of the same trees. 

 The female of Kermes resembles berries or galls so closely in general 

 appearance that they are frequently regarded or mistaken for galls 

 and not as the bodies of insects. This resemblance is enhanced 

 through the fixation of the insects in the angles or near buds, 

 where the bullet galls are usually located. The species of this 



