182 DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 



to the Phoenicians before the time of Moses under the name of Tola or 

 Thola (y^ifl), to the Greeks under that of Coccus (KOKKOS), and to the 

 Arabians and Persians under that of Kermes or Alkermes ; whence, as 

 Beckmann has shown, and from the epithet vermiculatum given to it in the 

 middle ages, when it was ascertained to be the produce of a worm, have 

 sprung the Latin coccineus, the French cramoisi and vermeil, and our 

 crimson and vermilion. It was most probably with this substance that the 

 curtains of the tabernacle (Exod. xxvi. &c.) were dyed deep red (which 

 the word scarlet, as our translators have rendered JJ? ny?in, then implied, 

 not the colour now so called, which was not known in James the First's 

 reign when the Bible was translated), it was with this that the Grecians 

 and Romans produced their crimson ; and from the same source were de- 

 rived the imperishable reds of the Brussels and other Flemish tapestries. 

 In short, previous to the discovery of cochineal, this was the material 

 universally used for dyeing the most brilliant red then known ; and though 

 that production of the New World has, in some respects undeservedly 1 , 

 supplanted it in Europe, where it is little attended to except by the pea- 

 santry of the provinces in which it is found, it still continues to be em- 

 ployed in a great part of India and Persia. 2 



The scarlet grain of Poland (Coccus polonicus) is found on the roots of 

 the perennial knawel (Scleranthus perennis, a scarce plant in this country, but 

 abundant in the neighbourhood of Elvedon in Suffolk), and was at one 

 time collected in large quantities for dyeing red in the Ukraine, Lithuania, 

 &c. But though still employed by the Turks and Armenians for dyeing 

 wool, silk, and, hair, as well as for staining the nails of women's fingers, 

 it is now rarely used in Europe except by the Polish peasantry. A similar 

 neglect has attended the Coccus found on the roots of Poterium San- 

 guisorba 3 , which was used by the Moors for dyeing silk and wool a rose 

 colour ; and the Coccus Uva-ursi, which with alum affords a crimson 

 dye. 4 



Cochineal, the Coccus cacti, is doubtless the most valuable product for 

 which the dyer is indebted to insects, and, with the exception perhaps of 

 indigo, the most important of dyeing materials. Though the Spaniards 

 found it employed by the natives of Mexico, where alone it is cultivated, 

 on their arrival in that country in 1518, its true nature was not accurately 

 ascertained for nearly two centuries afterwards. Acosta, indeed, as early 

 as 1530, and Herrara and Hernandez subsequently, had stated it to be an 

 insect : but, led apparently by its external appearance, notwithstanding the 

 conjectures of Lister and assertions of Pere Plumier to the contrary, it 

 was believed by Europeans in general to be the seed of a plant, until 

 Hartsoeker in 1694, Leeuwenhoek and De la Hire in 1704, and Geoffrey, 



1 The colour communicated by Kermes, with alum, the only mordant formerly 

 employed, is blood red ; but Dr. Bancroft found (i. 404.) that with the solution of 

 tin used with cochineal it is capable of imparting a scarlet quite as brilliant as that 

 dye, and perhaps more permanent. At the same time, however, as ten or twelve 

 pounds contain only as much colouring matter as one of cochineal, the latter at its 

 ordinary price is the cheapest. 



2 Bochart, Hierozolc. ii. l.iv. c. 27. Beckmann's History of Inventions, Engl. 

 Trans, ii. 171 205. Bancroft on Permanent Colours, i. 393. See also Parkhurst's 

 Heb. Lexicon under t^jfl and ftyy. 



5 Rai. Hist. Plant, i 401. Bancroft, i. 401 



