140 INSECT MANUFACTURES. 



and from the same source were derived the impe- 

 rishable reds of the Brussels and Flemish schools. 

 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, 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 employed in great part of 

 India and Persia. 



Some other insects besides the cochineal and 

 lac insects are found to produce dyes. The galls 

 of a peculiar species of aphis are used in the 

 Levant, Persia and China, for dyeing silk crimson, 

 and it is thought that the galls of another spe- 

 cies of this insect, common on the fir trees of this 

 country, might be employed for a similar purpose. 

 A species of mite is employed in Guinea and Suri- 

 nam as a dye, and it is suggested that the beautiful 

 little dazzling red mite which is common here, might 

 also yield a valuable tincture. Reaumur has even 

 suggested that water colours of beautiful tints not 



