8 MR. E. R. BURDON ON THE 



With regard to this last writer, Coclverell (11) in 1899 wrote as follows :■— 



" The name Kermes had been used in a popular sense from early time, but 

 Boitard is the first author I find using it as a genus in scientific nomenclature." 



Newstead repeats this statement in his recent work on Coccidse (12). 



In view of the facts mentioned above this hardly seems correct, unless 

 Cockerell intended to restrict his meaning to the word when spelt with a 

 " K," and even then both spellings were used by Linnseus. But to return 

 to the genus Chermes, established by Linneeus for the group of four-winged 

 insects referred to above, the diagnosis of the genus was very broad, and 

 allowed the inclusion of all Hemipterous insects with " Rostrum pectorale, 

 antennso thorace longiores, alse 4 deflexse, thorax gibbus, pedes saltatorii." As 

 time went on it was seen that this diagnosis resulted in many insects being- 

 placed in the genus, which in reality belonged not only to separate genera but 

 even to separate families. Most of the Linnsean species of Chermes have accord- 

 ingly been redistributed amongst other genera such as Psylla, Schizoneura, 

 Vacuna, &c., but the Spruce gall-insect has been left in as Chermes abietis. 



In 1837 Hartig (13) revised the diagnosis of the genus but retained the 

 Linnsean name Chermes, and from this time onwards this name has been 

 accepted by the majority of observers, such authorities as Ratzeburg, 

 Kaltenbach, Blochmann, Eckstein, Dreyfus, and, last but not least, Cholod- 

 kovsky, having been content to take Chermes as the generic name for these 

 Spruce gall-insects. 



Numerous attempts have been made at different times to christen the genus 

 afresh — Adelges, Cnaphalodes, Elatiptus, Sacchiphantes, being a few of the 

 names under which this unfortunate genus has been described. But none of 

 these names has been generally accepted, and the attempts to change the 

 name have only resulted in adding to the confusion. 



It will thus be seen from the foregoing that the existence of the same 

 generic name in two families of the Hemiptera is due to the following 

 causes : — 



1. That the dye insect of the Oak had been known since the Arab conquest 



of Spain by the popular name of Kermes all over the South of Europe. 



2. That Linnaeus, apparently unaware of this fact, put the Kermes dye 



insect into the genus Coccus, and employed Chermes as the generic 

 name for another group of insects, amongst which he placed the 

 Spruce gall-insect. 



3. That Geoffrey, objecting to this misapplication of a well-known popular 



name, used Chermes as the generic name for the dye insect which 

 Linnseus called Coccus. 



4. That Boitard used the name for the same insects as Geoffroy but spelt 



it Kermes, 



