14 THE TREES AND SHRUBS [LECT. 



indigenous to the south of Europe, which from 

 its being subject to the attacks of the insect called 

 the Coccus ilicis, occasioning by its puncture a 

 little red gall, known as Kermes, is denominated 

 by modern botanists Quercus cocci/era, 



This scarlet berry, or grain, as Pliny calls it, was 

 highly prized in dyeing until the discovery of the 

 cochineal insect, w r hich from its brighter hue has 

 superseded it, and in the time of the Romans it 

 was a great article of commerce, furnishing to the 

 poor of Spain the means of paying one-half of the 

 tribute exacted of them. 



Pliny, however, has committed the double inac- 

 curacy, of confounding the tree which bears it with 

 the Ilex, which indeed is not surprising, as they are 

 both evergreen species of the same genus, and also 

 with the Aquifolium, which is, as already remarked, 

 our common Holly. 



The Halipklceos is stated as being the worst of 

 any, both for firewood and for timber, having a re- 

 markable thick bark, and a trunk, which although 

 of considerable size, is for the most part hollow 

 and spongy, so that it rots even whilst the tree is 

 alive. It rarely bears acorns, and what there are, 

 have a taste so bitter and forbidding that no animal 

 will touch them. 



The description seems to correspond best with 

 the Q. pseudo-suber of the present day, a native of 

 the mountains of Tuscany, Spain, and Barbary, the 

 bark of which is corky, although in a less degree 

 than the true Cork-tree. 



