DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 317 



the Greeks under that of Coccus (A'oxxoj), and to the 

 Arabians and Persians under that of Kermcs or Allcer- 

 mes ; 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 pro- 

 bably with this substance that the curtains of the taber- 

 nacle (Exodus xxvi. &c.) were dyed deep red (which 

 the word scarlet, as our translators have rendered nylnn 

 W; 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 derived the imperishable reds of the Brus- 

 sels and other Flemish tapestries. In short, previous to 

 the discovery of cochineal, this was the material univer- 

 sally used for dyeing the most brilliant red then known ; 

 and though that production of the New World has, in 

 some respects undeservedly 3 , supplanted it in Europe, 

 where it is little attended to except by the peasantry of 

 the provinces in which it is found, it still continues to be 

 employed in a great part of India and Persia b . 



a The colour communicated by Kermes with alum, the only mor- 

 dant formerly employed, is blood red : but Dr. Bancroft found (i. 404.) 

 that with the solution of tin used with cochineal it is capable of im- 

 parting a scarlet quite as brilliant as that dye, and perhaps more per- 

 manent. At the same time, however, as ten or twelve pounds con- 

 tain only as much colouring matter as one of cochineal, the latter at 

 its ordinary price is the cheapest. 



b Bochart, Hierozoic. ii. 1. iv. c. 27. Beckmann's History of Inven- 

 tions, Engl. Trans, ii. 1 71-205. Bancroft on permanent Colours, \, 393, 

 See also Parkhurst's Heb. Lexicon under ybn and n.w. 



