44 ® 
CHERMES, 
0ENUS X. — Cherncs , . 
^Nearly allied to the laft tribe of infefts, but of fuper?-. 
or fize, is the chermes, a race termed gall infeBs by M, 
de Reaumur * , Their characters are drawn from the litu- 
ation of the roftrum, which is placed in the bread ; and 
from the fhape of the antennae, which are longer than the 
thorax- The wings are four in number, folding clofe 
along the fides of the abdomen ; the feet are formed for 
leaping, their tarfi having two articulations. 
Thefe animals are found inhabiting a great variety of 
different trees and plants, upon which they produce very 
lingular excrefcences : The Linqeean names affixed to 
each fpecies are for the me, ft part derived from the par- 
ticular tree upon which they feed ; that of the fig tree is 
the largeft, and therefore more eafily examined than any 
of the reft of the tribe. 
The whole body of this infeft is brown above, and 
green beneath ; the antennae are large, hairy, and of the 
fame hue with the back. The wings, which are twice 
the length of the abdomen, are placed fo as to form a 
kind of roof, as if to protect the animal from rain f. 
Other fpecies, of inferior fize, frequent the elm, the aPn, 
the cherry, and the fir; that which inhabits the laft of 
thefe trees is provided, with a iharp pointed inftrument, 
by 
* Tome III. Memoire x. 
f BarbutV Gen. Infeift. p. 150, 
