CHERMES. 
44 £ 
by which it makes punctures in the extremity of the 
branches, in order to depofit its young. By this means 
the fir-tree chermes produces that enormous fcaly pro- 
tuberance, which is often feen at the funamit of the 
branches, and which is formed by the extravafation of toe 
juices through the wounds thus made f. 
The larva dhermes has fix ? set : In figure, it refetn- 
bles the perfect infeft ; it fbape is oblong, and its mo- 
tion flow. In the chrylalid ftate, the form is fome vhat 
changed, by two fmall protuheraoces upon tht thorax, 
the rudiments of future wings. When the cnryfalids 
are about to undergo their laft metamorphofes, they re- 
treat to the under fide of a leaf, to which they remain 
attached without motion. 
On the approach of their change, the membrane above 
the head and thorax is feen to fplit and open : The per- 
fect infect then comes forth with its wings, leaving the 
fpoils of its chryfalis ftill adhering to the leaf, and rent 
on the anterior part. The empty floughs of thefe in lefts 
are often found in great plenty beneath the leaves of the 
fig-tree. 
The tubercles raifed upon the branches of trees by the 
punftures of the chermes, not only become the refidence 
of the animal, but alfo of its eggs and larva, which are 
contained in thofe cells with which they abound. The 
box-tree chermes produces no excrefcences upon that 
plant : Its punftures make the leaves bend in towards 
each other at their extremity, where their union forms, 
tit the fummit of the branch, a hollow knob, in which 
the larvae of that infeft find fhelter. 
-Vol. III. 3 K J?oth 
t Vide Reaumur & Frifch. Germ, xii, p. 10. 
