-analogous to the dried milk o f the. tree, on which it has its birth
and increafe. The parts o f the. animal could not be diftinguiih-
ed, when I obferved it the firft' time on the ifland o f UsOl ian.w
and colledted a good quantity. .Afterwards, on examining the
galls, I found, in each o f .them, a flimy fubftance, o f a bloody
colour, w"hich tinged the fingers with a very beautiful red. I
carried a parcel , to Zara, in the month of June, and from a
fmall part o f it only, I ex traded, by fimple decodion, a tenacious
matter, of a pale red colour: the water, in which the
-galls .were boiled, remained tinged with a yellowifh red.
Having kept by me feveral o f thefe galls, carefully colleded,
in order to proted the animals concealed within them, I accidently
let them remain in a box, for feveral days, without looking
at them ; and on opening it, I was furprized to obferve innumerable
red granules, which, when examined by the micro-
lcope, appeared plainly to h e eggs, o f an oblong form, much
refembling -the oval bags o f filk-worms. No veftiges o f any
worm, or fly appeared in the box, and had there been any,
they could not p o f l ib ly h a v e e fc a p ed , as it was nicely icrewed
together. I laid it by again, and opening it five or fix days after,
I faw an innumerable fwarm o f little red animáis, which, at
firft, appeared to have white wings; but, on examining them
with the microfcope, I plainly difcovered them to be apteri,
with fix feet, and not yet entirely free from the covering o f the
cgg> which they carried on their back, refembling wings raifed
up, and united. 1 ihut them up in their prifon again, and in
a few days they died o f hunger. The fig-trees about Zara, not
being peopled with thefe infeifts, I was therefore obliged to renounce
my defire ofexaming them further.
: Some
'Some time after, however, I found them again on the ifland
-of Brazza, and was not a little embarafled about a worm, which
was-lodged in feveral of the galls, or chryfalis,j but, on further
confideration, I am inclined to believe -this worm is rather an
-ufurper, than a natural inhabitant o f the gall itfelf.; and I was
the more confirmed in this opinion, on obferving many ° f the
t*ed infedts, wandering about upon the branches, and ioon after
becominsj almoft infenfible and adherent to the bark. J propoie
to examine them again attentively, i f I light upon them in.a
proper feafon; and am the more defirous o f doing it, becaufe
thefe red eggs bear a near refemblance to the kermes uied in dying.
I am alfo not without hopes, that, by collefting, and
laying them in a heap, before the maggots have life, or killing
them immediately after, a pafte may be had of fome ufe. Quin-
queranus, wrote a hundred and eighty years ago, fome particulars
relative to the kermes, which feem to agree very well
■ with -this. new,grain o f the fig-tree, *
'T h is malady attending the fig-trees, is neither .very ancient,
. nor has it been conftantly experienced in the iflands, and on the
fea coft of Dalmatia; for when the cold in winter, happens
t o be more intenfe than ufual, the country is almoft totally
freed, for that year from thefe troublefome infefts, which certainly
* Has aititm laccas quanch oiident in vermicides abire veils '¡libs elate, vel aqua
frigidijfmia ex pateo adfpergunt, et in loco tepidofupra fornaiem, feu in f i e lenteex-
.Jiccant, donee moriantur. Aliquando. animalcula ijla a vefsculis reiibtis fcgregant, ct
extremitatibus digkorum leniter comprehendendo in pilam, feu majfam rotundam cf-
formant, quas multo pretioftor eft granis, et idea majori pretio a mercatoribus emitur-.
Quinqueran. ap. Ceitonium in Ep. MSS. ad Vallifnerium feniorem. Here it
■ought to be remarked, that in fhofe times, the words vermis and vermicuhes,
-were frequently ufed to denote any infect whatever.