The chermes, nearly allied to the aphis. P. pyri, Pear chermes, appears in May, not unlike a large aphis, crimson coloured, shaded with black. Mr. Kollar thus details its habits: -

"As soon as the fruit trees put out buds, the winged chermes makes its appearance. When pairing is over, the female lays her eggs in great numbers near each other on the young leaves and blossoms, or on the newly formed fruit and shoots. They are of a longish shape, and yellow; and, without a magnifying glass, they resemble the pollen of flowers. They are called either nymphs or larvce in this state (according to the extent of their development); and, like their parents, have their mouth in the breast. After a few days, they change their skins, and become darker, and somewhat reddish on the breast, and rather resemble bugs than plant-lice, having the extreme point of the body somewhat broad, and beset with bristles. After changing their skins, they leave the leaves, blossoms, and fruit, and proceed more downwards to the bearing wood and the shoots of last year, on which they fix themselves securely, one after the other, in rows, and remain there till their last transformation.

"When the nymphs have moulted for the last time, and have attained their full size, the body swells out by degrees, and becomes cylindrical. They then leave their associates, and before they lay aside their nymph-like covering, they search out a leaf to which they fasten themselves firmly, and appear as if they were lifeless. After a few minutes the skin splits on the upper part of the covering, and a winged insect proceeds from it. It is of a pleasant green colour, with red eyes, and snow-while wings. It very much resembles its parents in spring, even in the colour. After a few days, this! chermes has assumed the colours of the perfect insect; the head, collar, and thorax, are of an orange colour, and only the abdomen retains its green hue. It now flies away from the place of its birth, to enjoy the open air".

P. mali. Apple Chermes. For the following I am also indebted to the too much neglected work of M. Kollar: -

"It usually appears in June. In September, the apple chermes pair, and lay their eggs. They are white, and pointed at both ends, a line and a half long, and the fourth of a line thick, and become yellow before the young escapes. The apple chermes lays its eggs in different places of the twigs of an apple-tree; usually, however, in the furrows of the knots, and sometimes in a very regular manner. The larva; were scarcely escaped from the egg, in the open air, when they hastened to the nearest bud, and began to gnaw its scales, because the bud was only somewhat swollen, and had not begun to sprout. On the second day after their birth, they cast their first skin, after which they appeared nearly of their former shape and colour. The second changing of the skin can sometimes be scarcely seen at all, because the larva not only puts out a thicker string with the tubercle, but also an immense number of very fine entangled threads or small hairs, which it turns upwards over its back, and with them entirely covers its body and head. In sunshine, these strings look transparent, as if they were made of glass, and become of a greenish variable colour.

Under this screen the chermes are secured from every attack of other insects; for no ants, mites, or bugs can disturb them in their fortification, or consume them as their prey. After changing the second skin, the young assumed a different colour and form; they now became light green all over, the abdomen was much broader than the thorax, and on the side of the latter, rudiments of the wings were distinctly seen. The third time of changing the skin comes on in about eight days, sometimes sooner and sometimes later, according to the weather. After this skin the wing rudiments very distinctly make their appearance, and become larger and whiter the nearer the insect approaches to the perfect state. The body is also of a light green, and the larvae have black eyes, and blackish antennae;. At last the time arrives when the insect assumes the perfect state; when it retires to a part of a leaf which it had selected, and after having firmly fixed itself there, the back splits open, and the beautiful winged chermes appears from the nymph.

The back of the thorax is of a light green, the abdomen is marked with yellow rings, and the membranous wings with strongly marked snow-white veins".

P. cratagi infests the camellia. It is destroyed by syringing with tobacco water, or diluted gas ammoniacal liquor, until the insects are dead, and then syringing with water only.

P. ficus and P. rosce, are respectively on the fig and rose trees.