KERMES, in zoology, the name of an insect produced in the excresences of a species of the oak.
Kermes, among the Arabians, signifies a small worm; and κόκκος among the Greeks, whence the Latin word coccum, both which mean a kernel or grain: for which reason, among the later Greeks, instead of the word κόκκος, the word σπυρά, a worm, is substituted; for these grains are full of small worms, the juice of which affords the scarlet colour and dye. Hence the worm is taken for the grain itself.
The kermes appears at first wrapped up in a membranaceous bladder, of the size of a pea, smooth and shining, of a brownish red colour, and covered with a very fine ash-coloured powder. This bag teems with a number of reddish eggs or insects, which, being rubbed with the fingers, pour out a crimson liquor. It is only met with in warm countries in the months of May and June. In the month of April this insect becomes of the size and shape of a pea; and its eggs some time after burst from the womb, and, soon turning into worms, run about the branches and leaves of the tree. They are of two sexes, and the females have been hitherto described: but the males are very different from the former; and are a sort of small flies like gnats, with six feet, of which the four forward are short, and the two backward long; divided into four joints, and armed with three crooked nails. There are two feelers on the head, a line and a half long, which are moveable, streaked, and articulated. The tail at the back part of the body is half a line long, and forked. The whole body is covered with two transparent wings, and they leap about in the manner of fleas. The harvest of the kermes is greater or less in proportion to the severity of the winter. The women gather them before sun-rising, tearing them off with their nails, for fear there should be any loss from the hatching of the insects. They sprinkle them with vinegar, and lay them in the sun to dry, where they acquire a red colour.