KERMES

(Arab, little worm.) An insect found in many parts of Asia;md the south of Europe; the Coccus of Linnaeus. They were long taken for the seeds of the tree on which they live, and hence called grains of -. They are Used OS a red and scarlet dye, but very inferior to cochineal. Previously to the introduction of cochineal, by which it is DOW nearly Wholly superseded, m had been the moat esteemed drug for dyeing scarlet.1 of antiquity. Cloth* dyed with kermet are of a deep red colour; and though much interior in brilliancy to the scarlet cloths dyed wilh real Mexican cochineal, they retain the colour better and are le*s liable to stain. The tapestries of I!ru<scls and other parts of Flanders, which have scarcely lost anything of their original brilliancy, even after a lapse Of -IN) yean, were all dyed with kerrnes. (See licckmann's History of Inventions; and Bancroft's I ours.) [s. 645]