bright reddish-orange color, besides serving as a mordant. Darker shades are achieved by repeating the dyeing process several times, having the fabric dry, and re-dyed. According to field research conducted by Amar and colleagues, the female K. echinatus insect, which has a camouflage color of grey to reddish-brown, "produces the dye pigment in both her body and in her eggs, only at the peak of her adulthood, which continues for no more than one month, around July and August." A delay in harvesting the scale insect with eggs may result in a significant reduction in dye production. After collecting, the insects are first dried in the shade for a period of one week, ground to a powder, and then steeped in water for 45 minutes and which maintains a low-heated temperature of 60 degrees Celsius to 80°C (140° Fahrenheit to 176°F). To this hot bath is added the fabric to absorb the dye. Heating the dye solution to a temperature more than this is liable to destroy the pigment or to cause fading. When alum is added to the dye substance as a mordant, a bright red-orange hue is obtained, which color is then made color-fast. Chemical analysis of the dye extract shows a high percentage of kermesic acid (C16H10O8) (Ka; maximum at 480 nanometers [nm]) and flavokermesic acid (Fk; maximum at 432 nm). Wool dyed in an acid bath solution with kermes produced a red-orange hue, but without the acidic addition the color remained a brick red or dark red. Other acid bath solutions produced a golden-yellow hue. Amar found that the host trees in the Land of Israel (viz. Quercus calliprinos) produced varied sizes of the scale insect Kermes echinatus, the largest of which being found in Israel's north, particularly in the Upper Galilee region and in the northern parts of the Golan Heights, which reached a mean size of 6.4–5 millimeters. However, the scale insect's distribution was not uniform. Some trees were effected by the parasites, while others were not. of freshly harvested kermes scale insects loses about two-thirds of its weight when dried. The dried dyestuff is sold either in its raw form as kernels, as powder, or as briquettes. Approximately 50,000 to 60,000 scale insects are needed to produce one kilogram of the dried dyestuff. In literature In the Hebrew Bible, scarlet was considered a striking and lively color, and was used in priestly garments