Mercury (element) long periods at elevated temperatures. It reverts to the elements upon heating near 400 °C, as was demonstrated by Joseph Priestley in an early synthesis of pure oxygen. Hydroxides of mercury are poorly characterized, as they are for its neighbors gold and silver. Being a soft metal, mercury forms very stable derivatives with the heavier chalcogens. Preeminent is mercury(II) sulfide, HgS, which occurs in nature as the ore cinnabar and is the brilliant pigment vermillion. Like ZnS, HgS crystallizes in two forms, the reddish cubic form and the black zinc blende form. The latter sometimes occurs naturally as metacinnabar. Mercury(II)
Cinnabar moth Cinnabar moth The cinnabar moth ("Tyria jacobaeae") is a brightly coloured arctiid moth found in Europe and western and central Asia. It has been introduced into New Zealand, Australia and North America to control ragwort, on which its larvae feed. The moth is named after the red mineral cinnabar because of the red patches on its predominantly black wings. Cinnabar moths are about long and have a wingspan of . Cinnabar moths are day-flying insects with distinctive pinkish-red and black wings. There is little variation in patterning, although on rare occasions the red markings may be replaced with yellow, or