68 UTILIZATION OP MINUTE LIFE. 



about June, and is gathered by the natives at the 

 beginning of September. The quantity produced 

 in China alone is, according to Geomelli Careri, 

 sufficient to supply the whole nation with this useful 

 article. This insect, with whose specific name we 

 are not yet acquainted, is cultivated chiefly in the 

 province of Xantung, like the cochineal in that of 

 Oaxaca, and there its breed has attained great per- 

 fection ; but it is also reared with more or less suc- 

 cess from the frontiers of Thibet to the Pacific 

 Ocean. The plant on which it lives is a species of 

 privet, Ligustrum lucidum, a Chinese shrub. 



The chemical examination to which this wax has 

 been submitted, proves it to be superior to any yet 

 discovered, and shows that it bears a close resem- 

 blance to spermaceti.* 



From what precedes it will be seen that the 

 acclimatization of this insect in France becomes an 

 exceedingly interesting problem. It appears pro- 

 bable, from observations we already possess, that the 

 Chinese spermaceti Coccus is not confined to China, 

 and that it, or at least some analogous insects pro- 

 ducing wax, are found in other parts of Asia. Dr. 

 Anderson formerly described as white lac a substance 

 similar to the white wax of the Chinese Coccus, and 



* This Chinese wax must not be confounded with that called 

 vegetable wax, produced hy palms and by several species of Myrica, 

 etc. (On these see Cook in the " Technologist," London, June, 1861.) 



