ZOOLOGY. 357 



OX THE PRODUCTION OF LAC. 



At a meeting of the English Asiatic Society, a communication on the habits 

 and uses of the lac insect, was made by General Briggs. The name of the 

 insect is said to have been derived from the well-known Indian word lakh, 

 meaning, figuratively any very large amount, expressing the immense num- 

 ber comprising each community. The lecturer noticed, in a general way, the 

 several insects which had been known in Europe for twenty centuries, as pro- 

 ducing a red dye ; but observed that the lac insect was certainly a different 

 creation. The insects are found upon and supported by a variety of trees. 

 All plants yielding a milky juice served them for food; and it not unfrequently 

 happens that large trees are destroyed by swarms of these insects settling 

 upon them. The natives of India, in collecting the lac. destroy the insect ; 

 but Europeans, having found that its cells only are valuable, have devised 

 methods for collecting the products without destroying the producers. The 

 lac is found incrusted around branches or sticks, and is thence called stick-lac. 

 In this crude state it is sold by the collectors at from a farthing to a half- 

 penny per Ib. When separated from the resinous matter and pulverized, it 

 becomes seed-lac. Other processes convert it into lump, plate, and shell lac. 

 The preparation of lac for the London market is chiefly carried on in India by 

 Europeans ; and its price varies from eleven pence to two shillings and two 

 pence per Ib., according to the locality or factory from whence it comes. In 

 1809, the quantity imported into England was 40,600 Ibs.; but during the 

 last twenty years, the imports of lac-dye have increased 675 per cent., and of 

 the shell-lac 275 per cent. The stock on hand in 1854 was 3,300,280 Ibs. 

 of lac-dye, and 2,358,750 Ibs. of shell-lac. In India, as in England, it is used 

 as a dye for producing a permanent red color, and also as a pigment and 

 varnish combined, which resists the effect of cold water, and does not wear 

 off. It is used, when colored with yellow orpiment, for making bracelets, 

 chains, and other ornaments, which are scarcely distinguishable in appear- 

 ance from gold. Lac was first introduced into England in the shape of seal- 

 ing-wax. As a dye, it produces a color equal to cochineal, and is less liable 

 to change from wet ; so that it is now extensively used in the dyeing of red- 

 cloth. It produces also the color called by artists lac-lake. Shell-lac, dis- 

 solved in naphtha, is largely employed by hatters in forming the frame or base 

 of the hat. It enters largely into all varnishes and French polish ; but one 

 of its most important uses is in the production of Mr. Jeffrey's valuable dis- 

 covery called marine glue, which consists of a mixture of shell-lac and caout- 

 chouc dissolved in naphtha. Here then was an Indian product, which but a 

 few years ago was unknown in England, but is now an article of very great 

 importance. How many more articles of value produced in our Indian 

 dominions may still be hidden from us, it is impossible to say ; but it is to be 

 hoped that the ignorance which still exists respecting them will soon be dis- 

 pelled, and that improved communications, and greater intercourse with the 

 people of that country, will make known to us other productions valuable 

 alike to us and to them. In the course of the lecture, General Briggs took 



