324 DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 



the East India Company have offered a reward of 6000/. 

 to any one who shall introduce it into India, where hi- 

 therto the Company have only succeeded in procuring 

 from Brazil the wild kind producing the sylvestre cochi- 

 neal, which is of very inferior value. 



Lac, is the produce of an insect formerly supposed to 

 be a kind of ant or bee % but now ascertained to be a 

 species of Coccus, whose history will be adverted to 

 when I come to speak of the secretions of insects ; and 

 it is collected from various trees in India, where it is 

 found so abundantly, that, were the consumption ten 

 times greater than it is, it could be readily supplied. 

 This substance is made use of in that country in the ma- 

 nufacture of beads, rings, and other female ornaments. 

 Mixed with sand it forms grind-stones; and added to 

 lamp- or ivory-black, being first dissolved in water with 

 the addition of a little borax, it composes an ink not 

 easily acted upon when dry by damp or water. In this 

 country, where it is distinguished by the names stick-lac 

 when in its native state unseparated from the twigs to 

 which it adheres ; seed-lac when separated, pounded, and 

 the greater part of the colouring matter extracted by 

 water ; lumj)-lac when melted and made into cakes ; and 

 shell-lac when strained and formed into transparent la- 

 minae ; — it has hitherto been chiefly employed in the 

 composition of varnishes, japanned ware, and sealing- 

 wax : but within these few years it has been applied to 

 a still more important purpose, originally suggested by 

 Dr. Roxburgh — that of a substitute for cochineal in dye- 

 ing scarlet. The first preparations from it with this view 

 were made in consequence of a hint from Dr. Bancroft, 

 * Lesser, L. ii. 165. 



