DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 327 



and that tlie total export of the same island in 1803 was 

 not less than 42,670 arrobas, worth upwards of 130,000/.* 

 Nearly the whole of the wax employed in Europe, and 

 by far the greater part of that consumed in America, is 

 the produce of the common hive-bee; but in the latter 

 quarter of the globe a quantity by no means trifling is 

 obtained from various wild species. According to Don 

 F. de Azara, the inhabitants of Santiago del Estero ga- 

 ther every year not less than 14,000 pounds of a whitish 

 wax from the trees of Chaco ''. 



In Cliina wax is also produced by another insect, 

 which from the description of it by the Abbe Grosier 

 seems to be a species of Coccus. With this insect the 

 Chinese stock the two kinds of tree [Kan-la-chu and 

 Choni-la-chu) on which alone it is found, and which al- 

 ways afterwards retain it. Towards the beginning of 

 winter small tumours are perceived, which increase until 

 as big as a walnut. These are the nests (abdomens of 

 the females) filled with the eggs that are to give birth to 

 the Cocci, which when hatched disperse themselves over 

 the leaves, and perforate the bark under which they re- 

 tire. The wax (called Pc-la, white wax, because so by 

 nature,) begins to appear about the middle of June. At 

 first a few filaments like fine soft wool are perceived, 

 rising from the bark round the body of the insect, and 

 these increase more and more until the gathering, which 

 takes place before the first hoar frosts in September. 

 The wax is carried to court, and reserved for the empe- 

 ror, the princes, and chief mandarins. If an ounce of 

 it be added to a pound of oil, it forms a wax little infe- 

 rior to that made by bees. The physicians employ it in 

 several diseases ; and the Chinese, when about to speak 



* Political Essnij/m. 62. ^ Voi/ngc dans T Amer. Merid.i, 165. 



