CH. IX.] THE cOCHINEAL-lNSECT. 171 



in such innumerable multitudes, that their upper 

 branches appear as if covered with blood. About 

 November and December the young- leave the shel- 

 ter afforded by the carcass of the mother, and, after 

 wandering about the stems and brandies, fix on the 

 succulent extremities of the newest shoots. Towards 

 the middle of January they are motionless, exhibiting 

 no signs of life, though as plump as before, and are 

 glued to the branch by a viscid and semi-transparent 

 liquor. In March, the cells, as Kerr calls them, are 

 completely formed ; that is, the carcass of the in- 

 sect is now an oval red bag, the size of a cochineal, 

 and full of a beautiful red liquor. In November or 

 December, about twenty or thirty oval eggs are 

 found within the red fluid of the mother. When 

 this fluid is expended, the young pierce a hole 

 through the carcass of their parent, and walk off" one 

 by one, leaving the tattered remains of their old 

 covering behind them. This is the white substance 

 which is seen in stick-lac. These young, like their 

 parents, proceed to fix themselves on some tender 

 and juicy shoot. Kerr calculates that only one in 

 six can have room to complete its cell, the others 

 dying or being eaten by birds, which, should they 

 perch on any of the branches loaded with these in- 

 sects, must with their feet necessarily carry off num- 

 bers to the next tree on which they may happen to 

 alight. The quantity of sap which they pump out 

 turns the branches of a dirty black. 



There are four kinds of lac — the stick-lac, which 

 is the substance in its natural state, and from which 

 the others are all made. 2. Seed-lac, or the shells 

 separated from the sticks. 3. Lump-lac, or the seed 

 melted down and made into cakes. 4. Shell-lac, or 

 the shells liquefied, strained, and formed into thin 

 transparent layers. The gum-lac is principally ga- 

 thered on the uncultivated mountains on both sides 

 of the Ganges, where it is produced in such astonish- 

 ing quantities, that it would supply ten times the 



