212 SOME SOUTH INDIAN INSECTS, ETC. I.CHAP. XXII. 



and the empty combs returned to the bees to clean and refill. It is 

 a most wasteful procedure to remove the wax with the honey. 



Lac, which is the resinous excretion of a Scale-insect, is an 

 important industry in some parts of India, but is little grown in 

 Madras where the climatic and other conditions appear unsuitable 

 for its successful cultivation. It is used in India principally bj 

 jewellers for filling gold ornaments, bangles and bracelets, and 

 for making toys and ornamental ware, and outside of India in the 

 manufacture of gramophone records, varnishes, furniture polishes 

 and sealing wax. A full account of the cultivation anil preparation 

 of lac is given in Pusa Bulletin No. 28, "The Cultivation of Lac in 

 the Plains of India," to which the reader may be referred for fuller 

 information. 



Analogous to lac is the white waxy substance produced by 

 another Scale-insect, Cerococcus ceriferus, found commonly in 

 Madras. It has been tried for making candles, but without much 

 success. It is also said to be eaten. 



A few insects are of direct use to man as a source of food and 

 of these we may mention especially Termites of various kinds, 

 particularly the winged forms of some of the mound-builders. Not 

 content with the capture of these insects at their normal time of 

 emergence from the nest, in many parts of Madras members of 

 certain castes anticipate their flight and build a small domed hut 

 Of twigs and branches over the nest, the top of which is sliced off, 

 and a chatty of water is sunk in this or a hole dug and filled with 

 water. A lighted lamp is now placed in the hut and the emergence 

 hastened by blowing into the nest a mixture of certain powdered 

 roots and seeds, whereupon the termites fly out and fall into the 

 water whence they are collected and sold in the bazaars for food 

 amongst the lower castes. 



Locusts are well-known articles of food in most of the various 

 countries which they ravage. 1 am not aware that they are regular- 

 ly eaten in Madras bul this is probably the case as we read in Kirby 

 and Sjience's " Introduction to Entomology" that when a "cloud 

 of locusts . . . visited the Mahratta country, the common people 

 salted and ate them." There is probably little reason except 

 prejudice why many insects should not be eaten and, if this seems 

 repugnant to any readers, they may be reminded that the majority, 

 even the most fastidious, have probably devoured with relish many 

 small insects such as cheese-hoppers, which are merely the maggots 

 of a fly, and that Cochineal, a colouring matter derived from a 

 small Plant-bug, is extensively used for colouring fancy sweets. 



Besides their use as food, many insects are utilized as drugs of 

 various kinds. Probably the best known in this connection are the 



