352 



INSECT WAX. 



Mr. J. E. Jackson, of the Kew Gardens, bas recently published an 

 article on the subject of "African Insect Wax," which we have seen 

 reprinted in the Scientific American Supplement for June 21, 1890. 

 Mr. Jackson calls attention to the fact that insect wax exists in large 

 quantities in South Africa and is used among the natives as a cement 

 for calabashes and among the Zula warriors for head rings. It is 

 stated that any quantity of the wax is procurable in Natal, and that 

 it would be quite worth the while of some manufacturer to test it. 

 The insect which causes this wax is not known, but it is doubtless 

 a Coccid. Mr. Jackson suggests that Icerya might be utilized in the 

 manufacture of commercial wax, and this suggestion may possibly 

 be worth something to the people at Cape Colony. Just at present 

 this erstwhile dreaded pest is practically not existant in California, 

 New Zealand, or Australia. The egg-sac of Icerya, moreover, is so 

 full of eggs that it is doubtful whether it could be practically used. 

 Some years ago we were able to secure a large quantity of insect wax 

 from Lachnus longistigma by scraping the insects from the trees into a 

 sieve and shaking it until the wax had all passed through. We ob- 

 tained nearly 2 pounds with very little trouble and handed it to the 

 Chemist of the Department for examination. The wax was lost, how- 

 ever, through some accident before it could be tested, and we have 

 never had the opportunity since to collect it on so large a scale. Some 

 of these Plant-lice, however, where they occur in numbers, can be 

 utilized and a purer quality of wax can be obtained from them more 

 easily than from any of the Coccids for the reason that the bodies and 

 eggs of the latter can not be got rid of with the same ease. 



COCCINELLA NOVA-ZEALANDICA A SYNONYM. 



In Bulletin No. 21 of the Division we have figured this well known 

 New Zealand Lady-bird, and Mr. Koebele states upon page 24 that he 

 found it at Napier feeding upon the Cabbage Aphis in large numbers. 

 Fifty-one specimens were collected and placed in empty pill boxes, and 

 upon arrival in California 21 were still alive and were liberated. 

 Apropos of this figure. Dr. Sharp has written us, under date of Decem- 

 ber 24, 1890, to the effect that it has enabled him to decide what he had 

 previously suspected from a perusal of Mr. Colenso's original descrip- 

 tion of the species, namely, that it is identical with the common Euro- 

 pean Coccinella undecimpunctata. 



AUSTRALIAN FRUIT-GROWERS AND VINE-GROWERS IN CONVENTION. 



The fruit-growers and vine-growers of New South Wales held a 

 largely attended and apparently enthusiastic conference at Sydney last 

 June, the full report of which has just reached us in the shape of a pam- 

 phlet of some 250 pages, published as Bulletin No. 1 of the department of 



