$6S 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



tibUB, possibly owing to the mi- 

 nuteness of the object, and want 

 of proper glasses. 



The insect is produced by the 

 parent in the months of November 

 and December ; they traverse the 

 branches of the trees upon which 

 they were produced for some time, 

 and then fix themselves upon the 

 succulent extremities of the young 

 branches, sometimes upon the pe- 

 tioles of the leaves, but never on 

 the trunk, or large branches, pro- 

 bably on account of the rigidity of 

 their cuticle, and deficiency of 

 juice. 



By the middle of January they 

 are aU fixed in their proper situ- 

 ations ; they appear as plump aS 

 before, but shew no other signs 

 of life. The limbs, antennae, and 

 sitEE of the tail are no longer to be 

 seen around the edges ; they are 

 einvironed with a spisid, sub-pel- 

 lucid liquid, which seems to glue 

 them to the branch ; it is the gra- 

 dual accumulation of this liquid 

 which forms a strong and com- 

 plete castle for each insect, and is 

 what is called gum lac, so useful 

 to the arts of men, as well as the 

 preservation of this valuable insect. 



I had no opportunity of seeing 

 the operations of this insect, from 

 the 25th of January until the 16th 

 of March,, when the cells were 

 completely formed over the insect ; 

 they had the appearance of an 

 oval, or rather subrotund, smooth 

 red bag mthout life, about the 

 size of a small cochineal insect, 

 emarginated at the obtuse end, 

 full of a beautiful red liquid, 

 seemingly contained in cellulae, as 

 in the albumen ovi. At this time 

 the young insects cannot be dis- 

 tinguished in the fluid. Here 

 again there is a blank in my ob- 



servations ; I did not see the in- 

 sect until November, when the 

 sells and insects were at their full 

 ize ; and we find a vast number 

 of little oblong red bodies, inter- 

 mixed with the red fluid of the 

 mother ; these are the young off- 

 spring, each enveloped in its pro- 

 per membrane ; when all the red 

 liquid is expended, they throw off 

 their membranous coverings, and 

 pierce a hole through the side of 

 the mother, and superior part of 

 the cell, and walk off one by one 

 to a distant part of the branch, 

 leaving their exuviae behind, which 

 is that white substance found in 

 the empty cells of the stick lac. 



Those insects are the parasitic 

 inhabitants of three different trees, 

 viz. — 



1st. Ficus Religiosa, Bengali 

 Pipul, Anglice Banian tree. — 2d. 

 Ficus Bengalensis, in Bengali 

 Bhur, Anglice Banian tree. — The 

 third is a valuable tree called Pros 

 or Pras by the natives. 



The insects fix themselves so 

 close together, and in such num- 

 bers, that I imagine only one in 

 six can have room enough to com- 

 plete her cell ; the others die, 

 and are eat up by various insects. 

 The extreme branches appear as 

 if they were covered with a red 

 dust, and their s&p so much ex- 

 hausted, that they generally wither, 

 produce no fruit, and the leaves 

 drop, or turn to a dirty black 

 colour. The insects are trans- 

 ported, I imagine, by birds ; if 

 they perch upon these branches 

 they must carry off a number of 

 those insects upon their feet, to 

 the next tree they rest upon. It 

 is worth observing, that these 

 fig-trees, when wounded, drop a 

 milky juice, which instantly coa- 

 gulate! 



