S/atistics of Nutmegs. 139 



stances could have been produced as a consequence of a punc- 

 ture, and still more so, when it is taken into consideration, 

 that the Avhole substance is possessed of a definite organisa- 

 tion. It is true that certain insect punctures are followed by 

 the production of a sort of organised excrescence on some 

 plants ; but in every instance these are excrescences in the 

 strictest sense in the word, and are part of the plant upon 

 which they are developed, but lerp is manifestly an indepen- 

 dent substance, the very attachment of which is not distin- 

 guishable ; and I apprehend that far more distinct evidence 

 than we now possess is required to establish its insect origin. 

 The natives, as has been already mentioned, state that it is 

 not produced by an insect, and though, under any other cir- 

 cumstances, the opinion of a tribe so unintelligent as the 

 New Holland aborigines is not deserving of any attention, it 

 is still of some importance when it tallies with the conclusion 

 to which I think the chemical examination leads us. Ento- 

 mologists to whom this substance has been shew^n, are of a 

 different opinion ; and Mr Newport, to whom specimens were 

 sent, has gone so far as to establish, on the strength of it, an 

 entirely new genus of insects, to which he has given the name 

 of Aspisarcus, from adirii a shield, and agjcus a net.* The con- 

 sideration of this point, however, must be left to those who 

 are more competent tlian I am to form an opinion. I have 

 confined myself to determining its constitution, which appears 

 to me altogether at variance with the idea of its being a sim- 

 ple exudation consequent upon the puncture of an insect. 



Statistics of Nutmegs. 



The statistics of nutmegs are very imperfect, but still we 

 have sufficient data to enable us to form some estimate of the 

 cultivation and production in the different parts of the Indian 

 Archipelago, where the plant is cultivated. In the Straits 



* Professor Balfour, in his Manual of Hotany, p. 412, says : " A saccharine 

 substance, mixed with cellular hairs, which arise from a cup-lilse hody, has been 

 sent to this country by Mr Cay, found upon the leaves of Kucaly}Jtus dumosa. 

 it is called Layurp by the natives, and is thought, by .Mr Newport, to be the 

 produce of au insect of tlie tribe Coccidso."— Ed. 



