BUMS' DAMMAR 



BEES 



Trade 



d in composition, and a combination of the wax of one species with 

 it of another cannot be regarded as a fraudulent admixture. It must 

 admitted, however, that the Jy/.v tl<n-*<it*i. because of the much 

 .omb it manufactures, is the chief source of the bees'-wax of 

 intrv." " It is satisfactory to record that out of 64 samples 

 illccted from different parts of India only 3 were really adulterated, 

 less than 5 per cent, of the total, and there is no evidence that the 

 ihisticated waxwas a native product or was manufactured in the 



Uses of Wax. It is perhaps hardly necessary to mention the uses Uses, 

 wax. The introduction of paraffin and other composition candles has Cuodk*. 



>ved, to a large extent, the demand for wax to be used as votive 

 offerings at the temples and churches. Jahangir (Memoirs (Price, transl.), 3) 

 alludes to camphorated wax lights used in the palace. It is, however, 

 required by the silver and goldsmiths, also by brass and copper foundry- 

 men, to give finishing touches to their moulds and to be subsequently 

 liquefied and dispelled by the molten metal poured into the matrix. Moulding. 



is a considerable demand in Burma for it, accordingly, in 

 le workshops that turn out the brass idols of Buddha. Wax is 

 30 fairly extensively employed as a resist in certain stages and 

 thods of calico-printing (Ind. Art at Delhi, 1903, 229-30, 259-67). 

 ly, it is largely used by the shoemakers of India. In MEDICINE Medicine. 



is extensively employed in the preparation of ointments and 

 sters. 



Recently some interest has been observed in a substance called 

 propolisine," derived from the propolis of bees (see below) by dry dis- " Pnpoiitim:" 

 filiation. It is said to destroy all known bacteria without danger to 

 iman beings. 



Wax Trade of India and Burma. During the past twenty years the Total Trade. 

 x>rts of wax have practically remained stationary. The highest figures E*? ** 8 - 

 occur in 1905-6 viz. 8,593 cwt., valued at Rs. 7,31,320, and in 1894-5, 

 lely 7,487 cwt., valued at Rs. 7,05,247 the lowest in 1896-7 viz. 

 ,142 cwt., valued at Rs. 2,76,190. In 1906-7 they were 8,162 cwt., 

 3. 5,96,009. The major portion of these exports go from Bengal, 

 id the chief receiving countries in 1905-6 were Germany, 2,854 ; 

 United Kingdom, 2,609; Belgium, 988; Straits Settlements, 622; 

 lited States, 408 ; France, 406 ; all other countries making up the 

 "mce of 8,593 cwt., the exports for the year. [Cf. Milburn, Or. 

 im., ii., 315.] 



III. BEES'-DAMMAR. Bingham, Fa. Br. Ind. (Hymenoptera), D.E.P, 

 i., 559-64; Cooke, Gums, Resins, etc., 1874, 95-7; Hooper, Agri. Ledg., iii., 17; and 

 1904, No. 7, 79 el seq. The DAMMAR BEES, as the little insects that afford 320^2' 1 " 

 this substance are called, belong to the genus Mcliitomi, or, as it has been Bee8 _ 



lled, Triyomi. A resinous substance employed by several species of this Dammar, 

 mis in forming their nests, is an article of commerce. It has been said 

 to be chemically allied to propolis, the substance used by the domestic bees 

 t<> repair injuries to their hives or to stop up useless and objectionable 

 openings. These very minute and stingless bees are met with all over India 

 and Burma. Among the collections recently brought together some 40 

 samples of wax, honey, etc., were identified, through the insects that accom- 

 panied them, as being the product of species of Mt'li/tona. These came 



IL'7 



