THE LAC INSECT 



Discovery of 

 Aniline. 



Attention 

 Ooncentated on 

 the Resin. 



Life- 

 History. 



Larvae. 



TACHARDIA 



LACCA 



Production 



the gum-lac of the earlier commerce until it might almost be said that the resin 

 (lac) became a by-product of the lac-dye factory. To this circumstance is due 

 the fact that the methods of cultivation, of collection and of manufacture, that 

 exist to the present day, were invented and perfected with a view to produce the 

 dye, one might almost say, at the expense of the resin. The dye gave the profits 

 of the industry. But Sir W. H. Perkin's discovery of aniline struck at once the 

 death-blow of both the Mexican cochineal and the Indian lac-dye indxistries. 



By this time, however, new methods and directions of using the resin lac had 

 been discovered in Europe, and the interest of the factory shifted until the dye 

 became first the by-product and ultimately the useless or waste material of the 

 factory. Here then we are presented with a demonstration of the startling fact 

 that a by-product that can be produced at an almost nominal cost cannot of 

 necessity contest the market against the products of the chemical laboratory. 

 Attention was thus concentrated on the resin, and it soon became the chief feature 

 of interest. James Kerr (Phil. Trans., 1781, Ixxi., 374) was one of the first to 

 mention and describe the manufacture of shell-lac. From about that date, there- 

 fore, the modern factory industry may be assumed to have originated. In the 

 story of lac we have once more a demonstration of the indebtedness of India to 

 England for her modern commerce. 



ORIGIN OF LAC. 



Life-history of the Insect. The minute Hemipterous insect Tac- 

 hardia lacca lives upon the plant juices sucked up by a proboscis. In 

 the adult state the females have no power of locomotion, but the males 

 on attaining maturity emerge from their pupal cases, become possessed of 

 a pair of long transparent wings, and fly away to visit the females and 

 shortly after die. At two (in some cases three) seasons the swarming of 

 the larvae takes place, viz. July and December or also January. The 

 larvae are seen to emerge from the dead bodies of the females and to crawl 

 away in quest of fresh feeding grounds. They are then minute creatures 

 of an orange-red colour, have no recognisable separation of body into 

 head, thorax and abdomen, have fully formed feelers and powerful legs, 

 but are devoid of any characteristics by which they can be separated into 

 male and female. They measure about one-fortieth of an inch in size. 

 For some days the swarming continues until the twigs become distinctly 

 reddish in colour and literally alive. The vast majority, however, perish ; 

 the more fortunate are wafted on the breezes or are carried by the bees, 

 birds, squirrels, etc., or by their own exertions, to new situations. The 

 larvae thus becomes fixed, and their legs, being useless, drop off. Lastly, a 

 resinous excretion begins to form around their bodies, which by the ag- 

 gregation of many in time assumes the condition of a more or less com- 

 plete encrustation of the twigs. If at this stage the encrustation be cut 

 open lengthwise, it will be seen to be of a cellular structure and to comprise 

 two kinds of cells large circular caverns and smaller oval cells. The 

 former will, moreover, be noted to be much more numerous than the 

 latter. The circular cells are the females and the oval ones the males. 



About two and a half months after the swarming, the males escape from 

 their cells, become (as already stated) winged, and fly or flutter away to visit 

 the females. Shortly after this the bodies of the females become greatly 

 enlarged, assume a bright red colour, and in due course develop viviparous 

 larvae. The mother then dies, her body becomes the resting chamber of 

 her offspring (about 1,000 in number), which at their appointed time make 

 their escape by swarming, and thus twice (or it may be thrice) a year this 

 strange cycle of life is repeated. 



PRODUCTION OF LAC. Tine system of propagation that at present 

 prevails consists in lopping off a few twigs of well-formed lac, a little before 

 the expected date of swarming. These are carried to fresh trees or fresh 



1056 



Swarming. 



Become Fixed. 



Viviparous 

 Larvae. 



Produc- 

 tion. 



