BENEFICIAL INSECTS 231 



correspondingly long wings and antennae: the most 

 remarkable fact in its economy is that it, and not the 

 female, as is usual among scale insects, is responsible for 

 the._ secretion from which, in this species, Pela wax is 

 prepared. 



According to ancient Chinese records, the culture of the 



o 



wax insect, in that country, dates back to the middle of the 

 thirteenth century, for, about that time, Chinese candles, 

 which had been made of beeswax since the seventh 

 century, were first made of Pela wax. As long ago as 

 1610, Chinese writers had described the life-history of 

 this insect with remarkable accuracy, which, in all 

 essentials, resembles that of the majority of scale insects. 

 There is considerable difficulty in identifying the various 

 trees on_which Ericerus pela lives and secretes its wax, 

 but reliable authorities are agreed that it thrives on 

 Rhus succedanea, Fraxinus chinensis, Ligush^um glabrum, 

 Ligustrum lucidum, Hibiscus syriacus, and Celastrus 

 ceriferus. To all these trees the insect does extensive 

 damage, for, like all members of the family, the wax scale 

 obtains its nutriment by sucking the juices of the host 

 plant. The owners are, of course, recompensed by the 

 value of the wax ; but, to prevent total destruction of the 

 trees, the insects are removed to other feeding grounds, 

 after from one to three years, and the trees are given a 

 corresponding rest. 



The greater part of the cultivation of Pela is carried on 

 in the province of Sse-tchouen, and 6lise*e Reclus gives 

 some interesting details of the industry in his Nouvelle 

 geographie universelle, of which the following is a free 

 translation : " One of the most curious agricultural industries 

 of the district is the cultivation of this vegetable wax or 

 pei-la, which can only be carried on by a division of labour 

 between the inhabitants of two remote districts. The 

 insect (Coccus pela) which forms the wax is born and lives 

 upon the leaves of Ligustrum lucidum, in the Kientchang 



