358 Linnaan Society : — 



full-grown bodies of a female Coccus, as well as pieces of stick in- 

 crusted with wax, and with the insects still in situ. This insect 

 had been named by Mr. Westwood Coccus sinensis, and afterwards 

 Coccus Pela. Mr. Hanbury's description and figures were shown 

 to agree for the most part with the accounts and figures given by 

 Chinese authors of the mode of production of the Insect-wax of 

 China, and which had been translated into French by Du Halde and 

 M. Stanislas Julien. Mr. Hanbury, however, apparently misled 

 by the arguments of Capt, Hutton, concluded that the Flata limbata 

 could not produce the Chinese wax. 



The author then proceeded to consider the physical characters and 

 chemical properties of the Chinese wax of commerce, and to com- 

 pare with them those of the waxy matter of the Coccus Pela, described 

 by Mr. Hanbury, and of the white secretion of the Flata limbata, 

 exhibited to the Society. 



1 . The physical and chemical properties of the wax of commerce 

 were shown to have been ably investigated by Mr. B. C. Brodie, 

 Mr. Ure, and Dr. Maskelyne of Oxford, It was described as occur- 

 ring in circular cakes of various dimensions, often about a foot in 

 diameter, 3 or 4 inches thick, and perforated in the centre. In 

 structure it closely resembled sjDcrmaceti, being of a brilliant white, 

 and of a sparkling, highly crystalline appearance. It diifered, how- 

 ever, from spermaceti in being harder, more brittle and pulverizable, 

 and ijresenting a more fibrous character of crystallization. Under a 

 low magnifying power it was seen to consist of a mass of irregularly 

 shaped crystalline tabular scales. Its specific gravity was "965, and 

 its melting-point had been stated by Mr. Brodie to be 181""4 Fahr., 

 and by Mr. Ure to be 196°, the melting-point of pure white wax 

 being only 155° Fahr. When melted, it became transparent and 

 colourless, and again opake white upon cooling, and was then seen 

 to consist of acicular crystals for the most part arranged in a stellate 

 manner. It was but very sparingly soluble in either alcohol or 

 sulphuric sether, and did not saponify with the solution of caustic 

 alkali. It dissolved, however, with great facility in naphtha, out of 

 which fluid it might be crystallized. It was combustible and made 

 good candles, for which purpose it was largely used in China, and 

 to a smaller extent had been employed in this country by Mr. Samuel 

 Childs. The investigations of Mr. Brodie relative to the proximate 

 and absolute analysis of the Chinese M'ax, as published in the ' Trans- 

 actions of the Iloyal Society ' (1848), were then considered. 



2. The characters of the crude wax furnished by the Coccus Pela 

 were then enumerated. As forwarded to Mr, Hanbury by Mr. Lock- 

 hart of Shanghae, it consisted of the crude wax as scraped from the 

 tree, along vvith a number of full-grown bodies of the Coccus Pela, 

 as well as pieces of stick incrusted with the wax, and with the 

 insects still in situ. The crude wax itself formed around the branch 

 a white, soft, fibrous, velvety coating of from one- to two-tenths of 

 an inch in thickness, and when scraped off, occurred in whitish, 

 flattened, curled, or generally irregular masses, the largest pieces 

 about half an inch in length. These masses exhibited no crystalline 



