142 INTERNAL ANATOMY OF INSECTS. 



line down of a swan*. Probably the white powder or 

 threads that appear to transpire through the skin of 

 many other insects is of a waxy nature. In the larva of 

 a beetle described by Reaumur, the flocoons are so ar- 

 ranged as to give the animal some resemblance to a 

 hedgehog, and when rubbed off they are reproduced in 

 twelve hours 5 . Gyllermal, speaking of Peltis limbata, 

 observes, that when alive it is covered with a white pow- 

 der resembling mould, which if rubbed off returns again 

 as long as the animal lives . 



It will not be improper to include under this head 

 what further account I have to give of Lac, which though 

 regarded as a resin, since Cocci sometimes certainly pro- 

 duce wax d , probably has some analogy with the latter 

 substance. When the females of this Coccus (C. Lacca) 

 have fixed themselves to a part of the branch of the 

 trees on which they feed (Ficus religiosa and indica, 

 Butea frondosa, and Rhamnus Jujuba e ), a pellucid and 

 glutinous substance begins to exude from the margins 

 of the body, and in the end covers the whole insect with 

 a cell of this substance, which when hardened by expo- 

 sure to the air becomes lac. So numerous are these in- 

 sects, and so closely crowded together, that they often 

 entirely cover a branch ; and the groups take different 

 shapes, as squares, hexagons, &c., according to the 

 space left round the insect which first began to form its 

 cell. Under these cells the females deposit their eggs, 

 which after a certain period are hatched, and the young 

 ones eat their way out. Though indisputably an animal 



n Reaum. iii. 318. t. xxvi./. 16. 



b Ibid. 396. t. xxxi./. 2029. c Insect. Suec. i. 257. 



d VOL. I. p. 327. N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xvii. 189. 



