2 Mr. H. J. Carter on the Natural History of the Lac-Insect. 



neighbouring branches, fix themselves to the bark, which they 

 pierce with their beaks, and then begin to pour forth from their 

 bodies the resinous substance above mentioned- 



On the 25th of June! last (1860), my attention was drawn to 

 the subject more particularly by a fresh branch of the Custard- 

 apple tree {Annona squamosa), bearing portions of the lac, having . 

 been presented to me by my friend Major Burke. The branch 

 was taken from a tree growing in the enclosure of the Bombay 

 Mint, within a few yards of the sea, and in the midst of the 

 smoke of steam-engines, smelting-furnaces, and the atmosphere 

 of a crowded population ; while the resinous incrustation and 

 the red colouring matter, both in quality and quantity, did not 

 appear to me to be less than that which is produced by the 

 insect in localities widely separated as well from the sea as from 

 all human habitations. 



On receiving this branch and observing that it was fresh, and 

 that the insects in the incrustation were also living, my curiosity 

 was directed to ascertaining the form and organology of the 

 latter. Meanwhile the young began to pour forth — that is, on or 

 about the 1st of July; and by the middle of that month the 

 whole branch had become covered with them ; but, for want of 

 nourishment, as they became stationary, so they died without 

 apparently secreting any of the resinous substance around them; 

 and thus I was obliged to visit the Custard-apple tree itself for 

 the purpose of examining the subsequent changes which the 

 insect undergoes, — which changes, together with a description 

 of the form and organology of the full-grown insect, so far as I 

 have been able to ascertain them, will now be related. 



The first feature that strikes the eye on looking at the surface 

 of the incrustation, when the insects which are within it are 

 alive, is the presence of a kind of white powder, like that ob- 

 served about the cochineal-insects ; this is concentrated here and 

 there into little spots, and on being more closely examined will 

 be seen to be chiefly confined to three bunches of curly, hair- 

 like filaments, which radiate from three small holes in each spot 

 (PI. I. B, fig. Iff). The holes are situated triangularly with 

 respect to each other, two [d) being closer together than the 

 third (e), which is the largest, and which, by and by, will be 

 found to be the anal, while the other two will be found to be 

 spiracular apertures : all three are continuous with correspond- 

 ing apertures in the insect, from which the white filaments 

 originally proceed, which filaments we shall hereafter observe to 

 be the attenuated extremities of the trachese. 



If we now examine the contents of the interior, which we may 

 easily obtain entire by dissolving ofi" the lac in spirits of wine 

 (for, from their tenderness, they can hardly ever be extricated 



