INSECT- WHITE- WAX OF CHINA. 



65 



In the spring the cocoons containing the eggs of the insect 1853 - 

 are folded up by the cultivators in leaves (sometimes of the 

 ginger plant) and suspended at various distances on the branches Cultivation. 

 of the tree which is to be stocked. After having been thus ex- 

 posed for from one to four weeks, the eggs are hatched and the 



WAX-TRKE AND INSECT. 



Fac-siraile of a drawing made from the Puu-tsaou-kang-muh The upper characters on the 

 left are Chung-la (insect-wax) ; beneath them, lM-chung (wax-seed) ; in the right-hand corner at 

 bottom, Tung-tsing-shoo (winter-green-tree). The larger characters on the right are Chung-pih- 

 Id (insect- white-wax). 



insects, which are white and of the size of millet seeds, emerge 

 and attach themselves to the branches of the tree or conceal 

 themselves beneath its leaves. Some authors state that the 

 insects have at this period a tendency to descend the tree, at 

 the base of which, should there be any grass there, they would 

 remain, and that, to obviate this difficulty, the Chinese keep the 

 ground perfectly bare, so that they are induced to ascend. 



