162 TWO INSECT-PRODUCTS FROM PERSIA. 



1859. Father Ange also states that the substance is called in Persian 



Schakar tigal ( JUx> X) literally Sugar of nests ; but his Arabic 

 names, Schakar el ma-ascher Li,^Jl .) and Saccar el aschaar, 

 apply to an entirely different substance, namely, to a saccha- 

 rine matter exuded, after the puncture of an insect, from the 

 stems of Calotropis procera, E. Br. 1 of which plant he gives a 

 quaint but tolerably characteristic description. 



Mr. Loftus. Mr. Loftus, who obtained the specimens which he presented to 

 the British Museum, at Kirrind in Persia, in September, 1851, 

 gives as the Persian name of the cocoons Shek roukeh a term, 

 probably, the same as the " C-hezoukek " (a misprint ?) of Father 

 Ange, but the signification of which I have not been able to 

 discover. 



Another notice of the same substance, with a figure, is briefly 



Dr. Honig- given in Dr. Honigberger's Thirty-five Years in the East 

 berger. (Lo n< i. 1852f vo ]. ii. pp . 305-6), where we read that Manna 

 teeghul, or Shukure teeghal, which are certain insect-nests of a 

 hard texture, rough on the outside, smooth within, about half an 

 inch in length, and of a whitish colour, are imported into 

 Lahore from Hindostan. 



M. Bourlier. M. Bourlier published in 1857 an interesting note on the 

 same substance, 2 which has been followed by M. Guibourt's 

 communication to the Academic des Sciences, and still later by 

 a memoir on the chemical history of Trdhala by M. Marcellin 

 Berthelot, also presented to the Academy. 3 



M. Guibourt. From the investigations of M. Guibourt, it appears that the 

 cocoons are composed of a large proportion of starch (identical 

 with that found in the stem of the Echinops, upon which the 

 insect forms its nest), of gum, a peculiar saccharine matter, a 

 bitter principle, besides earthy and alkaline salts. 



* This saccharine substance is noticed by Avicenna as Zuccarum alhusar 

 (Lib. ii. Tract, ii. cap. 756, ed. Valgr. Venet. 1564), and also by Matthiolus 

 (Comm. in Lib. ii. Diosc. cap. 75). It is likewise referred to by Endlicher 

 (Enchiridion Botanicum, p. 300), Royle (Illustr. of the Bot. of the Himalayan 

 Mountains, vol. i. p 275), Herat and De Lens (Diet, de Mature Medicale, 

 t. i. p. 467), &c. 



3 Revue Pharmaceutique de 1856, par Dorvault, p. 37. 



8 Comptes Rendus, 28 Juin 1858, p. 1276. 



