NOTES ON CHINESE MATEKIA MEDICA. 271 



Ping-peen; Camphor of Dryobalanops G amphora, 



186O-62. 



Colebr. (Dipterocarpece) ; Borneo or Baros Camphor. Dryobalanops 



Obtained chiefly in Sumatra from fissures in the interior of 

 the trunk of the tree. As the best tree when felled rarely 

 yields more than a few ounces, the drug is very costly, being 

 worth on the spot about 50s. per Ib. It is chiefly exported to 

 China, but a considerable quantity is consumed in the island for 

 the purpose of embalming the bodies of the petty chiefs, a 

 custom the expense of which often proves exceedingly ruinous 

 to the family of the deceased. The best quality of this camphor 

 occurs in the form of flat colourless crystals, the largest of 

 which rarely exceeds half an inch across. An inferior quality 

 is coarse, pulverulent, and of a grey colour. Dryobalanops 

 camphor has the odour of common or laurel camphor, mixed 

 with something that has been likened to patchouli. It is less 

 volatile than laurel camphor, and has a greater specific gravity, 

 so that it sinks into water. Its composition is C 20 H 18 2 , that 

 of laurel camphor being C 20 H 16 O 2 . 



|l E~J $jjk Chung-plh-lah ; Chinese Insect Wax ; Pun-tsaou, chi nese insect 

 Fig. 837. Secreted by Coccus Pe-la, Westw., 1 upon the branches white Wax - 

 of Fraxinus chinensis, Roxb., which is cultivated for the purpose, 

 and possibly upon other trees. Some accounts of the habits 

 of the insect by a competent observer are much required, the 

 Chinese statements on the subject being extremely obscure. 



^B ?& 93 SMh-keue-ming ; Shells of Haliotis funebris, 

 Reeve; Pun-tsaou, Fig. 969 ; Tatarinov, Cat. Med. Sinens., p. 54; 

 Cleyer, Med. Simp., No. 172. 



1 Mr. Westwood's description of this Coccus was published in the 

 Gardeners' Chronicle for 30th July, 1853. Part of the woodcut that accom- 

 panied it I have caused to be copied, and have added to it a figure of 

 tfraxinus chinensis, Roxb., in fruit, and one of a branch of that tree coated 

 by the insect with its waxy secretion, both taken from specimens in my 

 own collection. In this cut (Fig. 17), A. represents the winged male insect, 

 the body of which is of a dark chestnut colour ; the abdomen and elongated 

 anal point reddish- buff ; legs reddish, thighs brown, wings very slightly 

 stained with brownish-butt, and the two subcostal veins flesh-coloured. 



B. Female insect, showing the mode in which the body envelopes a twig. 



C. A very minute larva, half the size of a pin's head ; and D. one of the 

 young at a more advanced period of growth. See p. 272. 



