124 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [ANNO 1/81. 



every possible care taken of this infant, but she died the 3d da)' after she was 

 born. The mother recovered. In the course of many years practice in Jamaica, 

 I have remarked, that where pregnant women had been seized with the natural 

 small-pox, or been by mistake inoculated, that they generally miscarried in the 

 time of, or soon after, the eruptive fever; but I never saw any signs of small- 

 pox on any of their bodies, except on the child's above-mentioned. 



XXIV. Natural History of the Insect which produces the Gum Lacca. By Mr. 



James Kerr, of Patna. p. 374. 



Coccus Lacca. — The head and trunk form one uniform, oval, compressed, 

 red body, of the shape and magnitude of a very small louse, consisting of 12 

 transverse rings. The back is carinate ; the belly flat ; the antennas half the 

 length of the body, filiform, truncated and diverging, sending off 2 often 3 deli- 

 cate, diverging hairs, longer than the antennas. The mouth and eyes could not 

 be seen with the naked eye. 



The tail is a little white point, sending off 2 horizontal hairs as long as the 

 body. It has 3 pair of limbs, half the length of the insect. 



I have often observed the birth of these insects, but never could see any with 

 wino-s ; nor could I find any distinction of sexes, nor observe their connubial 

 rites : nature and analogy seem to point out a deficiency in my observations, 

 possibly owing to the minuteness of the object, and want of proper glasses. 



This insect is described in that state in which it sallies forth from the womb of 

 the parent, in the months of November and December. They traverse the 

 branches of the trees on which they are produced for some time, and then fix 

 themselves on the succulent extremities of the young branches. By the middle 

 of January they are all fixed in their proper situations, they appear as plump as 

 before, but show no other marks of life. The limbs, antennas, and setae of the 

 tail are no longer to be seen. Around their edges they are environed with a 

 spissid sub-pellucid liquid, which seems to glue them to the branch : it is the 

 gradual accumulation of this liquid, which forms a complete cell for each insect, 

 and is what is called gum lacca. About the middle of March the cells are 

 completely formed, and the insect is in appearance an oval, smooth, red bag, 

 without life, about the size of a small cochineal insect, emarginated at the ob- 

 tuse end, full of a beautiful red liquid. In October and November are found 

 about 20 or 30 oval eggs, or rather young grubs, within the red fluid of the 

 mother. When this fluid is all expended, the young insects pierce a hole 

 through the back of their mother, and walk off one by one, leaving their 

 exuviae behind, which is that white membranous substance found in the empty 

 cells of the stick lac. 



The insects are the inhabitants of four trees. 1. Ficus Keligiosa, Linnaei. 



