TEOCEEDINGS OP THE THIRD ENTOMOI.OGlC'Ar, MEETING 79^^ 



as everybody knows, if broodlac is exposed to the sun for a number of 

 hours, the resin melts, the holes of exit for the larvas.are closed and 

 they are nnable to emerge. Besides this, with heat fermentation sets 

 in in the body contents of the females and the result is that the nymphs 

 are stifled to death with heat and are unable to emerge. The railway 

 authorities are perhaps unconscious of this fact, otherwise proper pre- 

 cautions would have been adopted by them to ensure safety of the 

 broodlac crates entrusted to them for transport. Because the que.stion 

 has an important bearing on the problem of future development of the 

 lac industry, I have thought it proper to touch upon it here, and I am 

 sure something will be done to remedy the present state of things. 



With the question of the establishment of nurseries, the task of 

 establishing the species of the lac insect is of profound interest. A 

 thorough study of the question in all its aspects is bound to yield data of 

 considerable economic importance. With the fixation of species it' 

 would be possible to extend the cultivation of the particular species in 

 well-defined areas and therefrom to extend the cultivation. This work 

 was anticipated and collections were made from all parts of lac-producing 

 areas in India with the collaboration of the forest officers. This collec- 

 tion is at Pusa and requires to be worked through. Specimens, both 

 dry and wet, have been collected of cultivated as well as of wild lac and 

 have been preserved. In this way a vast collection has been got together 

 and could soon be worked through. As is well known, with the fixation, 

 of species found to occur within the important lac-producing tracts as 

 well as elsewhere, the fixation or knowledge of the swarming of larvse 

 in both the seasons is very essential to the development of cultivation. 

 With the fixation of species and the periods of swarming of larvse in 

 particular tracts, the work of expansion would be considerably faciUtated 

 and broadened. When this has been done it will be time to look after 

 the details of cultivation. As is well known the introduction of lac into 

 the market came after the price of cochineal — which was used for dyeing 

 silk— had gone very high. It was then that the consumers' attention 

 was dra-mi to the substitution of a cheaper stuff which would partially, 

 if not wholly, fulfil the requirements of the trade of the times, and the 

 lac-dye was found to meet the exigencies of the situation well. The 

 dye was extracted and used for colouring purposes and the resin was 

 left unutihzed. Later on when the special properties of the resin came 

 to be kno-wn, it was used along with the dye for various other purposes. 

 From this time onward the exports of resin began to rise until to-day 

 they reach the unprecedented total of £2,314,000. This represents the 

 quantity exported from the port of Calcutta alone. If, however, such 

 statistics were available for the other ports of Karachi, Bombay and 



