PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 797 



The manufacturers should insist on purchasing stick-lac which contains 

 a smaller proportion of lac-dye than one which has been collected before 

 swarming has taken place and is consequently rich in colouring matter. 

 This will effectively put an end to the unscientific method of gathering 

 lac thereby consigning to death a huge number of larvae which would 

 ' otherwise have produced lac. No doubt, to hasten the adoption of the 

 change recommended, active demonstrations would have to be made on 

 an extensive scale before the cultivators could be expected to give up 

 the practice which has rather become engrained in them. 



With the establishment of nurseries for the distribution of healthy 

 broodlac, and improvements in the methods of collection, the question 

 of parasites and predators on lac has to be carefully gone through. From 

 what is knowTi now Eublemma aniabilis is the worst enemy of lac on the 

 trees. The caterpillars devour the females and pupate within silken 

 galleries made in the encrustations. In some places the moth is so bad 

 that it is impossible to grow lac. The predaceous caterpillars appear 

 in hordes and destroy the females with the consequence that no lac is 

 produced. In one place I found that, from a dozen broodlac sticks, 

 each 12' to 15' long, as many as 435 Eublemma amabiis moths were 

 bred out. (Plate 127) It was from this place that large quantities 

 of broodlac were sent out far and wide and it is no wonder that the place 

 should have been the means of d'stributing the predator along with the 

 host. In some places the predator forestalled the host with the result 

 that no lac could be grown. This aspect brings to the fore the question 

 or rather the necessity of establishing broodlac nurseries, in any scheme of 

 extension of lac cultivation in India. No doubt before any such scheme 

 is mooted an accurate survey will have to be made of the locality or 

 localities, which if not altogertier free from the parasites and predators, 

 are comparatively immune from the attacks of these disturbing factors. 

 Besides Eublemma amabilis, the question of parasitic Chalcididae will 

 have to be studied in greater detail than has been attempted in the past. 

 Species that are parasitic on Eublemma caterpillars will have to be 

 differentiated from those which are primarily parasitic on the lac insect. 

 If there are any hyperparasites, these will have to be studied separately 

 and assigned a place in the scheme adopted to check the undue in- 

 crement of the primary parasites. The role of Holcocera pulverea will 

 have to be determined specifically as regards the lac on trees as well 

 as stick-lac in storage. The question of storage so as to avoid the stick- 

 lac getting blocky will have to be studied. But what appears to be in 

 -keeping with the present conditions, it is advisable to wash the stick-lac 

 and treat it with monohydrated Sodium Carbonate. This will frea the 

 resin of the colouring matter adhering to the innermost walls of the cells 



