6i6 



NA TURE 



{April 30, 1885 



white bag or cocoon, containing a chrysalis, whose movements 

 were visible through the thin covering, or a small black beetle. 

 This beetle also has six legs, and is provided with a long 

 proboscis, armed with a pair of pincers. It is called by the 

 Chinese the "buffalo," probably from its ungainly appearance. 

 After a few days it turned out that each chrysalis developed into 

 a black beetle, or " buffalo." If left undisturbed in the broken 

 gall, the beetle will, heedless of the wax insects, which begin to 

 crawl outside and inside the gall, continue to burrow with his 

 proboscis and pincers in the inner lining of the gall, which is 

 apparently his food. The Chinese believe that he eats his 

 minute companions in the gall, or at any rate injures them with 

 the pressure of his heavy body, and galls in which beetles are 

 numerous sell cheaper than others. But careful investigation 

 showed that the beetle does not eat the other insects, and that 

 his purpose within the gall is a more useful one. When a gall 

 is plucked from the insect tree an orifice is disclosed where it was 

 attached to the bark. By this the wax insects escape. But if 

 the gall remained attached to the tree no mode of escape would 

 appear to be provided for them. The beetle provides this mole. 

 "With his pincers he gradually bores a hole in the covering of 

 the gall, which is of sufficient size to allow him to escape from 

 his imprisonment, and whicli allows egress at the same time to 

 the wax insects. When the beetles were removed from the 

 galls some of them made efforts to fly ; but at that time their 

 elytne were not sufficiently developed, and they had to content 

 themselves with crawling, a movement which, owing to the 1 nig 

 proboscis, they performed very clumsily. Through the orifice 

 thus created by the beetle the insects escape to the branches of 

 the tree, if the gall be not plucked soon enough. When plucked, 

 the galls are carried in headlong flight by bearers who travel 

 through the night for coolness to the market towns, and every 

 endeavour is made to preserve a cool temperature in order that 

 the heat may not force the insects to escape from the galls during 

 the journey. 



The wax-tree is usually a stump, varying from three or four to 

 a dozen feet in height, with numerous sprouts or branches rising 

 from the gnarled top of the stem. The leaves spring in pairs 

 from the branches. They are light green, ovate, pointed, ser- 

 rated, and deciduous. The branches are rarely found more than 

 six feet in length, as those on which the wax is produced are 

 cut from the stems with it. The sprouts of one and two years' 

 growth are too pliant, and it is only in the third year, when 

 they are again sufficiently strong to resist the wind, that wax 

 insects are placed on them. In June some of the trees bear 

 bunches apparently of seeds in small pods, and specimens of 

 these hive been sent to Kew. 



The wax insects are transferred to these trees abaut the 

 beginning of May. They are made into small packets of twenty 

 or thirty galls, which are inclosed in a leaf of the wood-oil tree, 

 the edges of which are fastened together with rice-straw. These 

 small packets are then suspended close to the branches under 

 which they hang. A few rough holes are made in the leaf by means 

 of a large needle, so that the insects may find their way through 

 them to the branches. On emerging from the galls the insects 

 creep rapidly up the branches to the leaves, where th-y remain 

 for thirteen days, until their mouths and limbs are strong. 

 During this period they are said to moult, casting off " a hairy 

 garment," which has grown in this short time. They then 

 descend to the tender branches, on the under sides of which 

 they fix themselves to the bark by their mouths. Gradually the 

 upper surfaces of the branches are also dotted with the insects. 

 They are said not to move from the spots to which they attach 

 themselves. The Chinese idea is that they live on dew, and 

 that the wax perspires from the bodies of the injects. The 

 specimens of the branches encrusted with wax show that the 

 insects construct a series of galleries stretching from the bark to 

 the outer surface of the wax. At an early stage of wax produc- 

 tion an insect called by the Chinese the "wax-dog" is deve- 

 loped. Mr. Hosie was unable to obtain a specimen of this 

 insect, but it was described to him as a caterpillar, in size and 

 appearance like a brown bean. His theory (which, he confesses, 

 is unsupported by outside evidence) is that the female of the 

 "buffalo" beetle, already mentioned, deposits eggs on the 

 boughs of the insect tree or the wax tree, as the case may be, 

 and that the "wax-dog" is the offspring of the buffalo. There 

 may possibly be a connection between this caterpillar and the 

 gall containing the wax insects. It is said that during the night 

 -and early morning the insects relax their hold of the bark, and that 



during the heat of the day they again take firm hold of it. The 

 owners of trees are in the habit, during the first month, of belabour 

 ing the trees with thick clubs to shake off the " wax-dog," which, 

 they assert, destroys the wax insects. After this period the 

 branches are coated with wax, and the "wax-dog" is conse- 

 quently unable to reach his prey. The first appearance of wax 

 in the boughs and twigs has been likened to a coating of 

 sulphate of quinine. This gradually becomes thicker, until, 

 after a period of from ninety to a hundred days, the wax in 

 good years has attained a thickness of about a quarter of an 

 inch. When the wax is ready, the branches are lopped off, and 

 as much of the wax as possible is removed by hand. This is 

 placed in an iron pot with water, and the wax, rising to the 

 surface at melting-point, is skimmed off and placed in round 

 moulds, whence it emerges as the white wax of commerce. The 

 wax which cannot be removed by hand is placed with the twigs 

 in a pot with water, and the same process is gone through. This 

 latter is less white and of an inferior quality. But the Chinese, 

 with their usual carefulness that nothing be lost or wasted, take 

 the insects, which have meantime sunk to the bottom of the 

 pot, and, placing them in a bag, squeeze them until they have 

 given up the last drop of the wax. They finish their short, 

 industrious existence by being thrown to the pigs. The market 

 price of the wax is about is. 6d. per pound. It is used chiefly 

 in the manufacture of candles. It melts at 160 F. , while tallow 

 melts at about 95°. In Sze-chu'an it is mixed with tallow to 

 give the latter greater consistency, and candles, when made, are 

 dipped in melted white wax to give them a harder sheathing 

 and to prevent the tallow from running over when they are 

 lighted. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



Cambridge. — The following courses of lectures and practical 

 demon-trations are being given this term : — 



Physiology, Elementary, by Prof. Foster ; Physiology of 

 Circulation and Respiration, Dr. Gaskell ; Central Nervous 

 System, Mr. Langley ; Chemical Physiology, Mr. Lea : Prepa- 

 ra'ion Class for 2nd M.B., Mr. Hill. 



Elementary Biology, Mr. Sedgwick ; Anatomical Characters 

 of the Races of Mankind, Prof. Macalister ; Demonstrations on 

 Topographical Anatomy of the Head -and Neck, Prof. Mac- 

 alister. 



Morphology and Entomology of Vertebrata, Mr. Sedgwick ; 

 Elementary Osteology and Advanced Course on Arthropoda, 

 Mr. Harmer ; Morphology of Vertebrata, Mr. Weldon ; De- 

 velopment of Limb; of Vertebrata, Mr. Gadow. 



Elementary Botany, l'r if. Babington ; Morphology of Crypto- 

 gams, with practical work, Elementary and Advanced Courses, 

 Dr. Vines; Demonstrations in Systematic Botany, Mr. Potter; 

 Morphology of the Flower, Mr. Hicks ; Physiology of Plants, 

 with Demonstrations, Mr. F. Darwin. 



Geology, Local Stratigraphy, Prof. Hughes ; Waves and 

 Tides, Mr. Hill ; Principles, Dynamical and Structural, Dr. 

 Roberts ; Irregular Accumulations of Doubtful Age and Origin, 

 Mr. Marr ; Palaeontology, Win. T. Roberts : Microscopic 

 Petrology, Mr. Harker ; Field Lectures, Prof. Hughes ; Palae- 

 ontology of Reptiles and Birds, Mr. Gadow. 



Chemistry, General Equilibrium and the Dissipation of Energy, 

 Prof. Liveing ; Organic Chemistry, Mr. Main ; Elementary 

 Course, Mr. Pattison Muir ; Course for Beginners, Mr. Sell; 

 ( ias Analysis, Jacksonian Assistant ; Elementary Organic 

 Chemistry, Mr. Heycock ; Demonstrations, Mr. Sell, Mr. 

 Fenton, Mr. Neville. 



Physics : Optics, Prof. Stokes ; Prof. Thomson, Kinetic 

 Theory of Gases ; Elementary and Advanced Courses. Mr. Shaw 

 and Mr. Glazebrook ; Elementary Physics, Mr. Hart ; Demon- 

 strations, Mr. Shaw and Mr. Glazebrook. 



Mineralogy, Prof. Lewis ; Demonstration Courses, Mr. Solly. 

 Machine Construction, Mr. Lyon ; Surveying, Demonstrators 

 of Mechanism. 



Advanced Mathematical Lectures open to the University : 

 Waves, Mr. Glazebrook ; Elastic Solids, Mr. Macaulay ; Solid 

 Geometry, Mr. Ball ; Analysis, Dr. Besant ; Laplace's and 

 Bessel's Functions, Mr. Pendlebury ; Calculus of Variations, 

 Mr. 11. M. Taylor; Rigid Dynamics, Mr. Webb. 



