294 THE WAX-FORMING CICADA. 



attention, both as an object of curiosity and from Its 

 importance in domestic economy. It is found both 

 in the eastern countries and in America. Its wing- 

 cases are green, margined with red, and deflexed $ 

 and the interior ones are spotted with black. In 

 the variety figured and described by Sir George 

 Staunton these are whitish, margined with black, and 

 have a row of black spots on the posterior edge. 



The larva? are elegant and beautiful creatures, 

 and to their labours the Chinese are indebted for 

 the fine white wax that is so much esteemed in the 

 East-Indies. They form a sort of white grease 

 which attaches to the branches of trees, hardens 

 there, and becomes wax. It is scraped ofF in the 

 autumn, melted on the fire, and strained : it is then 

 poured into cold water, where it coagulates and 

 fotms into cakes. In appearance it is white and 

 glossy, and, mixed with oil, is used to make can- 

 dles, for which purpose it is thought greatly superior 

 to beeswax. 



The insects are white when young, and it is then 

 that they make their wax. When old, they are of 

 a blackish chesnut colour, and form little pelotons 

 on the branches of trees. These at first are each of 

 the size of a grain of millet ; towards the beginning 

 of the spring they increase in bulk and spread j 

 they are attached to the branches like grapes, and, 

 at first sight, the trees that bear them appear loaded 

 with fruit. About the beginning of May the inha- 

 bitants gather them, and, having enveloped them in 

 the leaves of a species of broad-leaved grass, suspend 

 them to the trees. At the end of June, and in July, 



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