94 Indian Museum Notes. [Vol. II. 



white opalescent cloud on addition of cold water, and is not again cleared by boiling. 

 The wax is soluble in benzol. 



"The specific gravity at 84°F. was T04 (determined by suspension in a solution of 



salt). 



" As an average of two determinations, the amount of moisture was found to be 



10 - 4 per cent., but the discrepancy between the two results (98 and ll'O) was no 

 greater than one would anticipate from the appearance of the specimens. 



" By the action of strong nitric acid the wax was decomposed to a yellow solution, 

 with a faint aromatic smell ; but the quantity at my disposal was too small to 

 determine the products of oxidation, which might be of interest to compare with the 

 results obtained by a similar treatment of Pela, the Chinese wax investigated by 

 Buckton. The few determinations made do not closely agree with the properties of 

 cerotate of ceryl (C 59 H 108 ) 2 the principal constituent of Chinese wax." 



Ceroplastes ceri/erus was originally described in the year 1790 by 

 Dr. Anderson, 1 who found it in Madras. It was afterwards figured and 

 described by West wood, 2 whose description, however, as quoted by Sig- 

 noret, 8 is confined to the mass of white wax, which is irregularly hemi- 

 spherical in shape, of the size of a large split pea, encloses the shell of 

 the female insect, and was originally found in Madras on the twigs of a 

 species of Celastrus, which is referred to as Celastrus ceri/erus. Dr. 

 Anderson's original paper has not been found, but Dr. Pearson 4 gives a 

 detailed account of Dr. Anderson's white wax, which was submitted to 

 him for examination. According to Dr. Pearson, Dr. Anderson procured 

 some pounds' weight of the wax and sent it in the year 1792 to the 

 Royal Society, at the same time complaining that the children, whom he 

 employed to gather it, were tempted by its sweetness to eat so much of 

 what they collected as materially to diminish the produce of his trees ; 

 the wax was also believed to possess medicinal qualities. Pearson found 

 that the raw wax in its dry state has a saltish and bitterish taste, and in 

 the mouth is soft and tough, having thus lost the sweetness which cha- 

 racterises it in its fresh state. It contains a large proportion of a watery 

 liquid, which has a slightly saltish taste. In its raw state the wax is as 

 light, or lighter than as, bees' wax, but, after being melted and purified by 

 straining, it sinks in water, and is therefore specifically heavier than most 

 bees' wax. Two thousand grains of the raw article, when melted and 

 purified by straining through fine cloth, produced 1,220 grains of wax. 

 This purified wax was yellow in colour, hard and brittle, with scarcely any 

 taste, melted at a temperature of between 145° and 146° Fahrenheit, was 

 soluble in volatile oil of turpentine, and partially soluble in alcohol. 

 Candles, with cotton wicks, were made of the purified wax ; they burnt 

 more rapidly, but were thought to give less light than wax candles of the 

 same size ; they also smoked and produced a resinous smell. Saturated 



1 Monographia cocci ceriferi, Madras, 1790. 



2 Gardener's Chronicle, 1853, page 484. 



3 Ann. Soc. Ent. France, ser. 5, vol. ii, page 40. 



4 Pbilos. Trans. Royal Soc. London, vol. 84, page 383 (1794). 



