902 Note on the " Flata Limbata;' [No. 142. 



of Donovan's Insects of China, failed most completely, thereby proving 

 the doubts of Messrs. Kirby and Spence to be well founded, and clearly 

 shewing, that the article termed the white wax of China, is not the 

 produce of the " Flata limbata" 



Regarding the Chinese wax, Du Halde informs us in his ' Histoire 

 de la Chine,' that " II y en a qui disent que c'est la fiente de ces in- 

 sectes qui s'attachant a l'arbre forme cette cire, mais Us se trompent" 

 (Westwood's Donovan's Insects of China, p. 41.) Notwithstanding 

 this assertion, I am of opinion that if Du Halde refers to F. limbata, 

 he is himself in error, and that the wax-like substance produced by that 

 species, which Kirby declares to be the Chinese insect adverted to, is 

 nothing more, as I have above stated than the faeces of the larvae. Is 

 it, however, fully ascertained that the species of insect referred to by 

 the above named author, is really the F. limbata, or even the F. nigri- 

 cornis, as stated by Donovan ? This at least is certain, namely, that if 

 the wax of the Chinese insect is soluble in warm oil, as Du Halde and 

 Sir G. Staunton have declared it to be, it cannot possibly be the pro- 

 duce of the F. limbata, for I have shewn already by experiments, that 

 the produce of that species is altogether insoluble in oil.* Besides 

 this, Du Halde relates that, " after melting and straining the wax, it 

 is thrown into cold water, where it congeals into small cakes." This 

 too will not hold good with respect to the wax of F. limbata, for after 

 melting it on the fire and immersing it in cold water, a precipitation of 

 beautiful small clear crystals is produced, instead of cakes of wax. 

 Neither will the substance melt on the fire, nor combine with oil, like 

 true wax, but requires the aid of water to dissolve it. 



It is not improbable that Sir George Staunton may have supposed 

 this species to be the true wax insect, from the mere circumstance of 

 its producing a wax-like substance on the branches and leaves of the 

 shrubs on which it feeds, for he does not say positively that he had 

 ascertained it to be the fact, but merely that the powder was supposed 

 to form the white wax of the East. 



The Abbe Grosier's account of the wax insect can moreover in no way 

 be made to apply to the larva either of F. nigricornis or F. limbata ; 

 for he states, that the tumours on the branches " increase until they 



* Unless some peculiar kind of oil may possess the power of dissolving it? 



