IV.— The Wax. 



The wax insects which reach the wax tree < 

 and Chien-wei about tin- beginning of May, are made up into smal 

 packets of twenty or thirty galls, which are inclosed in a leaf of the 

 wood-oil tree, whose edges 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 they remain for 13 days until their mouths and 

 limbs are strong. During this period they jire said to moult, casting 

 off " a hairy garment " which has grown in this short period. 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 witk the insects. From the 

 spots where they fix themselves they are said not to move, and I have 

 watched them thickly studded on the bark apparently motionless. The 

 day after removing a branch from a tree, however. I have seen them 

 rushing about wildly, and it may be that they derive their nourishment 

 from the bark ; but, unfortunately, I have no microscope sufficiently 

 powerful to discover the nature of their food or the method of excreting 

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

 perspires from the bodies of the insects. Be this as it may, the speci- 

 mens of the branches encrusted with the wax show that the insects 

 construct a series of galleries stretching from the bark to the outer 

 surface of the wax. 



But I must here introduce the La kou, or " Wax Dog," which is 

 developed in the early stage of wax production. I was unable to obtain 

 a specimen of this insect ; but it was described to me as a caterpillar in 

 size and appearance like a brown bean. I have a theory, which, how- 

 ever, is unsupported by outside evidence. It may be assumed that 

 there are both sexes of the beetle or " buffalo." On emerging from the 

 gall the beetle is at first unable to fly, or at least unable to fly far, and 

 both sexes doubtless remain for a time among the branches of the wax 

 tree or the insect tree as the case may be. My theory is that the 

 female beetle deposits eggs on the boughs, and that the "wax dog" is 

 the offspring of the "buffalo." I will not go further, but there may be 

 some connexion between this caterpillar and the galls containing the 



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. I saw the owners of the trees moving from tree to 

 tree armed with thick Hubs, wherewith they belaboured the stumps in 

 order to shake off the " wax dog," which they assert destroys the wax 

 insects. After the first month or so, however, when the branches are 

 coated with the wax, the " wax dog " is unable to reach the insects, and 

 the trees are no longer belaboured. 



Wind and rain are greatly dreaded when the insects are first suspended 

 on the trees, for the tiny creatures are liable to be blown away or 

 drowned. 



I have said that whit 

 Ch'ungk'ing ; but, as the wax tree does not 

 containing the insects are taken from or 

 on other insect trees. This production 



