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 wax, as might be expected, is less white, and of 

 an inferior quality. Not -citisiied, ho\w\ cr. that all the wax lias been 

 collected, the operator takes the insects, which have meantime sunk to 

 the bottom of the pot, and placing them in a bag squeezes them until 

 they have given up the last drop of their special product. They are 

 then, an ignominious ending to their short and industrious career, 

 thrown to the pigs. 



When I was in Chia-ting in Jin hi to wax was 



40 tails a picul, but, owing to the anticipated decrease in the production 

 of the present year, a rise was soon expected. 



White wax is used chiefly in the manufacture of candles. Mr. Baber 

 has pointed out that ibis wax melts at 1 GO degrees Fahrenheit, whereas 

 tallow, which forms the general bulk of the candles, melts at 9.5 degrees. 

 In Ch'ungk'ing an allowance of 3^ mace of white wax is melted up 

 with each catty of tallow to give the latter greater consistency, and the 

 candles of this mixture are dipped in melted white wax, which gives 

 them a harder sheathing and prevents the tallow from running over 



(Signed) Alex. Hosie. 



Notes on the Production of Insect White Wax in China. 

 Having read the interesting reports of Mr. Baber and Mr. Hosie on 



the production of insect wax in the pro\ inee of Ssii-cb'uan. 1 am induced 

 to offer a few notes on its production in < "bina generally, accompanied 

 by some translations from Chinese authors, which may perhaps throw a 

 little additional light upon the subject. 



The earliest mention of this wax in Europe appears to be in Martini's 

 Xor?/s Atlas Shu lists-, a short geosrra; ■ provinces 



of China, published in lb\5o, after the return of the author after a 

 residence of ten years in the country. It is referred to among the pro- 

 ductions of two provinces. 



" Urbs Te-gan (prov. Hu-quang). 



"Est in line regione rarum quid, Alba Cera, quae a vermiculis 

 elaboratur eo fere artificio quo apes favos suos struunt. Sunt autem hi 

 favi multo minores ac candidissimi, nee vermiculi culti sunt, ant 

 domestic!, s» -•• Ej ddlectls favis candelaa at ex 



communi nostrate cera conticiunt, at long.' magis alba sunt, a magnatibus, 

 quod majori constent pretio, fere tai turn adhiberi solent; nam praeter 

 i etiam suavem emittunt cum comburuntur. mhilqu ■■ 

 foedant, licet guttao liquefactae investes incidant. 

 imeque temperatum reddunt" (p. 76). 

 " Urbs Ping-lo (prov. Quang-si). 



"In hujus urbis territorio reperitur c< ru iila alba ab animalcuUs illis 

 insectis elaborata, de quibus supra dixi " (p. 145). 



There is also an account of it in the Xonvclle Jlelation de la Chine by 

 Gabriel de Magalhaes, published in 1668. He describes it (p. 173) as 

 produced in the provinces of Shan-tung and Hu-kuang. 



