1880. ] On the Origin of the Lac. 783 
tain that the questions here considered have not been thoroughly 
discussed by previous investigators; but if so, the current chemi- 
cal literature, encyclopedias and some of the natural history 
treatises have overlooked such work, so that there has crept 
into the literature a statement with regard to the origin of the 
gum-lac which I think is an incorrect one. This is, that the gum- 
lac is an exudation caused by the puncture of the lac insect 
(Coccus lacca). 
This is stated in such standard works as “ Muspratt’s Chemis- 
try ” (even in the late German edition), Wurtz’s “ Dictionnaire de 
Chimie,” “ Johnson’s Encyclopædia,” &c., and in various text- 
books on chemistry, and various works on natural history accessi- 
ble to me. “Chamber's Encyclopædia also asserts the same fact 
by saying that the insects “ entomb themselves in a mass of mat- 
ter which oozes from small punctures made in the twigs of the 
tree,” but also adds, “ As we have no strictly analogous resin 
from the vegetable kingdom, zot even from the lac-bearing trees, 
it may be assumed that the juices of the trees are somewhat 
altered by the insects.” 
Watt’s “ Dictionary of Chemistry,” on the other hand, says: 
“Lac is the product of the Coccus lacca, which deposits its eggs ` 
on the branches of a tree called Bihar in Assam and other parts 
of India. It appears designed to answer the purpose of defend- 
ing the eggs from injury and affording food for the maggots in a 
more advanced state. It is formed into cells finished with as 
much art and regularity as in mie honey-comb, but differently 
arranged.” 
This statement is not to be accepted entirely, I think, but in so 
far as it states that the Jac is the product of the insect rather than 
of the tree, I think it is correct, and it is this thesis that I wish — 
here to maintain. 
Let me first state briefly all that I feel confident of regarding 
the life- -history of the Coccus lacca of India.: The lac insect, like 
many other insects of its kind, lives and dies in the same spot. 
The young insect, after emerging from its hatching place in the ae 
body of the mother, crawls off as an extremely minute bug ofa a 
bright red color, It very soon attaches itself to the branch, loses _ 
its legs, antennz, &c., its sides expand and it becomes fixed tothe = 
branch like a minute scale bug. Here it grows and lives upon 
the juices of the twig which it sucks from minute punctures in — 
