KIDJrS OWN JOURNAL. 



363 



THE WAX-INSECT TREE. 



In the last Flower-Show but one, of the 

 Royal Botanic Society, there was exhibited in 

 one of the tents, by Messrs. Rollisson, a by no 

 means conspicuous-looking shrub, labelled — the 

 " Wax-Insect Tree of China." By many, doubt- 

 less, the shrub in question was passed unnoticed ; 

 lost in the blaze of floral splendor by which it was 

 surrounded. But all those who are in any measure 

 acquainted with the controversies to which it has 

 given rise, and its greal value in an economical 

 point of view, will like to know more about it. 



The inhabitants of the Celestial Empire have, 

 it seems, great use for candles. Their gods can- 

 not be worshipped acceptably without them, and 

 no one ventures abroad after dark without a can- 

 dle and lantern. Hence the consumption of these 

 articles is very great. As among ourselves, both 

 tallow and wax candles are used ; the latter being 

 the more costly. Prior to the thirteenth century, 

 wax candles were made in China exclusively from 

 bees'- wax; but at that time a discovery was made 

 of a new kind of wax, the product of another and 

 very different insect from the bee. This, from its 

 superiority, gradually, and in the end entirely, 

 superseded the former material, and came to be 

 exclusively used — being known under the name of 

 Pe-la, or insect wax. 



The excellence and peculiar qualities of this 

 substance have long attracted the notice of 

 Europeans, and accounts have at different times 

 been published, both of the insect itself, and the 

 tree or plant it feeds upon. But such discre- 

 pancies have appeared in these accounts, that we 

 have hitherto been in the greatest uncertainty 

 upon the subject. Very recently, however, inves- 

 tigations have been made, which have thrown 

 great light upon it. The chief of these have been 

 made the subject of a long and interesting article 

 in " The Pharmaceutical Journal," by Mr. Daniel 

 Hanbury, from which much of our information on 

 the subject has been derived. 



And first as to the insect itself. The Abbe 

 Grossier considers it a species of Coccus ; Sir 

 George Staunton, on the contrary, regards it as 

 belonging to the Cicada family ; and, as nobody 

 can decide where doctors disagree, the matter has 

 remained undecided. By the persevering exer- 

 tions, however, of Mr. William Lockhart, of 

 Shanghae, the question may now be considered 

 definitively settled. That gentleman has trans- 

 mitted to England, within the last three months, 

 specimens of the crude wax, with some of the in- 

 sects embedded in it. These were exhibited on 

 the 7th of February, by Mr. Hanbury, before the 

 Entomological Society. Mr. Westwood, on ex- 

 amining them, pronounced them to be an unde- 

 scribed species of Coccus, to which he has applied 

 the name of Coccus sinensis. 



In the absence of the male insect, and from the 

 imperfect condition of the specimens, a complete 

 scientific description is impossible. The existing 

 remains consist of a dry, hollow, nearly-spherical 

 mass — frequently somewhat shrivelled, externally 

 shining, and of a deep reddish brown color. This 

 mass or shell, which is the full-grown body of the 

 female insect, varies in diameter from three-tenths 

 to four-tenths of an inch. It has a linear opening 

 on one side, indicating the part at which it was 



attached to the branch, and is besides frequently 

 perforated with one or more small holes. ^ Besides 

 these large females, the wax contains, imbedded 

 in its under-surface, an abundance of minute insects 

 in a younger state, which are probably the real 

 producers of the wax. In form, they are not unlike 

 little oval woodlice. 



Now as to the plant on which the insect is 

 found. This has been most generally supposed to 

 be the Ligustrum Lucidum. M. Julien, in the 

 Comptes Bendus, endeavored to show, some years 

 since, that the insect was found on four different 

 plants, — viz., Ligustrum Lucidum, or glabrum; 

 Rhus succedanea, Hibiscus Syriacus, and a plant 

 called in China Tchala, the botanical name of 

 which is unknown. Mr. Fortune considers, how- 

 ever, that these conclusions are erroneous. He 

 states that he has seen the Ligustrum Lucidum 

 growing abundantly about Ningpo and Shanghae, 

 but never observed the wax insect upon it, and is 

 absolutely certain that it is not in those districts 

 cultivated for that purpose. Mr. F. goes on to 

 state, that he received from the French Consul at 

 Shanghae two trees, brought by the Catholic mis- 

 sionaries, from the province of Sychuen, where the 

 culture and manufacture of the wax are principally 

 carried on. These he feels convinced are really 

 those on which the insect feeds ; they are totally 

 distinct from the Ligustrum, or any of the other 

 plants mentioned by M. Julien, being deciduous 

 and greatly resembling the Ash. In support of 

 this, it should not be omitted, that a single leaflet 

 found imbedded in the wax sent home by Mr. Lock- 

 hart, and exhibited before the Entomological So- 

 ciety by Mr. Hanbury, bears such a resemblance 

 to Mr. Fortune's plant, as to leave no doubt that 

 it belongs to the same species ; fully proving 

 that the ash-like plant from Sychuen is at least 

 one producer of the wax insect. We say one, be- 

 cause it is still undetermined whether or not it is 

 confined to a single species. This was the plant 

 which was exhibited at the Park by Messrs. Rol- 

 lisson. Both Messrs. R. and Mr. Fortune state 

 their belief that it will prove hardy. 



A few particulars respecting the culture of this 

 insect wax, and its nature and uses, will form an 

 appropriate conclusion to our present notice. They 

 are taken from the article in the Pharmaceutical 

 Journal above referred to : — 



" In the spring, the cocoons containing the 

 eggs of the insect are folded up, by the cultivators, 

 in leaves — sometimes of the ginger plant — and 

 suspended at various distances, on the branches of 

 the tree which is to be stocked. After having 

 been thus exposed for from one to four weeks, the 

 eggs are hatched — and the insects, which are 

 white, and of the size of millet seeds — emerge 

 and attach themselves to the branches of the tree, 

 or conceal themselves beneath its leaves. Some 

 authors state, that the insects have at this period 

 a tendency to descend the tree ; and to obviate 

 this difficulty the Chinese keep the gravel perfectly 

 bare, so that they are induced to ascend. Fixing 

 themselves on the branches, the young insects 

 speedily commence the formation of a white waxy 

 secretion, which, becoming harder, suggests the 

 idea of the tree becoming covered with hoar-frost. 

 The insect becomes, as the Chinese author says, 

 changed into (gradually imbedded in ?) wax. The 

 branches of the tree are now scraped, the collected 



