
Se ES See 

1891.] Entomology. 763 
is used to suspend the packet under the branches of the ash or white- 
wax tree. Rough holes are drilled in the leaf with a blunt needle, so 
that the insects may find their way to the branches through the open- 
ings. The insects creep rapidly up to the leaves, where they nestle for 
thirteen days. They then descend to the branches and twigs, and 
take up a position on them. The females then begin to develop scales 
on which to deposit their eggs, and the males to excrete the substance 
known as white wax. It first appears as an undercoating on the side 
of the boughs and twigs, looking like snow. It spreads gradually, till 
in three months it is a quarter of an inch thick. In a hundred days 
the deposit is complete, and the branches are lopped off. The wax is 
removed chiefly by hand, and is placed in an iron pot of boiling 
water. The wax, on rising to the surface, is skimmed off, and deposited 
in around mould. Thisis the white wax of commerce. It is used to 
coat the exterior of animal and vegetable tallow candles, and to give 
greater consistency to the tallow. It is also used to size paper and 
cotton goods, to impart a gloss to silk, and as a furniture polish. From 
Hankow each year at present about 15,000 piculs of white insect wax 
are exported in a year, and the main portion of it finds its way to that 
port from Szechuan. Chinkiang absorbs 1,000 piculs, and Shanghai 
14,000 piculs. At Shanghai one-half is for home use, and the other 
half to distribute again to other ports. Tientsin requires 1,000 piculs, 
and Canton and Swatow a thousand piculs each. Thus it appears 
that while Szechuan is not the only producing center of insect white 
wax, it produces enough to furnish the most distant cities with the 
means to make a sufficient number of candles to maintain the temple 
worship, as well as to enable the people everywhere to equip their lan- 
terns for walking in the evening, and aid in night illumination 
generally. 
Recent Station Bulletins.—Mr. James Fletcher, of the Central 
Experimental Farm of Canada, has recently issued an admirable popu- 
lar bulletin (No. 11) concerning injurious insects and insecticides. 
The Delaware Station issues as Bulletin No. XII. a somewhat similar 
account of certain noxious species, together with a record of experi- 
ments with remedies. Prof. C. P. Gillette issues as Bulletin No. 15 of 
the Colorado Station timely articles concerning the Codling Moth and 
Grapevine Leaf-Hopper. Mr. H. E. Weed, of the Mississippi Station, 
publishes as Bulletin No. 4 a pamphlet of forty pages, in which he 
discusses the following topics: The Screw Worm, Pea Weevil, Bean 
Weevil, Striped Cucumber Beetle, Ox Warble Fly, Plum Curculio, 
Codling Moth, Insecticides, and Spraying Machinery. 
