Description or Gez on Manna. 185 
Yo what I have stated above, I shall add the observations of Mr. 
Hounrer, which are of material importance to’ the subject of this paper, 
as relating what he himself saw: 
Extract of a letier, dated Camp, Pachmari, llth March, 1819. 
*¢ I sHaLu now try to describe to you a natural curiosity which I found 
‘‘ in my rambles in these hills; and I have inclosed a few of the insecis 
s* with a specimen of the substance, which, it appears, they have the 
“¢ pnawer of generating from their bodies. ‘I'he substance appears to pro= 
“¢ ject from the abdomen: in. the form of a tail or bunch of feathers, of a 
“© nature more like snow, than any thing I can compareit to. These in- 
sects are found on the branches and leaves of trees, on wineh they 
swarny in millions, and. work and generate this feather like substanee, 
till it gets long, and drops on the leaves, caking on them,. and resem= 
¢ bling the most beautiful white bees wax, this hardens on the leaf, and, 
‘* takes the complete form of it, which you can strip off, bearing the very 
‘¢ impression and imitation of the leaf itself, which no art could exceed, 
*¢ But, what appears surprising, they do not seem to eat or destroy the 
‘¢ leaves they swarm on, and though they may have been some days on 
‘© the leaves, nothing more is seen than this waxy substance issuing 
© from the tail. I have seen a great deal of it about these hills, and much 
<¢ might be collected, should: suppose, were it desirable; there are no 
“ inhabitants however about here. We have been on the top of the range, 
“¢ since the month of December, watching the movements or the Ex- 
“ Rdajdé of N¢gpur. Our position is about south-west of Hussaind bad. 
oe 
