220 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
almost every schoolboy. Being of such value to us, I have ventured to 
give a photograph of examples of the " stick lac " (fig. 93), the history of 
which may be briefly described as follows : — 
Like all other coccids, the young (larvce) are active : they are at first 
very tiny creatures, resembling mites, and are generally spoken of by the 
horticulturist as "hce." These young arrange themselves in groups of 
various dimensions round the twigs of the food-plant, and, having settled 
matters satisfactorily as to space, insert their thread-like sucking tube 
(mouth) into the plant tissues, and pump up the sap of the tree. At the 
same time they commence covering their bodies with the peculiar " lac " 
which, by the time they are fully developed adult females, assumes the 
form and size shown in the illustration. (Fig. 93.) By taking a hot 
Fig. 93. — Lac Insect {Tachardia lacca, Kere). 
Lac or covering material, actual size, on twigs of the food plant. The circular 
specimen shows the material in section, with large radiating chambers or cells once 
tenanted by the females, and hollow branch in centre. 
knife a transverse section of the material may easily be made, when it 
will be seen that the covering material or " lac " is not a solid mass, 
but is honeycombed by large, somewhat ellipsoidal cells, each of which 
was once tenanted by a single female. It is not within the scope of this 
paper to consider the remarkable changes which take place during the 
life of the insects while they are building their castles of " lac " ; but if 
we examine a female we find she is shaped somewhat like the cavity in 
which she lives, with the cephalic portion bearing the mouth parts 
touching the bark at the narrow end of the cavity, and the abdominal 
extremity at the opposite end having connection with the exterior by 
means of a minute perforation ; and she is destitute of legs and 
antennas, etc. Where she has lived she dies, leaving as a legacy the 
