DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 275 



worth upwards of 130,000/.^ Nearly the whole of the wax 

 employed in Europe, and by far the greater part of that con- 

 sumed in America, is the produce of the common hive-bee ; 

 but in the latter quarter of the globe a quantity by no means 

 trifling is obtained from various wild species. According to 

 Don F. de Azara, the inhabitants of Santiago del Estero 

 gather every year not less than 14,000 pounds of a whitish 

 wax from the trees of Chaco.^ 



In China wax is also produced by another insect, which from 

 the description of it by the Abbe Grosier seems to be a spe- 

 cies of Coccus. With this insect the Chinese stock the two 

 kinds of tree {Kan-la-cliu and Choni-la-chu), on which alone 

 it is found, and which always afterwards retain it. Towards 

 the beginning of winter small tumours are perceived, which 

 increase until as big as a walnut. These are the nests (ab- 

 domens of the females) filled with the eggs that are to give 

 birth to the Cocci, which when hatched disperse themselves 

 over the leaves, and perforate the bark under which they re- 

 tire. The wax (called Pe-la, white wax, because so by 

 nature,) begins to appear about the middle of June. At first 

 a few filaments like fine soft wool are perceived, rising from 

 the bark round the body of the insect, and these increase 

 more and more until the gathering, which takes place before 

 the first hoar frosts in September. The wax is carried to 

 court, and reserved for the emperor, the princes, and chief 

 mandarins. If an ounce of it be added to a pound of oil, it 

 forms a wax little inferior to that made by bees. The phy- 

 sicians employ it in several diseases ; and the Chinese, when 

 about to speak in public, and assurance is necessary, pre- 

 viously eat an ounce of it to prevent swoonings ^ ; a use of it 

 for which happily our less diffident orators have no call. This 

 account is in the main confirmed by Geomelli Careri, except 

 that he calls the wax insect a worm which bores to the pith 

 of certain trees ; and says that it produces a sufficient supply 

 for the whole empire, the different provinces of which are 

 furnished from Xantung, where it is bred in the greatest per- 



1 Political Essay, iii. 62. 2 Voyage dans VAmer. Merid. i. 162. 



3 Grosier's China, i. 439. 



T 2 



