^76 DIEECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 



fection, with a stock of eggs.^ A very different origin, how- 

 ever, is assigned to the Pe-la by Sir George Staunton, who 

 informs us that it is produced by a species of Cicada {Flata 

 limbata), which in its larva state feeds upon a plant like the 

 privet, strewing upon the stem a powder, which when col- 

 lected forms the wax.^ But as he merely states that this 

 powder was " supposed " to form it, and does not himself ap- 

 pear to have made the experiment of dissolving it in oil, it is 

 most probable that his information was incorrect, and that 

 Grosier's statement is the true one. 



This probability is nearly converted into certainty by the 

 fact that many Aphides and Cocci secrete a wax-like sub- 

 stance, and that a kind of wax very analogous to the Pe-la, 

 and of the same class with bees' wax, only containing more 

 carbon, is actually produced in India by a nondescript species 

 of Coccus remarkable for providing itself with a small quan- 

 tity of honey like our bees. This substance, for specimens of 

 which I am indebted to the kindness of Sir Joseph Banks, 

 was first noticed by Dr. Anderson, and called by him white lac. 

 It could be obtained in any (Quantity from the neighbourhood 

 of Madras, and at a much cheaper rate than bees' wax : but 

 the experiments of Dr. Pearson do not afford much ground 

 for supposing that it can be advantageously employed in 

 making candles.^ De Azara speaks of a firm white wax ap- 

 parently similar, and the produce of an insect of the same 

 tribe, which is collected in South America in the form of 

 pearl-like globules from the small branches of the Quahirdmy, 

 a small shrub two or three feet high.^ 



Insects in some countries not only furnish the natives with 

 wax but with resin, which is used instead of tar for their 

 ships. Molina informs us that, at Coquimbo in Chili, resin, 

 either the product of an insect or the consequence of an in- 

 sect's biting olF the buds of a particular species of Origanum, 

 is collected in large quantities. The insect in question is a 

 small smooth red caterpillar about half an inch long, which 

 changes into a yellowish moth with black stripes upon the 



1 Quoted in Southey's Thalaha, ii. 166. 2 Embassy/ to China,!. 400. 



3 Phil. Trans. 1794. xxi. 4 Voyage dans TAmer. Merid.'x. 164. 



