TRANSACTIONS. 
Observations on the Structure of the White Filamentous 
Substance surrounding the so-called Mealy Bug {Coccus 
vitis) of the Vine. By John Quekett. 
(Read January 14th, 1857.) 
About two years since I was requested by my friend, Mr. 
Daniel H anbury, to examine the white waxy substance sur- 
rounding the bodies of certain female insects of a species of 
Coccus, from China, which was known under the various 
names of insect white wax, Chinese insect wax, Japanese wax, 
tree wax, vegetable wax, and vegetable spermaceti. This sub- 
stance, up the year 1847, was introduced into this country in 
tolerable abundance, but since that time, according to Mr. 
Hanbury, the price at which it sold, viz., \s. 3d. per lb., not 
being sufficiently remunerative, no further importation has 
taken place. The wax in question, as has lately been disco- 
vered by William Lockhart, Esq., of Shangliae, is formed by 
a species of Coccus hitherto undescribed, but which has 
recently been named by Mr. Westwood, Coccus Sinensis. 
The specimens described by Mr. Hanbury in an able paper, 
published in the ^ Pharmaceutical Journal ^ for April, 1853, 
consisted of rounded masses of a semi-opaque substance, 
surrounding the dried fall-grown bodies of the female insects. 
Some of the masses of wax had been scraped from the tree, 
others still remained attached to pieces of the wood. Besides 
the larger insects, there were others, probably young ones, 
also imbedded in the wax ; these were of a light-brown 
colour. Mr. Hanbury having made a microscopic examina- 
tion of the white substance, and finding that it differed in 
structure from anything that he had hitherto become ac- 
quainted with, kindly submitted his specimens to me for 
further examination, and the result of my investigations will 
be found in the following description, which formed an 
appendix to his paper. 
The wax was mostly in the form of rounded masses, vary- 
ing from one quarter to one third of an inch in diameter; 
within these were inclosed small brown insects, which I find 
have been named by Mr. J, O. Westwood, Coccus Sinensis. 
When a small portion of the wax is examined with a power 
VOL. VI. b 
