42 Indian Forest Records. [ Vol. I. 
might with advantage tnm their attention to this valuable commodity 
for which the export figures evidence such a large demand. 
No lac is collected in the Southern and Central Circles of the Madras 
^ Presidency. In the latter the occurrence of 
0. Madras and Coorg. . .-1,1 .1 , i 
the insect is said to be so rare that the quantity 
of lac that could be gathered would not repay the cost of collection. 
The only Division in the Northern Circle in which the Distr ct Forest 
Officer was able to furnish any information on the subject of lac was n 
Anantpur. No lac has ever been collected departmentally or by private 
enterprise in this district. The cultivation is undertaken in the adjoining 
territory of Mysore. An application was recently received from a con- 
tractor asking for permission to extract lac from Shorea Talura in the 
Anantpur forests. It is also found on Schleichera trijuga in the Jeypore 
Estate in the Vizagapatam District. The Conservator v'rote : ‘ ‘ There 
is but little of it in any of the reserves of this district, and though possibly 
a small trade could be opened up, the District Forest Officer thinks it 
inadvisable, at any rate at present, in any way to denude further the 
bare hills.” 
Evidently the importance and value of lac cultivation is not under- 
stood in the Presidency. 
The lac insect apparently exists to a certain extent in Burma, being 
„ most abundant in Upper Burma, becoming 
10. Burma. mi ? 
rarer as one goes south to Tharrawaddy and 
Rangoon, and disappearing entirely in Tenasserim in which circle the 
Conservator reports it is entirely absent. 
In an interesting note Mr. J. H. Lace, at the time Conservator, Pegu 
Circle, wrote as follows ; — 
‘ ‘ The Divisional Officers in this circle give very little exact inform- 
ation regarding the distribution and collection of lac, and show that 
little is known about the product, which is probably due to its scarcity. 
The forests of Zigon, Rangoon, Pegu, and Bassein Divisions are stated 
to contain no lac and those of the Tharrawaddy Division very little. 
No rehable information of the areas from which lac is obtained in the 
Thayetmyo, Prome, and Henzada-Thongwa Divisions is forthcoming. 
It is stated that a very small quantity of lac is found in Arakan, but that 
occasionally fairly large consignments are imported from the unadminis- 
tered tracts of Northern Arakan. 
‘ ‘ The species of trees on which the lac insect is found are said to be 
very numerous ; amongst them the most common are Schleichera trijuga. 
