Part T. ] 
Stebbing ; Note on the Lac Insect. 
53 
part of it is cut and collected for the market, a small quantity being left 
on the trees for seed from which the insects emerge in January. Kosomi 
seed is attached to trees twice in the year and it is collected for the 
market three times in the year, i.e., sown in January and July and collect- 
ed in January, July, and November.” It is probable that the January 
collection consists merely of the Phunki lac or empty seed-lac. Porasi 
lac is cultivated in October and November and collected in April, a small 
quantity being left for seed. Porasi lac is collected twice in the year — 
October or November and again April. Palamau lac is chiefly exported 
to Mirzapur in the United Provinces. 
Lac is reared in a varying extent in almost all of the districts of the 
province. Kamrup and the northern parts of 
the Khasi and the Garo hills bordering on the 
Brahmaputra valley are the chief seats of the cultivation. In Kamrup 
lac-rearing is chiefly confined to the south bank of the Brahmaputra. 
The bulk of the lac exported from the district is, however, obtamed from 
Garos inhabiting the northern slopes of the Khasi hills who bring it down 
to the weekly markets at Palasbari and Chhaygaon and Boko. A small 
quantity is also brought down by Bhutias to the annual cold weather fairs 
at Darranga and Subankhata in the north of the district. 
Very little lac is reared in the remaining districts of the province. 
None is produced in the sade sub-division of Goalpara. Some is produced 
in the North Cachar hills and Manipur. It is not known how much lac is 
produced annually in the Districts of Durrang, Sibsagar, and Lakhimpur. 
The Deputy Commissioner of Durrang reported that some years ago the 
lac-rearing industry in his district was rmned by a bhght which destroy- 
ed the insect. It is still reared to a small extent by Caharis in the north 
of the Mangaldai Sub-Division. Very httle rearing is done in Sibsagar, 
but some is still done, however, in the Golaghat Sub-Di%dsion. 
Lac-rearing is said to be unknown in Nowgong and the Naga hills. 
In the years 1896-97, 1897-98, and 1898-99 the exports of lac from 
Assam were 16,525, 24,869, and 14,494 maunds, respectively. 
The method of propagating lac in Assam is practically the same as in 
Bengal. There are usually two crops in the year, one being collected in 
May- June and the other in October-November. In Sylhet the first is 
called the Aus or early crop, and the second the A man or late crop. The 
first crop is mainly used for seed purposes ; the second is the chief crop and 
supplies the bulk of the exportable article. It is said that a P’icus altis- 
sima tree will grow lac for three to four years in succession, whilst others 
