Part I.] 
Steering : Note on the Lac Insect. 
59 
In some parts of India, and more specially where lac factories do not 
exist, different methods of preparing the lac required for local use are in 
force. 
In the Punjab the lac is boiled in water containing crude carbonate 
of soda and borax, or it is well rubbed in water containing a little alum 
and is then strained through a cloth, fresh water being added until all 
the lac-dye has been washed out. In Hyderabad it is scraped off the 
twigs, dried and ground in a mill stone. It is then mixed up in potash 
and water and then dried in the sun. It is still a moot point whether 
these native methods of chemically treating the lac do not spoil the 
resulting shellac. 
It will be seen that these troublesome but necessary processes of 
washing the lac incrustation (since the dye has no longer a commercial 
value) are entailed to get rid of the red colouring matter, and the question 
which has been propounded by manufacturers is whether the larvse should 
not be allowed to swarm before the removal of the twigs in order to do 
away with the washing processes. Analyses have shown that the stick- 
lac still contains a certain amount of colouring matter even after the larvjB 
have swarmed. 
{ d ) Manufacture of Shellac, Button-lac, and Garnet-lac. 
After being washed the seed-lac is exposed on drying floors to the 
atmosphere and light by which it s thoroughly dried and to some extent 
bleached. 
The lac is then often mixed with orpiment (yellow arsenic) or resin, 
or Avith both. The former makes the lac opaque and imparts to it a rich 
pale straw colour and is used for the manufacture of shellac, but not in 
that of garnet, button, and the other grades where paleness is not required. 
The resin serves to lower the melting point which is desirable and the use 
of a certain amount is therefore recognised as a necessity in the manufac- 
ture of shellac. Owing to the cheapness of resin it is often used to 
unduly adulterate the shellac. Two to five per cent, is the normal 
amount permissible. 
The orpiment is ground to a fine yellow powder and then mixed with 
the seed-lac and the necessary amount of resin, and the whole mixture is 
then placed in very long narrow cloth bags 10 to 12 feet in length and 
2 inches in diameter. After the bags have been charged they are con- 
veyed to the furnace held over open coke and charcoal fires and slowly 
twisted up. The heat melts the lac and the squeezing of the bag causes 
