Part I. 
Ste BEING ; Note on the Lac Insect. 
65 
“ Of the points to be noted in making these preserves, the one of 
the greatest importance perhaps is the fact that the lac incrustations 
may be plucked several days before the larvae appear, — a knowledge 
of which will enable a larger number of trees to be prepared during the 
working season than if it was necessary to delay the operations until 
the evolution actually took place, as, owing to this latter being nearly 
simultaneous in and about one locality, the period for forming the plan- 
tation must be necessarily limited to the number of days it takes the cells 
to become empty ; besides which, by attaching the lac twigs before the 
birth of the larvae great numbers are saved, which would otherwise 
perish during the process of being attached to the trees. In support 
of this fact it will be interesting to give the following observations : — 
Mr. Thomson, Deputy Conservator, in order to fix on a safe date for 
gathering the brood-lac, caused twigs, covered with the incrustation 
to be brought in from the surrounding forests every two days for exam- 
ination. These he labelled, dated, and hung up in the verandah of his 
forest bungalow ; the first twig was gathered on the 10th June and the 
others on every succeeding alternate day until the 12th July. These 
twigs were the produce of several trees, and were brought from various 
parts of the forest within a radius of 10 miles ; some were plucked from 
the Guler, others from the Pepal, but the majority from the Palas. On 
the morning of the 13th July, according to custom, Mr. Thomson ex- 
. amined the twigs, but found no sign that the larvae had vacated their 
cells, although microscopic observations had proved them to be fully 
developed. On the 14th, however, an inspection showed that on all 
the twigs without exception the young were pouring out of the cells 
through the anal apertures ; thus the twig gathered on the 10th June 
hatched exactly on the same date as the one gathered on the 12th July, 
or more than a month later.” “ While on this subject it is necessary 
to draw attention to the reported variation in the number of evolutions 
and consequently in the number of crops which are obtained in different 
countries. In Mysore and Burma it would appear that three evolutions 
of the insects take place during the year.” 
Discussing the influence of climate Mr. McKee says ; — 
“This no doubt is the reason why in districts where the seasons are 
dry and where showers are of infrequent occurrence during the hot 
weather, the summer crop is invariably poor and scarcely worth collect- 
ing. Moisture is one of the great essentials for a fine crop of lac, and 
many disappointments if not total failure will result by fixing on dry arid 
74 R. & A. 
G 
