Part I. ] 
Stebbing : Note on the Lac Insect. 
71 
The question has, however, during the last four years or so once again 
come to the front owing to the remarkable increase in the price of the article 
and the matter has been receiving the serious attention of the Director- 
General of the Commercial Bureau. 
The rise in price, which has been a natural concomitant of a demand 
exceeding the supply, is attributed to the extensive use of shellac in elec- 
trical work and in the manufacture of gramophone records. 
As far as can at present be judged, there appears accordingly no reason 
why the demand for the product should not continue to increase, and this 
probability would seem to call for prompt and urgent action both on the 
part of those already interested in the cultivation and of those who, by in- 
troducing it into areas in which it is at present unknown, can thus improve 
the pecuniary value of the lands and add to the prosperity of the ryot. 
The areas in which such action is necessary may be divided into — 
1. District Lands, 
2. Forest Department Lands, 
3. Private Lands, 
4. Native States. 
1. District Lands. 
A list of trees upon which the insect thrives has been already given in 
the preceding pages and the species specially favoured by the insect in 
diflerent parts of the country have also been detailed. 
Now it is not an essential of lac culture that the insect should be culti- 
vated in groves of trees or forests. The cultivation can equally well be 
carried out on scattered trees of the proper species in hedge-rows, cultivated 
lands interspersed amongst scrub jungle, or waste lands. Much of the lac 
cultivation of the country is already undertaken in such localities. It, 
however, could be largely extended in areas in which the article is at pre- 
sent unknown, and the attention of District Officers should be drawn 
to this fact. With ordinary care colonies of the insect, i.e., branches con- 
taining lac incrustation from which the larvae have not yet swarmed, can 
be imported from lac areas with perfect ease and safety. The chief points 
to remember when importing the article are : — 
(1) Imported lac should be only taken from trees of the same species as, 
or species which have a harder wood than, those growing in the district into 
which the importation is made and upon which the insect is to be propa- 
gated. 
