2 Indian Forest Records. [Vol. iVIII 
which it has fixed itself. Several varieties of the lac insect have 
been described, but as it is unknown how far the differences between 
them are of any importance from the practical point of view, we may 
for the time being consider them as one. 
The life of the female insect is about six months, so there are 
two generations (“broods”) in the year. The summer brood hatches 
and emerges as swarms of tiny larvae* in the hot weather or early 
rains ; it attains maturity during the cold weather, when its young 
ones likewise emerge from under the lac and constitute the winter 
brood, which will ultimately reproduce itself in the following hot 
weather. There are thus two periods of emergence or “ swarming ’» 
of the young insect, and also two crops of lac, the summer brood 
emergingfrom the summer m?/ of lac, under which their dead mothers 
from the winter brood lie hidden, and the winter brood from the 
winter crop. 
The swarming out of the newly hatched larvae is a remarkable 
sight. It usually happens in the early morning, and most often, 
it is said, on a sunny day. Through holes in the crust of lac 
that has been produced by their mother, there emerge a great 
swarm of tiny slow-moving light crimson or mauve specks. These 
are the larvae, and they move slowly about until they have found 
suitably tender shoots or twigs, one to two years old, on which 
they can establish themselves. Imms states that they can travel at 
least twelve feet without getting exhausted, but it is said that if they 
fail to find a suitable resting place on the first day they will rarely 
survive to find one at all. They take no food during this search and 
do not, as is often believed by the country-folk, return at night to 
take shelter in the resinous home from which they emerged. 
The swarming period in any given locality generally lasts from 
three weeks to a month, but the majority of the larvae usually appear 
in the first few days. It is noteworthy that the swarming period of 
lac insects growing on Kusum trees (which produce the best lac) is 
about a month later than that of lac insects on most other trees 
During the whole period there is often a very heavy mortality from 
unsuitable climatic conditions, hereditary foes, and exhaustion, but 
a larva that succeeds in weathering these perils and finding a young 
* Here the name “ larvae ” is used to denote any stage of the insect upito the tim when 
it beginsto produce lac. 
