27 
Part I] Lindsay and Harlow : Lac and Shellac 
The crops from different localities vary considerably in quality 
and hence in value. The following is roughly the order of preference 
by crops 
Kusmi and Jethwi. 
The variation between best and worst is small in this case. 
I. Bastar, Kanker, Raipur and west Orissa. 
II. East Orissa. 
III. Ranchi and Manbhum. 
IV. Palamau. 
Baisakhi. 
I. Manbhum and Ranchi. 
II. Palamau. 
III. The Sonthal Parganas, Murshidabad, Malda, south Cen¬ 
tral Provinces. 
IV. North Central Provinces, Central India, Sind. 
Katki. 
I. Central Provinces. 
II. Chota Nagpur. 
III. Sind, Assam. 
IV. Burma. 
The Baisakhi and Katki crops are principally grown on Palas and 
Zizyphus spp., the latter giving somewhat superior lac. Lac from the 
Ficus spp. is of gpod colour, but rapidly deteriorates when dried, and 
is poor in quality. Burma lac and Arhar lac grown in Assam, are poor 
in quality and dark in colour, though they are generally very fine 
large incrustations on the stick. 
The lac crops are further differentiated according as they are 
collected before or after the swarming of the insect. This is an im¬ 
portant distinction as the presence or absence of the insect means a 
higher or lower proportion of the lac-dye of which pure shellac must 
be free. The names used are ari for lac from which the insect has 
not swarmed and phunki or phungi for lac from which the insect has 
swarmed. Phunki lac, besides being almost free from colour, has 
dried considerably and contains a much higher percentage of resin 
than ari lac and is, for this reason also, preferred by manufacturers. 
A further nice distinction is made in some parts between phunki lac 
which has swarmed on the tree and in the godown, the former being 
called sona phunki and the latter gada phunku The distinction is not 
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