Part I] Lindsay and Hardow : Lac and Shellac 47 
consisted of perforated racks, a good imitation of which can esaily be 
made with strips of bamboo or with bamboo matting. 
Many authorities have drawn attention to the fact that consi¬ 
derable loss takes place during the storage of stick-lac owing to the 
action of predaceous insects. The manufacturers are, however, un¬ 
animous that no appreciable loss occurs in their godowns. Both views 
are possibly correct. If recently cut lac is inspected it will be found 
to be infested with the larvae and pupae of Eublemma amabalis and 
other predators, which must destroy an appreciable quantity of lac. 
It usually, however, takes weeks and often months for lac to com¬ 
plete its transit from the tree to the manufacturer’s godown, and 
during this period the predators either die or emerge and no appre¬ 
ciable loss will occur actually in the godown. The question whether 
loss does occur can only be decided after a careful test. In the 
Agricultural Journal of India, Vol. Ill, pp. 176—7 and in his “ Indian 
Insect Pests ” (reproduced by Misra as an appendix) Maxwell Lefroy 
has described a method of fumigating stick-lac with carbon bisul¬ 
phide to exterminate these predators. A sample of about one maund 
of stick-lac freshly plucked and well infested with predators should 
be divided into two exactly equal parts by weight. One part should 
be treated as described by Maxwell Lefroy and, after having been 
cleaned of predators, should be stored so as to prevent reinfection. 
The other part should be stored in the usual way. At the end of 
about two months, the co-operation of a careful manufacturer is re¬ 
quired, who will convert both samples into grain-lac ; and a compari¬ 
son of the resultant weights will show definitely whether any loss 
occurs from the action of predators after the lac has been collected. 
Should appreciable loss occur, the question of preventing it arises. 
Maxwell Lefroy states that one-and-a-half pounds of carbon bisul¬ 
phide are required per ton of stick-lac. Carbon bisulphide is an 
expensive chemical and an arithmetical calculation will show whether 
the value of the lac saved is more than the cost of saving it or not. 
If not, experiment is necessary to discover a process involving the 
use of cheaper chemicals. 
Troup (Indian Forester, Vol. XXXVII, p. 245, Measures for the 
destruction of moths predaceous on lac) brings to notice the fact 
that the emergence of the parasites and predators on lac usually 
occurs after the swarming of the lac insects. He suggests, as a 
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