116 
HALF HOURS WITH INSECTS. 
[Packard. 
find their way into the European markets, are dyed with 
Kermes. Carmine is also made from it.” Manna is said to 
be produced by the stings of the Coccus manniparus first 
described by Ehrenberg, who found it at Sinai growing on 
the tamarix. The lac insect', so valuable a commercial prod¬ 
uct, is a bark louse which lives in the East Indies on the 
Ficus religiosa. This insect, by its beak, punctures the bark 
especially of the branches. From this puncture exudes “ a 
quantity of vegetable matter which eventually surrounds the 
lac insect and her eggs and larvae, and produces on the 
branch an irregular brown mass, which encircles it and 
which when broken has a resinous aspect. This is gum lac.” 
(Lankester). When found on the twigs it is called stick lac, 
but after it has been pounded, and the greater part of the 
coloring matter extracted by water, it is called seed lac; 
when melted down into cakes after it has been strained and 
formed into thin scales, lump lac and shell lac. 
The most troublesome scale insect found on cultivated 
plants is the white scale insect or Aspidiotus bromelice (Fig. 
79). The snow-white round scales crowd one 
another on the leaves of acacias, the Olea fra- 
fig. so. grans, Guidia simplex, etc. 
x On examination with the mi- 
^ croscope the dead and shriv¬ 
elled body of the female may 
be seen in the centre. It is 
oval in form, with a ridge along 
middle, and yellowish, contrasting with 
the snow-white thin edge of the scale, 
the surface of which is minutely granu¬ 
lated and white, as if frosted. 
The young (Fig. 80, enlarged) are 
thick and convex, with the hind edge 
simple. The segments (not all indicated in the cut) are 
quite indistinct. Around the edge of the posterior -third of 
20 
Fig. 79. 
Young of A. bromelije. 
