















HEMIPTERA. 
infeéts bufily employed upon fmall branches of a fhrub, then neither in fruit or flower, but in its general 
habit bearing fomewhat the appearance of a privet. Thefe infeéts, each not much exceeding the fize of 
the domeftic fly, were of a curious ftruéture, having peétinated appendages rifing in a curve, bending to- 
wards the head, not unlike the form of the tail feathers of the common fowl, but in the oppofite dire¢tion. 
Every part of the infec was, in colour, of a perfeét white, or at leaft completely covered with a white 
powder. The particular ftem frequented by thofe infeéts, was entirely whitened by a fubftance or powder 
of that colour, ftrewed upon it by them, The fubftance or powder was fuppofed to form the white wax 
of the Eaft. This fubftance is afferted, on the fpot, to have the property, by a particular manipulation, of 
giving in certain proportions, with vegetable oil, fuch folidity to the compofition as to render the whole 
equally capable of being moulded into candles. The fa& is afcertained, indeed, in fome degree, by the 
fimple experiment of diffolving one part of this wax in three parts of olive oil made hot. The whole, 
when cold, will coagulate into a mafs, approaching to the firmnefs of bees wax.” 
From the accurate defcription and figures of the latter author, it is evident, the creature that produces 
the white wax of China, is an imperfect infect, or, technically fpeaking, the pupa of an infe&, which, 
in its mature ftate, is furnifhed with wings. This is clearly the fa&t, for the rudiments of wings are 
vifible in the figures alluded tos. The metamorphofe of infeéts are fo various, and their appearance fo 
changed in pafling from one ftate to another, that the identity of any fpecies in the larva or pupa can 
only be proved by actual obfervation ; neither do the larva or pupa poffefs thofe charateriftic differences 
by which naturalifts determine one fpecies from another; and this confideration deters us from deciding 
on the precife fpecies, to which the pupa before us fhould be referred. 
StToHL, a Dutch author, has been more fortunate ; he has afcertained this identical creature to be the 
pupa of Cicada Limbata, and in his work on Cimices and Cicades, gives a figure of it under the title of 
De Waldraag fier (Nymphe) or La Cigale Porte Laine, fig. 144, together with the winged infe& at fig. 145; 
and it is on this authority Cicada Limbata is introduced in the annexed plate. 
We are ftrongly inclined to credit the accuracy of Stohl in this inftance; there is much fimilarity be- 
tween the pupa and the cicada, and fome ftriking chara¢teriftics are common to both. They agree in the 
{tructure of the antennz, and probofcis, or fucking trunk; the abdomen of the winged infeét is alfo loaded 
with a fine white powder, and is furnifhed at the extremity with a tuft of down and hairs, fimilar to that 
{o eminently confpicuous in the pupa ftate. We have, however, obferved the white powder, and tuft on 
the abdomen of Cicada lanata, and have reafon to imagine it alfo forms a white wax, fimilar to that of 
the prefent {pecies. 
& This may account for a paffage in Gordon’s defcription of China, where he fays, ** In the plains” of Houquang “ are vaft 
numbers of little worms that produce wax, in the fame manner as bees do honey,” if we underftand by worms, infeéts not arrived 
at maturity; for the larva of Bombyx Mori, is alfo termed a filk worm, though it belongs to the moth tribe when perfeé&. 
