The trees on which the female Coccus lacca chiefly settle are the Ficus Indica, F. religiosa, Butea frondosa, the cotton trees, Bombax ceiba, Salmalia Malabarica, Gossampinus Rurnphii, and Zizyphus jujuba. Lac lake was first made in Cal cutta in the beginning of the 19th century, and the lac dye was manufactured afterwards. Another Coccus, C. Sinensis of China, secretes a wax (Peh-la ?) from which candles are made ; and the Coccus polonicus of High Asko. and Europe is also used in its native regions for dyeing wool, silk, and hair of a red colour.
Bees are useful in 'producing honey, and in Afghanistan they are semi-domesticated, as in Europe. The races on the N.W. frontier of India make openings in the walls of their houses for the bees to shelter in, and their honey is much valued. The Langeh bee of Borneo, and one of smaller size called Nuang, produce valuable honey. They generally place their nests underneath the larger branches, and the Dyaks ascend the trees toy means of a rail of bamboos to reach them. A small bee of Borneo is esteemed for the wax of its honey comb. The Trigona lreviceps gathers the pwai ngyet resin of Burma. Bees are not the only insects which produce wax. The Flats limbata, Hutton, an insect of the Himalaya related to the Pceciloptera, produces a wax which dissolves readily in water.
Still more valuable than the species of Coccus are the domesticated and wild insects which pro duce the silks of commerce. They are of the families Saturniidx and Bombycidae, of the Lepid optera. All the Saturniidre are silk spinners, —Actias, Antherea, Attacus,
Cricul
The blistering flies, species of Cantharis, Myla bris, and Meloe, though used only in medical prac tice, are not to be forgotten in the enumeration of insects valuable to man. Cantharis vesicatoria is
the Spanish blistering fly. The Indian flies are Mylabris chicorii, Meloe trianthema, Cantharis gigas, and C. violacea ; but Mylabris chicorii is that exclusively used.
The beautiful wing-cases or elytra of Chryso chroa, a species of Buprestis of a brilliant metallic green colour, are used in India, and exported. to Europe, to ornament cuscus fans, baskets, etc., to be worked on muslins, and to enrich the embroidery of ladies' dresses. A species of Buprestis occurs in Burma of variable copper and green, burnished with transparent golden bronze. They are living gems, and Sgau Karen maidens use the wing cases for necklaces and chaplets. The Kyen adorn themselves with the elytra of B. ignita. Westwood estimated the species of Buprestis at 1500.
The excreta of animals which would be injurious to man, are buried deep in the earth by the dun g beetles, the useful Copridm and Dynastidm. Some of these are of great size, with immense horn-like protuberances on the bead and thorax of the males. Some of them cut the masses into round balls, which they roll to a distance, and bury an inch or two deep in the ground.—Wall. Tr. of a Nat. p. 95.
The Necrophaga are carrion feeders ; and species of Necrophorus, Necrodes, Silpha, and Oiceoptoma occur in the East Indies.
A brown-black scavenger beetle of Burma, and very common, resembling Scarabmus stercorarius or Geotrupes stercorarius, selects for its burrow a bed of ordure, which it excavates two or three feet deep, and at the end of the passage forms a chamber of several inches in diameter. It is not a pellet roller.
Nature protects the otherwise helpless animals in varied ways. They are to be found on leafy plants, on withered branches, or amidst dried grasses on the ground, and so closely resembling the surrounding objects, that even when pointed to they cannot be made out by an unaccustomed eye. One mode or other of protection is followed through all the insect world. Beetles that imitate other Coleoptera of distinct groups are very numerous in tropical countries. The insects which others imitate always have a special protection, which leads them to be avoided as dangerous or uneatable by small insectivorous animals ; some have a disgusting taste (analogous to that of the Heliconidm) ; others have such a hard and stony covering that they cannot be crushed or digested ; while :third set are very active, and armed with powerful jaws, as well as being provided with some disagreeable secretion.