Having selected the forest for experin3ent, the next point to fix on is the local date on which the inscets leave the parent cells, a step of great importance, and one on which the first success of the plantation will very greatly depend ; as, should the work of gathering brood lac be delayed until visible proof of the exit of larvse is obtained, a vast quantity will be killed in the operations of collection, transport, and tying the encrusted twigs on the standards selected for the nurseries. The date of evolution having been fixed on with some certainty, twigs of that season's lac should be gathered about 15 days before, wrapped up in a few straws of grass, and attached to the trees selected for production, ith threads of palas root fibre, or something else as easily obtained ; each twig should be 9-12 in. in length, and be attached to the upper and middle branches of the tree. The grass tied round the twigs acts as a means of communication from the lac to the branches and leaf petioles, by which, many insects are saved that would otherwise die from want of nourishment, for, owing to the crookedness and irregularities of the incrustations, contact between them and the branches is seldom complete. It is also of importance to tie the brood lac to the upper and middle branches, as many of the lower ones, by this arrangement, become covered with insects, which are shaken or fall from above ; whereas, if the lac be attached to the lower portion of the tree, many larva! must fall to the giound and be lost. When attaching the twigs, it appears necessary to take care that the wood of the standard is not of denser composition than the wood of the tree from which the brood lac is gathered, as it is believed that the lame reared on soft-wooded trees are comparatively weaker than those which are found on species of harder texture. The brood la.c yielded by the koosum, a very hard-wooded tree, appears best suited for propagating purposes, as it succeeds on trees of ail other species. 'When several trees of the selected species grow together, it does not appear necessary at first to artificially cultivate more than of them, as, during the succeeding evolution, the remaining will almost certainly be brought under preparation by natural means; but as the success of the crop depends principally on the supply of juices obtained by the female iosects during the period they continue to deposit the resin, it is necessary to place the brood lac on the youngest and most sappy branches.
Of the points to be noted in naakiog preserves, the one of greatest importance, perhaps, is the fact that the lac incrustations may be plucked several days befure the larvas appear,—a knowledge of which will enable a larger number of trees to lye prepared during one working season than if it was necessary to delay the operations until the evolution actually took place, as, owing to this latter being nearly simultaneous in and about one locality, the period for forming the plantation would be necessarily limited to the number of days it took for the cells to become empty ; besides which, by attaching the lac twigs before the birth of the larva3, great numbers are saved, wlaich would otherwise perish during the process of being attached to the trees. Experiment has proved that the incrustations may be gathered 2-3 weeks before the exit of the young, by which, as before explained, much better results will be obtained than if it was necessary to delay the work until this event took place. The late of exit varies considerably in forests separated by comparatively short distances. These differences arise less from the latitudes of the forests than from certain local conditions. There is much reported variation in the number of evolutions, and consequently in
the number of crops which are obtained, in different countries. In Mysore and Burma, it would appear that three evolutions take place during the year. In the Central Provinces, only one good crop in a year can be hoped for, After the larvm appear, they crawl about the stems of the plant in search of young juicy spots, from which, when once fixed by their probosces, they cannot be removed without fatal injury. The male and female are identical in size and shape, and both commence at once the formation of their cocoons by excreting a substance resetubling lac, those of the males being ovoid or elliptic in form, while those of the females are more circular, and exhibit three distinct apertures arranged in tri angular fashion iu their roofs,—one being the anal aperture through which impregnation is accomplished, and the larvie eventually swarm ; the other two, those by means of which the insect obtains a supply of air. About ten weeks after birth, au important change has taken place in the larvm ; the female cocoons are completed, and the insects have assumed the final or imago state; as the female remains fixed in the position she first took up on the tvvig, the male is obliged to seek her, which he does hy leaving his cell in a backward manner to the ventral aperture, and crawling on to the female cells, where he fulfils his office, and almost immediately after dies. This exit of male insects is a fact well to know, as, owing to the srnallness of the animal and his superficial similarity to the original larva form, it is possible for a novice to mistake such an evolution for one of young larvse, and to commence gathering the twigs under the impression that a DCW birth of the latter had taken plaee. If the lac is plucked before or immediately after impregnation ha.s been accomplished, the females must perish from being cut off from their sap supplies, and, as a natural consequence, the young brood must be destroyed with them. Impregnation having been accom plished, the female busies herself in sucking up large quantities of vegetable juices, increases greatly in size, and begins the excretion of the true lac. The females niust be attached to young twigs by which bountiful supplies of fluid will be supplied them, otherwise they will (lie, or never become fully developed, the lac cells will he small in consequence, and the eggs will suffer in number and condition. This no doubt is tho reason why, in districts where the seasons are dry, and whore showers aro of unfrequent occurrence during the hot weather, the summer crop is invariably poor nud scarcely worth collecting. Moisture is one of the great essentiali for a liuo crop of lac, and many dfusappoiutments result from fixing OD dry arid spots for the formation of the plantations. The females cannot obtain sufficient nourishment at this period from the sapless stems, and their death will be recognized by the pitt,ed appearanc,e assumed by the cells, the crowns of which fall in as the insect contracts within them, and by the cessation of the growth or dis appearance of the white filaments which obtrude from the spiracular orifices. Species such as koomm and gaoler (Ficus glomcrata), which most frequently are found growing along the banks of rivers, where the atmosphere is humid, are, for these reasons, especially adapted for yielding good crops of Ian; while the palas offers advs.ntages, as its sap-producing functions are actively employed during the hottest season of the year, when it forms both new wood and leaves.