THE head and trunk of the CocCUS LACCUS form one uniform, oval, compreffed, red body, of the fhape and magnitude of a very fmall loufe, confifting of twelve tranfverfe rings. The back is carinate; the belly flat; the antennæ half the length of the body, filiform, truncated, and diverging, fending off two, often three, delicate, diverging hairs, longer than the antennæ. The mouth and eyes could not be seen with the naked eye. The tail is a little white point, fending off two horizontal hairs as long as the body. It has three pair of limbs, half the length of the infect. I have often obferved the birth of these infects, but never could fee any with wings; nor could I find any diftinction of fexes, or observe their connubial rites: nature and analogy seem to point out a deficiency in my obfervations, poffibly owing to the minutenefs of the object, and want of proper glaffes. This infect is defcribed in that ftate in which it fallies forth from the womb of the parent in the months of November and December. They traverse the branches of the trees upon which they were produced for fome time, and then fix themselves upon the fucculent extremities of the young branches. By the middle of January they are all fixed in their proper fituations, they appear as plump as before, but fhew no other marks of life. The limbs, antennæ, and feta of the tails, are no longer to be feen. Around their edges they are environed with a fpiffid fubpellucid liquid, which feems to glue them to the branch: it is the gradual accumulation of this liquid which forms a compleat cell for each infect, and is what is called Gum Lacca. About the middle of March, the cells are compleatly formed, and the infect is in appearance an oval, fmooth, red bag, without life, about the fize of a fmall cuchanical infect, emarginated at the obtufe end, full of a beautiful red liquid. In October and November we find about twenty or thirty oval eggs, or rather young grubs, within the red fluid of the mother. When this fluid is all expended, the young infects pierce a hole through the back of their mo-. ther, and walk off one by one, leaving their exuviæ behind, which is that white membranous fubftance found in the empty cells of the Stick. Lac. The infects are the inhabitants of four trees. 1. Ficus Religiofa, Linnæi. In Hindoftan, Pipul. Banyan Tree. 2. Ficus Indica, Linnæi. In Hindoftan, Bhur. Banyan Tree. 3. Plafo Hortus Malabarici. the natives, Prafo. By 4. Rhamnus Jujuba, Linnæi. In Hindoftanick, Beyr. The infects generally fix themselves fo clofe together, and in fuch numbers, that I imagine only one in fix can have room to compleat her cell: the others die, and are eat up by various infects. The extreme branches appear as if they were covered with a red duft, and their fap is fo much exhaufted, that they wither and produce no fruit, the leaves drop off, or turn to a dirty black colour. Thefe infects are tranfplanted by birds: if they perch upon thefe branches, they muft carry off a number of the infects upon their feet to the next tree they reft upon. It is worth obferving, that thefe fig-trees, when wounded, drop a milky juice, which inftantly coagulates into a vifcid ropey fubftance, which, hardened in the open air, is fimilar to the cell of the Coccus Lacca. The natives boil this milk with oils into a bird-lime, which will catch peacocks, or the largest birds. A red medicinal gum is procured by incifion from the Plafo Tree, fo fimilar fimilar to the Gum Lacca, that it may readily be taken for the fame fubtance. Hence it is probable, that thofe infects have little trouble in animalizing the fap of thefe trees in the formation of their cells. The gum lacca is rarely feen upon the Rhamnus Jujuba; and it is inferior to what is found upon the other trees. The gum lacca of this country is principally found upon the uncultivated mountains on both fides the Ganges, where bountiful nature has produced it in fuch abundance, that were the confumption ten times greater, the markets might be fupplied by this minute infect. The only trouble in procuring the lac is in breaking down the branches, and carrying them to market. The prefent price in Dacca is about twelve fhillings the hundred pounds weight, although it is brought from the diftant country of Affam. The best lac is of a deep red colour. If it is pale, and pierced at top, the value diminishes, because the infects have left their cells, and confequently they can be of no ufe as a dye or colour, but probably they are better for varnishes. This infect and it's cell has gone under the various names of Gum Lacca, Lack, Loc Tree. In Bengal, La; and by the English it is diftinguished into four kinds. 1. Stick Lac, which is the natural ftate from which all the others are formed. 2. Seed Lac is the cells feparated from the fticks. 3. Lump Lac is Seed Lac liquified by fire, and formed into cakes. 4. Shell Lac is the cells liquified, ftrained, and formed into thin tranfparent laminæ, in the following manner. Separate the cells from the branches, break them into fmall pieces, throw them into a tub of water for one day, wash off the red water, and dry the cells, and with them fill a cylindrical tube of cotton cloth, two feet long, and one or two inches in diameter; tie both ends, turn the bag above acharcoal fire; as the lac liquifies, twist the bag, and when a fufficient quantity has tranfuded the pores of the cloth, lay it upon a smooth junk of the plantain-tree, (Mufa Paradifiaca, Linnæi) and with a ftrip of the plantain leaf draw it into a thin lamella; take it off while flexible, for in a minute it will be hard and brittle. The value of shell lac is according to it's transparency. This is one of the most useful in- . fects yet difcovered. The natives confume a great quantity of fhell lac in making ornamental rings, painted and gilded in various tastes, to decorate the arms. of the ladies; and it is formed into beads, fpiral and linked chains for necklaces, and other female orna ments. For Sealing-wax. Take a ftick, and heat one end of it upon a charcoal: fire; put upon it a few leaves of the fhell lac foftened above the fire; keep alternately heating and adding morefhell lac, until you have got a mafs of three or four pounds of liquified fhell lac upon the end of your stick*. Knead this upon a wetted board with three ounces of levigated cinnabar, form it into cylindrical pieces; and, to give them a polish, rub while hot with a cotton cloth. For Japanning. Take a lump of fhell lac, prepared in the manner of fealing-wax, with whatever colour you please, fix it upon the end of a ftick, heat the polished wood over a charcoal fire, and rub it over with the half-melted lac, and polish, by rubbing it even with a piece of folded plantain-leaf held in the hand; heating the lacquer, and adding more lac as occafion requires. Their figures: are formed by lac, charged with various colours in the fame manner. In ornamenting their images, and religious houfes, &c, they make use of very thin beat-lead, which they cover with various varnishes, made of lac charged with colours. The preparation of them is kept a fecret. The leaf of lead is laid upon a fmooth iron * In this manner lump lac is formed from feed lac, heated heated by fire below, while they dried in the fhade, and is used as a fpread the varnish upon it. red colour in painting and colour-" ing. For Grindstones. Take of riverfand three parts, of feed lac washed one part, mix thèm over the fire in a pot, and form the mafs into the thape of a grindstone, having at fquare hole in the center, fix it on an axis with liquified lac, heat the ftone moderately, and by turning the axis it may easily be formed into an exact orbicular fhape. Polishing grindstones are made only of fuch fand as will pafs eafly through fine muflin, in the proportion of two parts fand to one of lac. This fand is found at Ragimaul. It is compofed of fmall angular crystalline particles, tinged red with iron, two parts to one of black magnetic fand. The ftone-cutters, inftead of fand, ufe the powder of a very hard nite called Corune. gra These grindstones cut very faft. When they want to increase their power, they throw fand upon them, or let them occafionally touch_the edge of a vitrified brick. The fame compofition is formed upon fticks, for cutting ones, fhells, &c. by the hånd. For Painting. Take one gallon of the red liquid from the firft washing) For Dyeing. Take one gallon of: the red liquid prepared as beforewithout milk, to which add three ounces of allum. Boil three or four ounces of tamarinds in a gallon of water, and ftrain the liquor. Mix equal parts of the red liquid and tamarind water over a brisk fire. In this mixture dip and wring the filk alternately until it has received a proper quantity of the dye. To increafe the colour, increase the proportion of the red liquid, and let the filk boil a few minutes in the mixture. To make the filk hold the colour, they boil a handful of the bark called Load in water, ftrain the decoction, and add cold water to it; dip the dried filk into this liquort feveral times, and then dry it. Cotton cloths are dyed in this manner; but the dye is not fo lafting as in filk. + For Spanish Wool. The lac colour is preferved by the natives upon flakes of cotton dipped repeatedly into a frong folution of the lac in fect in water, and then driedaav not SERVED UPON THE ISLAND OF SIR, D CAROLINE STREET, FEB. 24, 1781. for fhell lac, ftrain.it through a clothy ACCOUNT OF A PHENOMENON OBand let it boil for a fhort time, then add half an ounce of foap earth, (fofil alkali;) boil an hour more, and add three ounces of powdered load, (bark of a tree;) boil a fhort time, let it find all night, and ftrain next day. Evaporate three quarts of milk, without cream, to two quarts, upon a flow fire, curdle it with four milk, and let it ftand for a day or two; then mix it with the red liquid abovementioned; ftrain them through a cloth, add to the mixture one ounce and an half of allum, and the juice of eight or ten lemons: mix the whole, and throw it into a cloth-bag ftrainer. The blood of the infect forms a coagulum with the cafeous part of the milk, and remains in the bag, while a limpid acid-water drains from it. The coagulum is URING my refidence on the Ifland of Sumatra in the Eaft Indies, I had occafion to obferve a phenomenon, fingular, I believe, in it's kind; an account of which may not perhaps be uninterefting to the curious. In the year 1775, the S: E. or dry monfoon, fet in about the middle of June, and continued with very little intermiffion till the month of March in the following year. So long and fevere a drought had not been expe rienced then in the memory of the oldeft oldeft man. The verdure of the ground was burnt up, the trees were tripped of their leaves, the springs of water failed, and the earth every where gaped in fiffures. For fome time a copious dew falling in the night, fupplied the deficiency of rain; but this did not last long: yet a thick fog, which rendered the neighbouring hills invifible for months together, and nearly obfcured the fun, never ceafed to hang over the land, and add a gloom to the profpect already but too melancholy. The Europeans on the coaft fuffered extremely by ficknefs, about a fourth part of the whole number being carried off by fevers and other bilious distempers, the depreffion of fpirits which they laboured under not a little contributing to hasten the fatal effects. The natives alfo died in great numbers. In the month of November 1775, the dry feafon having then exceeded it's ufual period, and the S. E. winds continuing with unremitting violence, the fea was obferved to be covered, to the distance of a mile, and in fome places a league from fhore, with fib floating on the furface. Great quantities of them were at the fame time driven on the beach, or left there by the tide, fome quite alive, others dying, but the greatest part quite dead. The fifh thus found were not of one but various fpecies, both large and fmall, flat and round, cat-fifh and mullet being generally the most prevalent. The numbers were prodigious, and overspread the fhore to the extent of fome degrees; of this I had ocular proof, or certain information, and probably they extended a confiderable way farther than I had opportunity of making enquiry. Their firft appearance was fudden; but though the number diminished, they continued to be thrown up, in fome parts of the coaft, for at least a month, furnihing the inhabitants with food, which, though attended with no immediate ill confequence, probably contributed to the unhealthinefs fo feverely felt No alteration in the weather had been remarked for many days previous to their appearance. The thermometer food, as ufual at the time of year, at about 85 deg Various were the conjectures formed as to the cause of this extraordinary phenomenon, and almost as various, and contradictory were the confequences deduced by the natives from an omen fo portentous; fome inferring the continuance, and others, with equal plaufibility, a relief from the drought. With refpect to the caufe, I muk confefs myself much at a lofs to account for it fatisfactorily. If I might hazard a conjecture, and it is not offered as any thing more, I would fuppofe, that the fea requires the mixture of a due proportion of frefl water to temper it's faline quality, and enable certain fpecies of fish to fubfift in it. Of this falubrious correction it was deprived for an unufual:fpace of time, not only by the want of rain, but by the ceafing of many rivers to flow into it, whofe fources were dried up. I rode across the mouths of feveral perfectly dry,' which I had often before paffed in boats. The fifth no longer experiencing this refreshment, neceffary as it fhould feem to their existence, fickened and perished as in a corrupted element. If any thing fimilar to what I have above defcribed has been noticed in other parts of the world, I should be happy, by a comparison of the attendant circumftances, to investigate and afcertain the true caufes of fo extraordinary an effect. In communicating to you the abfervations I have made, I purfue the most likely means of obtaiming this fatisfaction. I have the honour to be, &c. TO THE EDITORS OF THE BRITISH ›MAGAZINE AND REVIEW.: دال GENTLEMEN, The following account of the late Mr. Spalding's Experiments with the Diving Bell, as written by himfeff, and communicated to the So TO THE SOCIETY FOR THE ENCOU- Beg leave to be indulged in giv. ing a fhort account of the reafons that first induced me to engage fingly in this expenfive and hazardous enterprize. ciety for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, who rewarded his ingenious improvements with a bounty of Twenty Guineas, may poffibly prove acceptable to many readers of your excellent Mifcellany*. My apparatus being in tolerable I am, Gentlemen, order, I failed for Dunbar, thirty Your, &c. miles diftant, in an open long-boat, H-M-floop rigged, about fix or eight tons burden; where, by a mistaken account, I was informed the bottom of the Fox fhip of war lay: but, on my arrival, the oldeft feaman in the place could give me no intelligence, as that veffel perished in the night, with all on board, fomewhere in Dunbar Bay, and by ftorms, in fo long a period as thirty years, was thought to be fanded up. In order to gratify the curiofity of fome friends there, I however determined to go down, where it might be thought probable her bottom lay; but in feven and eight fathoms water, found nothing but a fine hard fandy bottom, from whence I am led to conjecture that the proprietors of the valuable effects which were on board that veffel might find their account in fweeping for her. Now I was in, formed that a veffel, which was thrown up by accident in the river Tay, near Dundee, with a large quantity of iron, lay within two fathoms of the furface at low water; I determined to make trial there, and accordingly failed across the Firth to that place, about fifteen leagues diftant from Dunbar, having prevailed on my brother, and brother in law, to accompany me in all these expeditions, with two feamen, which were my whole crew. Diving-bell, and in June laft máde repeated trials in the Roads of Leith, in the various depths of five, fix, and eight fathoms water, making feveral alterations which experience fuggefted. Having a large concern in the cargo of the Peggy, Thomas Bofwell, mafter, from London for Leith, with a very full and valuable loading; this veffel, with two large fhips belonging to Newcastle and Shields, were, in a fevere ftorm, wrecked on the Scares, or Fern Islands, in the night of the 3d, or morning of the 4th of December 1774, where all the crew and paffengers perished; the light goods thrown on shore from Sunder land Point to Holy Island, gave the first intelligence of our lofs. At feveral meetings of the traders, I was unanimously requested to take the management of this bufinefs, and collect what could be recovered of the cargo and veffel. This, to the utmost of my power, at that severe feafon of the year, I performed, but never found any part of my own property. On this occafion, the utility of Doctor Halley's Diving Bell occurred to me in the strongest manner; particularly as I thought I had difcovered the place where it might reafonably be prefumed the bottom of Dur vessel lay, depressed in the water by the heavy goods usually stowed in the lower tiers. At my return to Edinburgh, I confulted every author I could find, on the fubject of Diving, and the At Dundee, Mr. Knight and Mr. Leighton, the mafters of two vessels, with a few feamen as affiftants, failed out to the place on which it was conjectured, by the land-marks, this wreck lay; but at the fame time they informed me, that the great quanti ties of ice in the winter of 1773, had either funk, or entirely destroyed, See an account of this unfortunate gentleman's last experiment, Vol. II, p. 474. the |