中国白蜡虫_的养殖及白蜡的西传.docVIP

中国白蜡虫的养殖及白蜡的西传 龙 村 倪 （台湾综合研究院，台湾? 淡水） ? [摘? 要]蚕、蜂与白蜡虫是中国著名的三大养殖昆虫。白蜡虫[Ericerus pela (Chavannes)]俗称蜡虫，白蜡（Cera chinensis，也称虫白蜡）实即白蜡虫的分泌物，为中国特产。中国放养蜡虫，始於九世纪前，宋、元间已有正确详实的文献记载，至明时大盛，川滇、湖广、江浙均有养殖。在清朝及民国时期中国西南仍有大规模养殖，成为一种生产昆虫化工产品的“昆虫工厂”。在近代石油蜡与启前，中国白蜡（Chinese wax）独放异彩，新近因昆虫蜡性质独特而优异，又有渐起之机。本文探讨了中国养殖蜡虫的历史和养殖蜡虫事业的发展和白蜡西传欧洲的过程，为进一步研究中国经济昆虫养殖史奠定基础。 [关键词]白蜡虫；白蜡；中国白蜡 [中图分类号]S-09；???? ?[文献标识码]A ?????[文章编号]1000-4459（2004）04-0000-00 ? The Culturing of Ericerus pela (Chavannes) in China and the Transmission of Chinese wax into Europe Lung Tsuen-Ni （Taiwan Research Institute，Danshuei,Taiwan） ? Abstract: Waxes are divided into animal, vegetable and mineral types. Animal waxes include beeswax, produced by the wax glands of bees and other insects. The Chinese wax scale [Ericerus pela (Chavannes)] is an insect? which has been breed in China for commercial wax production for over a thousand years. The males of the Chinese wax insect are probably the best known wax producers. They secrete large amounts of pure white wax on host trees, such as Ligustrum lucidum (Aitton), Fraxinus chinesis (Roxburgh), etc. the technology used cultureing the wax scale was recorded in detail in a book published in the 13th century, but the production of insect wax can be dated back much further to the 3rd century A.D. Chinese wax scale was first introduced into Europe in 1615 and got its species name Coccidae pela in 1848, later modified to the present name.Chinese insect wax (Cera chinensis) farming is a lucrative and highly important business in the southwestern region of China, especially for the minority peoples. Keywords：Ericerus pela (Chavannes)；Cera chinensis；Chinese wax ? 中国人在世界昆虫养殖史上最大的成就是养蚕。丝绸不仅是中国的特有产品，名扬四海，而且“丝”也成了中国人的代名词。中国养蚕，始于新石器时代晚期，已经有了5000年以上的历史，到目前为止，仍为最重要的一种经济养殖昆虫。中国人除传统的养蜂、养蚕外，还养殖几种非常独特的“经济昆虫”（economic production insects）（亦称“资源昆虫”，resource insects），其中最著名的如养白蜡虫取蜡（昆虫蜡的重要来源之一），养五倍子（蚜虫的一种）作为药用和养紫胶虫取胶等等。 这些特有的昆虫养殖，不仅在世界昆虫养殖史上地位不凡，有些还是中国所特有的，别处少见，但因介绍不多，较少受到国际昆虫学界重视。昆虫养殖十分不易，这说明中国在古代已对昆虫有一定的认识和了解