Ricky Young, age 12, of Gary, Ind., for his question:

What is a lac insect?

This little fells is a scale insect, a relative of the mealy bugs, the aphids and so called ant cows. Scale insects are small creatures with long, strong sucking tubes which they use to feed upon plant juices. The males are winged and live only a short tia:e. Most of the females are wingless and some of them live for many years.

The ant cow aphids sweat a sweet honeydew which the ants lave to cafe Other scale insects secrete a covering to protect themselves from their enemies. The lac do even better. They cover themselves with a think coating of resin which protects them not only from their enemies, but also from long periods of dry weather. Since these little ladies like to live together in colonies, their resin secretions often run together to form a large lump, sealing them safely to a twig. Sometimes a whole twig is covered with lao resin half an inch thick.

The most famous lac insects live in India, Ceylon, Burma and the East Indies. There they feed happily on juices from the fig trees, soapberri6a and acacias. Each pierces the bark with her long sucking tube and draws up the sap. The whole colony is safe and oozy under its glassy dome of resin   until harvest time comes around.

There are several lac insects native to the western desert regions of the New World. One variety sets up housekeeping on the twigs of the hardy creosote bush and in times past the Indians would seek them out. They would prepare the reddish colored resin and use it to waterproof their baskets and clothing. Another variety enjoys life on desert scrub oaks. The Indians used his waxy resin as a sort of chewing gum. This is not surprising when you remember that the maruria of the old Bible story was produced by a certain desert scale insect.

The most valuable lac insect of modern times, however, is the one who lives in semitropical regions of the Old World. A colony of these little ladies produces a resin valuable enough to be harvested on a large sale. These insects are not domesticated, but the natives find out where they thrive and wait for the proper time. This occurs when the little ladies have laid their eggs for next season, all safe and sound under the hard resin dome.

Harvest begins with the pruning shears. Twigs heavy with resin are cut off and carried away. Sometimes the twigs are heated and the valuable lac material squeezed through a bag. Sometimes the whole mass is put into boiling water. The resin separates and floats to the top. When dried and prepared for market it is in the form of flakes or shells.  It is, of course, shellac.