Crosswordese.Com



Word of the Day – Tuesday, July 10th

 


Home

Word of the Day

Archives

Clever Clue of the Month

The Cruciverbalist

Links

Daily Email







LAC (lak)

1. A resinous secretion of the lac insect deposited on trees
2. Fond du Lac: city in Wisconsin
Common
clues: Varnish ingredient; Fond du ___, Wis.; Transparent resin; Resinous substance
Crossword puzzle frequency: 3 times a year
Frequency in English language: 23791 / 86800
Video:
Fond du Lac Pow Wow


Lac is the scarlet resinous secretion of the insect Kerria lacca. This important animal is also known by some junior synonyms such as Laccifer lacca, Carteria lacca and Tachardia lacca. However, the oldest name Kerria lacca is back in current use. Kerria lacca belongs to the lac insect family Kerriidae, one of some 28 families of scale insects and mealy bugs belonging to the superfamily Coccoidea, a large group of about 8000 described species of plant sucking insects. Thousands of these tiny insects colonize branches of suitable host trees and secrete the resinous pigment. The coated branches of the host trees are cut and harvested as sticklac.




The harvested sticklac is then crushed and sieved to remove impurities. The sieved material is then repeatedly washed to remove insect parts and other soluble material. The resulting product is known as seedlac. Seedlac which still contains 3-5% impurities is then processed into shellac by heat treatment or solvent extraction. Lac production is found in Northern India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and parts of China.


***


Fond du Lac is a city in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, United States. The name is French for bottom (or foot) of the lake, for it is located at the bottom (south end) of Lake Winnebago. The population was 42,203 at the 2000 census. The city borders the Town of Fond du Lac, although a small portion borders other adjacent towns.



Fond du lac lighthouse


Together with surrounding communities, the Fond du Lac metropolitan area was, according to the 2000 census, home to 57,479 people. The city forms the core of the United States Census Bureau's Fond du Lac Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Fond du Lac County (2000 population: 97,296), and which, when combined with the 'Beaver Dam (city), WI Micropolitan Statistical Area', form the larger 'Fond du Lac-Beaver Dam, WI Combined Statistical Area'. It was named the safest metropolitan area in the United States in the 2006 edition of City Crime Rankings by Quinto Press.



This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Lac” and Fond du lac”.