ICO SILKWORMS. 



countries seldom, if ever, emerge before spring." Of course, if 

 the eggs are laid at unsuitable times, the caterpillars are apt to 

 hatch when they are not wanted, and when there is not sufficient 

 food for them. Then again, if they are reared in the open air, 

 they are always liable to the attacks of birds, unless protected 

 with nets, and the older the caterpillars are, and the fatter and 

 more luscious they become, the greater sinners do the feathered 

 tribes become against them ; M. Wailly found London sparrows 

 terrible thieves in this respect. Again, after a long continuance 

 of fine, glorious summer weather, during which the caterpillars 

 have thriven well, and have begun to look charmingly prosperous, 

 and to raise the hopes of their cultivator proportionately, there 

 may, in this unreliable climate of ours, come suddenly a change 

 of weather, in the form of drenching rain, or piercing cold, which 

 will speedily blast all hopes of a grand result from the season's 

 care and watching. Birds are, as before intimated, not the only 

 depredators that have to be feared ; M. Wailly once had a quantity 

 of young caterpillars of the Ailanthus Moth destroyed by lady- 

 birds ; he also met with some difficulties on the score of cats. A 

 number of fine larvae reared indoors, were again, on one occasion, 

 carried off by mice. One gentleman in London has been very 

 successful in rearing these exotic species in a large glass case 

 intended for fern-growing ; this was warmed and kept at a high 

 temperature by means of a paraffin stove, over which was placed 

 a saucer of water to produce the requisite moisture in the atmo- 

 sphere. Notwithstanding the smell of petroleum the larvae throve 

 well, and seventeen larvae even of the Atlas Moth, a difficult 

 moth to rear, fed up in less than a month, and formed cocoons 

 from which the moths issued a fortnight after. 



It is a curious fact that crosses between several of the species 

 reared have been obtained, and that in some cases, unlike the 

 generality of hybrids they have been able to perpetuate their race, 

 and to continue doing so for several generations. The experi- 

 ments in this direction, however, have yet advanced but little 

 beyond their infancy. 



There seems to be no chance of making the rearing of these 

 exotic species a financial success, at least in this country. Still 

 there is a good deal of interest attaching to them, both on account 

 of their large size and of their beauty, not only as moths, but 

 also as caterpillars, and as a mere amusement, the rearing of such 

 splendid insects is likely to prove quite as attractive as that of 

 the unadorned caterpillars and moths of Boinbyx mori, the chief 

 drawbacks being the amount of care required, and the small 

 proportion of success that must be looked for. 



