380 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



they have attained the proper period for transformation to 

 chrysalids, the worms are j^laced in what Delprino calls the 

 cocoonry, the pigeon-holes (large enough to receive them) 

 being placed vertically on each side on tables, in which the 

 worm is able to move about with sufficient freedom, and yet 

 suitably protected from any injury. It is believed that a 

 saving of silk is thus secured, as there is no attachment of 

 the cocoon to a branch, as in the ordinary method, involving 

 a loss, according to the inventor of this new method, of twen- 

 ty per cent. 



Another of Dr. Delprino's methods consists in securing a 

 perfect union of the two sexes, and a more certain fertiliza- 

 tion of the eggs. This is done by placing the fly in a cell 

 covered with a board, and keeping it there in darkness and 

 solitude for half an hour, at the expiration of which, to each 

 male is given a female, and the board replaced until the nuptial 

 operations have been accomplished. By another arrangement, 

 every female lays her eggs separately, so that those of two 

 individuals are not mixed, and so that the imperfectly-ma- 

 tured eggs (such as can easily be detected by examination) 

 can be readily removed and destroyed, thereby improving 

 the general quality of the grains. The general idea of Dr. 

 Delprino's system consists in the isolation of the insects; and, 

 although this may require a special arrangement, and be 

 somewhat troublesome, yet it is maintained that the result 

 sufficiently vindicates the propriety of the process, and that 

 in the greater perfection of the eggs, and the improved health 

 of the worms, and better quality and quantity of the silk, 

 there is a decided superiority in the new system. Jour. Soc. 

 Fran$. Statist. U?iiverselle, 1871, 199. 



ORIGIN OF BREEDS OF BRITISH CATTLE. 



In a communication to the Literary and Philosophical So- 

 ciety of Manchester, by Mr. William Boyd Dawkins, on the 

 "Origin of our Domestic Breeds of Cattle," he remarks that 

 at the present time there are three well-marked forms inhab- 

 iting Great Britain. These consist of the hornless cattle, 

 which have lost the horns which their ancestors possessed 

 through the selection of the breeder. The polled Galloway 

 cattle, for instance, are the result of the care taken by the 

 grandfather of the present Earl of Selkirk, in only breeding 



