June 1, 1870.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



135 



cles/except the hindermost, where two are more like 

 legs deficient : these tubercles are each surmounted 

 by about half a dozen hairs stellately arranged and 

 varying in length from one-tenth to half an inch. 



The cocoon is of a brown colour, by no means of 

 a silky appearance ; it adheres by a strong gummy 

 adhesion to the twigs, or in the angles of twigs 

 of the tree on which the caterpillar feeds : with- 

 out the application of moisture it cannot be separated 

 from the wood, except by the use of force sufficient 

 to destroy it ; the fibres of which it is composed are 

 also fastened together by the same substance. It is 

 somewhat pear-shaped in form, and has an opening 

 at its narrow end, through which I suppose, for I 

 have not witnessed the operation, the perfect insect 

 escapes ; at all events after the escape of the moth 

 there is no other visible channel through which it 

 would have made its exit. 



The moth (my specimens, be it remembered, were 

 produced under unfavourable circumstances) has 

 from four to five inches spread of wing ; the wings 

 are alike in both sexes ; they are of a pretty pale 

 pink ground, with elegant markings of a brown 

 colour of various shades ; on, the outer wings these 

 markings rise, as it were, in iraegular sharp peaks, 

 like the diagrams of therelative heights of mountains 

 given in our modern atlases ; each of the four wings 

 is furnished with a beautifully-marked eye of various 

 colours, and deeper hue than the other markings ; 

 the body of the female is an inch and a quarter in 

 extreme length, and four-tenths of an inch thick, a 

 thickness which is maintained to the very extremity ; 

 at "first.it is densely clothed with black hair, on which) 

 however, rings of a pale pink colour subsequently 

 make their appearance. The body of the male is 

 smaller, but in other respects similar. The antennas 

 are about half an inch in length ; in the female 

 sharply pectinate, and in the male of that elegant 

 plumose form which characterizes the Bombycidce. 



In Hardwicke's Science-Gossip for November 

 1869 is a plate (taken from the American Naturalist) 

 of an American moth, named Telea Polyphemus. 

 Except in the more delicate markings of the wings, 

 which may not be faithfully shown in an ordinary 

 woodcut, this moth bears considerable general 

 resemblance to that now under notice ; the plate of 

 the pupa form is also very similar ; the cocoon is 

 represented as partly folded in a leaf, and this 

 appearance often occurs in the case of the Chinese 

 moth, though it arises from the accidental adhesion 

 of a leaf to the cocoon before its gummy matter 

 becomes dry. The worm of the Telea seems to differ 

 considerably, and some of the author's remarks tend 

 to show that it is by no means identical with the 

 Silkworm of the Liquidambar trees ; nevertheless 

 this reference to it may serve to help me through my 

 inability^to treat the subject with scientific accuracy. 



The name of the manufactured silk Citing Hong 

 Kien is derived from that of the place in Kaying- 



chau where it is chiefly produced ; the cocoons 

 collected in the neighbourhood of Canton are not 

 utilized on the spot, but are taken elsewhere (to 

 Kaying-chau, I am informed) to be manufactured. 

 Besides this application of the cocoon, silkworm 

 gut is obtained from the caterpillar, as pointed out 

 by an Amoy correspondent in " Notes and Queries" 

 (vol. iii. p. 47), and as stated to me by an observant 

 naturalist who for some time resided in that port. 

 The silkworm gut is employed in the manufacture 

 of nets and lines for fishing purposes. 



In Chinese botanical works at my disposal I find 

 no mention of the Fung tree leaves affording food to 

 silk-producing insects; but I may here point out 

 that on page 1 of the 35 th chapter of the "Chili Wuh 

 Ming Shili T'u K'ao" is an excellent engraving of 

 the tree, which, as representing general outline and 

 habit, would be no discredit to a wood-engraver of 

 occidental skill, though of course it is deficient in, 

 nor does it aim at, anatomical accuracy and correct- 

 ness of structural detail. 



Canton. Theos. Sampson. 



EOXGLOVE {Digitalis purpurea). 



I HAVE always been of opinion that "fox" was 

 an ignorant change, entirely devoid of mean- 

 ing in the case of the Digitalis, for " Puck," and 

 that Puck's gloves is the true reading of the name. 

 I shall endeavour to show, both from the Irish and 

 Welsh, the decided connection between the Digi- 

 talis and the Puck order of sprite. In Ireland the 

 Foxglove is called Lusmore, which in English 

 means important weed, or great herb, so called from 

 its being the favoured plant of supernatural 

 beings, more particularly of the "good or great 

 people" {i.e. fairies). In Anglo-Irish we call it 

 "fairy cap," fairy bell, hair bell, fairy weed, fairy 

 glove. Its flowers are believed to form the cups of 

 a certain class of sprites belonging to the order 

 Puck— a very rural, cattle-loosing, mischief-breeding 

 set of fairies. In my mind the Pucks are closely 

 allied to the Satyrs and Nymphs of the ancient 

 Romans and Greeks, and were imported both by the 

 Romans and Norsemen into this country; but, as our 

 small islands could scarcely contain a quantity of 

 these frill-bodied creatures, they have, to suit our 

 limited acreage, dwindled down to fairy rank. Their 

 fondness for children, for carrying or spiriting away 

 maidens, and their partiality for cattle, aud assuming 

 their form, is very much in favour of my view of 

 their origin. The he or buck goat is indirectly con- 

 nected with the Puck, as he was also to the Satyr 

 of Mythology ; heuce, in Irish, we read Puckawn or 

 Puccan, the former meaning an abominable foetid old 

 goat, the latter a young he-goat. The form of the 

 goat was one common to the Puck ; hence we find 

 the celebrated/waterfall Toul-a-pouka {hole of the he- 

 goat, or chasm of the Puck) ; and this, though not 



