INSTITUTE, PUSA, FOR 1919-20 85 



The second edition of the Bulletin on Lac Culture in 

 the Plains of India has been exhausted and a third edition 

 is in preparation. 



During the year several inquiries were received from 

 Bengal regarding any possible connection between the pre- 

 sence of lac insects and pebrine in silkworms. Specimens 

 of lac insects, received from Malda and Berhampore, did 

 not reveal the presence of any pebrine bodies in the female 

 insects and it is not considered likely that lac insects will 

 be found to be affected by pebrine, but experiments on this 

 line are being started. In this connection it may be noted 

 that both lac and silkworms have been cultivated success- 

 fully at Pusa for more than ten }^ears, which seems to 

 dispose of the superstition current in the silkworm rearing 

 districts of Bengal that cocoon crops cannot be successful 

 if lac and silkworms be grown in the same place. The 

 price of lac has advanced so much recently, having gone up 

 to practically ten times the pre-war rates, that the question 

 of lac-production in India has become one of no small 

 economic importance. 



Silk. The sericultural establishment is still on a tem- 

 porary footing which has been extended up to 31st March, 

 1921. In the meantime experiments on mongrelization of 

 mulberry silkworms have been continued to see whether the 

 mongrel races will continue to give silk superior in quality 

 and quantity to that of the indigenous multivoltine races. 

 It will take some time to arrive at definite conclusions 

 regarding the results of these experiments. 



Univoltine races of Bengal, China, Japan and France, 

 and their hybrids, were sent for cold storage to Guindy, 

 Muktesar and Shillong, and were successfully reared at 

 Pusa in October-November and in February-March. Tasar 

 worms were reared in captivity, as well as on trees, and 

 their diseases were studied. 



Mulberry silkworm eggs have been supplied to 69 ap- 

 plicants and mulberry seeds and cuttings to 26 applicants, 

 including the Director of Industries, Assam, the Superin- 

 tendent of the Northern Shan States, the Director of 



