1900 ] ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 59 



bers of the family) to undertake the more or less ardaoas labars of raisia^ worcai. It was 

 found impoanble to convert the cocoons into raw silk, namely, to reel them in this country 

 in comp"tifion with the cheap labor in foreign silk-producing countries," 



In 1890 it was shown that even with the introduction of improved automatic, elect 'ic 

 8ilk-re(-ls it was impossible to compete with Europe and Asia without the imposition of a 

 cus-oms duty of not less than $1 per pound on reeled silk imported into the United 

 States. 



A few facts regarding the weight of silk-moth eggs and cosoons may be interesting 

 to pe»'sons who intend experimenting with silkworms. One ounce of eg^s contains about 

 40,000 ega;s (in France a family usually undertakes to rear this quantity). From these 

 are obtained from 80 to 120 pounds of co30ons, whicia yield from 11 to 17 pounds of reeled 

 silk. About 300 medium-size i cocoons weigh one pound, while the silk reeled from these 

 •weighs about one-eighth of a pound. In other words, 2,500 madiuaa-sized cocoons will yield 

 one pound of reeled silk. 



The life-history of the silkworm (Bombyx mori) is very instructive and interesting. 

 Each female moth lays nearly 500 eggs in a cluster soon after she emerges from the 

 cocoon about the first or second week in July. The fertilized egg9 are dr^kb-colore^, while 

 the unfertilized ones are white or grey. The young worm on its first appearance is nearly 

 black, covered with stiff hairs, and is about one-eighth of an inch in l-^ngth. li becomes 

 full grown in about twenty-eight days, during which time it has moulted four times, 

 becoming lighter in color with every moult. When mature it is creamy white, has a 

 prominent projection on the dorsal surface near the end of the abdomen, and is two or 

 three inches long. The spinning of the cocoon occupies nearly three days. The threads 

 of silk are viscid for a few days and consist of two fibres secreted by two glands which 

 run along the sides of the body and open together on the under lip of the worm. This 

 double thread is said to be about 4,000 yards in length. 



The pupa moults once within the cocoon, the skin of the first moult usually remain- 

 ing attached to the inner surface of the cocoon. The color of the cojoon may be white, 

 or yellow, or orange, and investigations fail to reveal the cause of the variation in color. 

 In four or five days after the cocoon is made the silk is rip?, when the pupa may be killed 

 by heating the cocoon to a temperature of 1 94 degrees F. in an oven as already mentioned. 

 If the moth is allowed to escape one end of the cocoon is broken, thereby injuring the 

 continuity and excellence of the silk threads. 



The moth is whitish or cream-colored ; its fore-wings are falcate, with one or two 

 brownish lines crossing ^he wing. The moths are not inclined to fly much, and are easily 

 kept in confinement until the eggs are laid. There is but one brood a year, but the 

 greater part of the year is spent in the egg state. The active period covers little more 

 than six weeks, of which four weeks are sppnt as worms. 



Concluding, the present market condition for reeled silk precludes the possibility of 

 the establishment of a silkworm industry in Ontario, and " serious disappointment will 

 surely follow exaggerated ideas upon the subject of silk-raising for profit, and if any per- 

 son is contemplating such a course he is very strongly dissuaded therefrom." 



Dr. Flf-tcher spoke of the interesting character of the paper and said that the Gov- 

 ernment at Washington had given up its experiments with silkworms because the French 

 manufacturers would not pay for the cocoons a price that would remunerate American 

 labor. In France they kept the eggs in a cool place so that they might not hatch till the 

 mulberry trees were in leaf ; if they should hatch too soon they could be fed upon lettuce, 

 but this food was not safe, as it of uPn produced diarrhrei in the caterpillars. He referred 

 to the fact that most schoolboys in England reared silkworms for amusement, and in con- 

 sequence a very large number became deeply interested in entomology. 



RESULTS OF SOME APPLICATIONS OF CRUDE PETROLEUM 

 TO ORCHARD TREES, 



Br F. M. Webster, Wooster, 0. 

 The varying and sometime3 disastrous results obtained from the use of refined petro- 

 leum, on growing trees, as an insecticide, and especially against the San ioi6 scale, has 

 led to the suspicion that the crude product might be less variable and drastic in its effects , 



