334 DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 



tained from the common silk-worm ; but in India consi- 

 derable quantities are procured from the cocoons of the 

 larvae of other moths. Of these the most important spe- 

 cies known are the Tusseh and Arindy silk- worms, of 

 which an interesting history is given by Dr. Roxburgh 

 in the Linnean Transactions^. These insects are both 

 natives of Bengal. The first {Phal. Attacus Paphia,!^.) 

 feeds upon the leaves of the Jugube tree or Bi/er of the 

 Hindoos, and of the Terminalia alata glabra, Roxburgh, 

 the Asseen of the Hindoos, and is found in such abun- 

 dance as from time immemorial to have afforded a con- 

 stant supply of a very durable, coarse, dark-coloured 

 silk, which is woven into a cloth called Tusseh-doothieSy 

 much worn by the Brahmins and other sects ; and would 

 doubtless be highly useful to the inhabitants of many 

 parts of America and of the South of Europe, where a 

 Ijo-ht and cool, and at the same time cheap and durable 

 dress, such as this silk furnishes, is much wanted. The 

 durability of this silk is indeed astonishing. After con- 

 stant use for nine or ten years it does not show any signs 

 of decay. These insects are thought by the natives of 

 so much consequence, that they guard them by day to 

 preserve them from crows and other birds, and by night 

 from the bats. — The Arindy silk- worm {Phal. Ct/nthia^ 

 Drury), which feeds solely on the leaves of the Palma 

 Christi, produces remarkably soft cocoons, the silk of 

 which is so delicate and flossy, that it is impracticable 

 to wind it off: it is therefore spun like cotton; and the 

 thread thus manufactured is woven into a coarse kind 

 of white cloth of a loose texture, but of still more in- 

 credible durability than the last, the life of one person 

 * vLl. 33-48. Compare Lord V'alcntia'b Travels, i. 78. 



