OBSERVATIONS. 



319 



always remain black. In summer 

 the fur is tawnj, with a plentiful 

 sprinkling of black. The Alpine 

 hare does not associate with its 

 neighbour of the plains, and rarely 

 leaves its home on the mountain- 

 side. The Alpine flowers now be- 

 gan to appear. First and foremost 

 was Sihhaldia lorocumbens, a Poten- 

 tilla-looking plant that is readily 

 recognised by its ternate leaves and 

 tridentate leaflets. Then Silene 

 acaulis, one of the pink tribe, with 

 its light-green cushion-like tufts and 

 rose-coloured flowers attracted no- 

 tice. Cerastium alpinum is a charm- 

 ing alpine plant. Its woolly leaves 

 and snow-white flowers may well 

 rival our border foliage-plani so 

 generally in cultivation, under the 

 name of C. tomentosiim. A pretty 

 little rush, rejoicing in the name of 

 Juncus trifidus, was growing in 

 shaded places, near the very summit 

 of the mountain, with GnaiJhaUum 

 supimim, a very dwarf Everlasting, 

 that flowers when only an inch or 

 two high. These, and the others 

 previously noticed on Ben Venue, 

 were duly consigned to my botany- 

 case. — Peter Inchbald, Storthes 

 Hall, Feb. 3rd, 1864. 



Bomhyx Cynthia.'^ — It has long 

 been supposed, and it is still the 



* The substance of a Paper by Lady- 

 Mary Thompson, of Sheriff Hutton, read 

 before the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, 



belief of many, that silk is obtained 

 exclusively from Bomhyx Mori. 

 Bomhyx Cynthia is also a silkworm, 

 and has been reared at Sheriff 

 Hutton Park, in the open air, on 

 plants of Ailanthus glandulosa. It 

 is a native of the colder parts of 

 China, and some of the living 

 cocoons were sent thence in 1856 

 by a Piedmontese missionary (the 

 Abbe Fantoni) to his friends at 

 Turin. From Piedmont it was 

 introduced into France, where the 

 cultivation is now being pursued 

 with profit by independent persons, 

 and also by others with assistance 

 from the Government. Though 

 the silk of this insect is already 

 used extensively in France, it is 

 only as spun silk, that is to say 

 carded like wool, instead of being 

 wound direct from the cocoon in a 

 continuous thread, as in the case of 

 the mulberry silkworm. Having 

 watched the caterpillar in the act 

 of spinning, it does not appear to 

 me that there is an impossibility in 

 obtaining a continuous thread. The 

 difficulty arises from the threads 

 being laid more compactly than 

 those of the mulberry silkworm, and 

 being cemented with a gum which 

 we have not yet the secret of dis- 

 solving. The cocoon of the Bomhyx 

 Cynthia is formed with an elastic 

 opening for the egress of the mature 



by Luke Thompson, Esq. Communicated 

 by Mr. John Ranson, of York. 



