40 THE ENTOMOLOGIST, 



bramble, heath, &c. This species is earher than the preceding 

 one, the moths emerging generally in April. The larvse hatch 

 in May, form their cocoons, of a pear-like shape, about the 

 middle of July, in the bushes. 



Attacus spini, Borkhausen (Saturnia pavonia media, Fab.). 

 Germany, Austria, Hungary. This species, it is said, can only 

 pair in the open air. I could never obtain the reproduction of 

 this species in captivity after several years' trial. In 1881, with 

 forty cocoons, I only obtained seven or eight moths ; the pupse, 

 like those of A. pijri and A. carpini, remaining two and some- 

 times three years before the emergence of the moths. The spini 

 moths, in 1881, commenced to emerge on April 17th, the carpini 

 on the 30tb. From this, spini would appear to be a still earlier 

 species than carpini. The larva feeds on the blackthorn {Primus 

 spinosa). The cocoon is larger and more silky than that of 

 carpijii, and it has an oval shape. The moth, somewhat similar 

 to that of pyri, but of course much smaller, is of the same 

 colour and size in both sexes ; whereas, as is well known, there 

 is a striking difference in size and colour between the male and 

 female carpini. 



Saturnia ccecigena, Hiibner. Dalraatia, Turkey, Asia Minor. 

 From information just received, I learn that this species byber- 

 nates in the ovum state, and the larva feeds on oak. 



Saturnia {Actias) isabell.e. Central Spain. Splendid 

 species, discovered by M. Meig, described and figured in the 

 * Annales de la Societe Entomologique de France,' 1850, p. 241, 

 pi. viii., by Professor Graells. The moth is of a deep green, with 

 brown nervures. The larva is green, the head and the middle of 

 the segments brown, and there are two long red spots bordered 

 with white along each segment; it feeds on the forest pine {Piniis 

 sylvestris). 



BoMBYX {Lasiocampa) otus, Drury. This silk-producing 

 Bombyx is, it is said, that from which the Greeks and the 

 Romans obtained their silk before the introduction of the 

 mulberry silkworm from China. What has become of this 

 famous silkworm ? One of my correspondents in Sicily, M. J. 

 Pincitore Marott, of Palermo, in an article which appeared on 

 August 1st, 1873, in the 'Petites Nouvelles Entomologiques,' 

 speaks of the discovery and propagation of this remarkable 

 silkworm in Italy, and in a passage of his report he says : — 

 " The Bomhyx otiiH is of great importance, for its silk-producing 

 caterpillar may perhaps replace that of the Bomhyx niori; the silk 

 obtained from this species is almost as fine as that produced by 

 the Yama-ma'i. The true country of B. otus being Asia Minor, 

 its discovery in Italy proves that our climatic conditions and 

 flora, at least in part, are somewhat similar to those of the East, 

 and that the rearing of B. otus could be done successfully. 

 M. Correale, of Scandole, near Crotoue in Calabria, was the first 



