SILK-PRODUCING LEPIDOPTERA. 41 



to discovered the otus moths in Italy, and his attempts to rear 

 this species on a large scale, up to the present, have been 

 crowned with success." These remarks were published by 

 Professor Cornalia, in the ' Annali di Storia Naturale,' vol. viii., 

 1865. M. Marott adds that the B. otus was not rare in 1873 in 

 southern parts of continental Italy, and that he found it also in 

 the environs of Monte-Cuccio (Palermo). The larva of B. otus 

 feeds on the lentisk {Pistacia lentiscus), a shrub which grows 

 naturally on the coasts of the Mediterranean, in Africa, Syria, 

 Greece, Turkey, and other parts. Live cocoons of otus can now 

 be easily obtained, and in 1889 I bad a quantity of them sent to 

 me by a naturalist of Zara, Dalmatia, who reared tbe larvas on 

 a species of evergreen oak {Quercus ilex). The cocoons are white, 

 very rich in silk, and very large, the female cocoons being about 

 three inches in length and wide in proportion. The difficulty in 

 rearing this species would, I think, be that of keeping the insect 

 during the winter, as it hybernates in the larval state, like all 

 species of the same genus. Besides lentisk and oak, the otus 

 larva can also live on ash and cypress. 



American Species. 



In my various reports, English and French, I have spoken of 

 the rearing in Europe of the principal wild silkworms of the 

 United States of North America. With respect to the others, I 

 shall only be able to give their names according to the list given 

 by Aug. R. Grote, President of the Entomological Club of New 

 York, and published in 1882. 



Telea POLYPHEMUS {TcUa, Hiibner; polyphemus, Cramer). 

 The best wild silkworm of the United States, with a closed 

 cocoon like those of the genus Anthercea, of which it has all the 

 characteristics. The silk of T. polyphemus is white, and in 

 quality it fully equals that of A. pernyi, but the cocoon is 

 generally smaller. In Europe this species has been reared in 

 the open air with the greatest success on oak. It is difficult to 

 obtain the pairing of the moths in captivity, and the best thing 

 to do is, as with Yama-ma'i, to place the cages containing the 

 moths in the open air. T. polyphemus is very polyphagous, and 

 is found on birch, beech, willow, hazel, chestnut, &c. The larva, 

 which is one of the handsomest, has five stages. It is white in 

 the first ; in the other four stages it is of a beautiful green. The 

 head is light brown, but it has no dots like that of Anthercea 

 pernyi. The base of each tubercle is silvery white, with metallic 

 rellection. The following are names of trees and shrubs given 

 as food-plants of T. polyphemus by American entomologists : — 

 Quercus, Ulmus, Tilia americana, Rosa, Acer, Salix, Populus, 

 Corylas, Betula, Vaccinium, Juglans nigra, J. cinerea, Cratcegus, 

 Quercus virens, Prunus virginiana, Platanus, Castanea resca, 

 Fagus, Tilia europcea, Carya tomentosa, Alnus incana, &c. 



. ENTOM. FEB. 1897. E 



