74 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
dewing of the worms with fine spray was useful or hurtful I am 
not sure. I recollected the excessively humid atmosphere of the 
mountain-forests of India; and, considering that in my room they 
never felt a drop of rain or dew, it seemed that occasional asper- 
sion was an approach to natural conditions, which might be 
srateful. Captain Lendy never aspersed his; but then his plant- 
house was doubtless damp. If I obtain sufficient larve in the 
coming summer, I purpose to attempt culture in the open air, on 
the common berberry, and other trees, surrounding a large branch 
on which the larve are placed, with blonde or gauze, to protect 
them from birds. 
It may not be wholly irrelevant to add that I have already in 
my possession a considerable number of living pupe in cocoon, 
of two other noble Indian species, viz., Caligula Simla, and 
Antherea Roylei, neither of which has, so far as I know, been yet 
reared in Europe. The food of neither is known; but the 
cocoons of the latter, which are of large dimensions, are closely 
enveloped in leathery leaves, which Sir Joseph D. Hooker assures 
me are those of “‘ Quercus incana, a tree which grows along almost 
the whole length of the Himalaya, at elevations of 5000 to 8000 
feet, from the Indus to Nepal. It does not, however, extend 
eastwards into Sikkim or Bhotan; nor does it descend into the 
plains.” I] gladly publish this valuable information from such a 
source, because others will be raising Roylei as well as I; and, 
judging from experience of other oak-eating species, we may now 
very confidently present to the larve the leaves of the English 
and Turkey oaks. 
Whether the silk of these species and of Atlas will ever be of 
any commercial value in this country I do not know. My interest 
in them is that of a naturalist, rather than that of an economist; 
and in that capacity I venture to present these notes to the 
readers of the ‘ Entomologist.’ 
Postscrirr.— Since the preceding article was in type, I have 
seen a valuable Memoir, by Dr. Chavannes, of Lausanne, “‘ On 
Silk-spinning Saturnié desirable to be introduced into France” 
(‘ Bullet. de la Soc. d’Acclim.,’ July, 1855). In a short paragraph 
on Atlas, he says:—‘‘ The silk is stronger and thicker than that 
of Aurota [which he had just praised, as far exceeding, in 
these respects, that of B. mori]; and could probably be wound to 
