62 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
to have been bred in the open air further north than Paris; 
nevertheless, having previously produced cocoons of this fine 
insect in a cool room of northern aspect, I determined to try the 
experiment, and, notwithstanding the past inclement summer, 
succeeded in obtaining several healthy fair-sized cocoons from 
larvee fed on a-plum tree (Prunus domestica). Great care, how- 
ever, was necessary in the earlier stages to prevent the young 
larve from becoming a prey to spiders (Arachnide), and other 
predatory insects. Attacus pernyi, from Manchooria, a northern 
division of China, and Attacus cynthia, from Northern China and 
India, I also succeeded in rearing in the open air on oak (Quercus 
pedunculata) and Arlanthus glandulosa (tree of heaven) respec- 
tively ; but as these moths are of a hardier race than S. pyri, 
perhaps similar experiments with them by others have proved 
equally successful. With regard to A. pernyt it may not be 
irrelevant to state that a very praiseworthy effort was made some 
years ago by a gentleman residing in Colchester to acclimatise it, 
to which intent a number of impregnated females were liberated 
in a neighbouring wood on the north side of the town. The 
result, however, was not successful, though full-grown larve were 
subsequently beaten out of the oaks in the same wood. ‘Two 
specimens of the moth, and probably others, appear to have 
been captured in the town about the time of the experiment, 
apparently attracted thither by the glare of the gas-lamps. 
Probably other Bombyces, such as Attacus Cecropia, A. Luna,— 
a lovely apple-green swallow-tailed moth of queenly beauty, 
poetically styled by an American author “fair empress of the 
night,” in fanciful allusion to the name given by the Romans to 
the moon,—A. polyphemus, and Saturnia Io could, perhaps, during 
a warm summer, be likewise bred in the open air were fertile 
egos obtained sufficiently early in the season to experiment with. 
I confess I have not been successful, either in or out of doors, in 
breeding these moths.  Afttacus: silene from India, another 
splendid exotic Bombyx, much larger, lovelier, and more delicately 
plumaged than A. Luna, its American congener, is undoubtedly 
more entitled to the poetical designation before alluded to. I 
succeeded beyond expectation in rearing several magnificent 
larve of this truly grand insect on a walnut tree ([riglaus regia) 
to the last moult, when a violent storm of wind and rain towards 
the end of August terminated their existence. This Bombyx is 
polyvoltine or many-brooded, as observed by Monsieur A. Wailly 
vate 
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