13 



From Dr. Roxburgh's interesting memoir upon the silk-producing moths of the East 

 Indies,* it appears that this species is named the Arundi or Arrindy silk-worm, the cater- 

 pillars feeding upon the Arrindi, Ricinus, or Palma Christi. It is capable of being reared 

 in the same way as the common silk-worm, the eggs are hatched in about ten or fifteen 

 days ; in about a month the caterpillars attain their full size, during which period they 

 cast their skins three or four times. The caterpillar is from two and a half to three inches 

 in length, each segment being furnished with several small soft conical tubercles, the pre- 

 vailing colour being pale green. In this state they are very voracious, devouring daily 

 many times their own weight of food. The cocoons are white or yellowish, of a very soft 

 and delicate texture ; in general about two or three inches in length, and three in circum- 

 ference, and pointed at both ends. In this cocoon the chrysalis remains from ten to 

 twenty days, the moth appearing at one end, the period of its final state not extending 

 beyond from four to eight days. The moths are quiet, seldom attempting to fly from the 

 apartment in which they are reared. The silk is so exceedingly delicate and flossy, that 

 it is impracticable to wind it off"; it is, therefore, spun like cotton, and the thread thus 

 manufactured is woven into a coarse kind of white cloth, of a loose texture, but of surprising- 

 durability, the life of one person seldom being sufficient to wear out a garment made ft-om 

 it, the same piece descending from mother to daughter. It is used not only for clothing, 

 but also for packing light clothes, &c. Some manufacturers in England to whom it was 

 shewn seemed to think that it could be made here into shawls equal to any received fi'om 

 India. 



DEIOPEIA ASTREA. 



Plate VI. fig. 3. 



Order ; Lepidoptera. Section : Nocturna. Family : Litliosii.ln>, Steph. 



Genus. Deiopeix, Steph. PUalaena (Xoctua), Drury. 



Deiopeia Astrea. Alis fulvis ; anticis fasciis septem albidis nigro-punctatis, posticis f'ulvis iiigro-puuctatis. 



(Expans. Alar. 1 unc. 7 lin.) 

 Syn. Plialsena (Noctua) Astrea, Drwr!/, ^pp. do/. 2. Oliv. Enc. M6th. ii. -2(31. (^octns. A..) 



Plialsena (Bomb.) Pylotis ? Fabr. Ent. Syst. 111. 1. 479. Gmel. Linn. S. N. 2440. 575. 



Phal. Geometra cribrata, Omel. Linn. S. iV. 2482. 751. 



Habitat : The Gold Coast, Afi-ica. 



Upper Side. Head deep yellow. Antennae filiform, dark brown. Neck and thorax yellow, with 

 two small black spots on the former, and four on the latter. Abdomen yellow. Wings deep yellow : 

 the anterior being nearly orange-coloured, and having several rows of small black spots crossing them 

 from the anterior to the posterior edges, most of wliich are very irregular and uneven ; the two last next 

 the external edges being the least so. The number of spots on each of these wings is forty. Posterior 

 wings with black spots, but much larger than those on the anterior, except three, which run along the 

 external edges ; the whole number being eleven. 



* Trans. Linn. Soc. Vol. 7. 



