the Tusseh and Arrindy Sitk-Worms of Bengal. 39 



duce, and, moreover, Avould occasion loss of time : a very even 

 thread, however, may with care be reeled from either the Bughy 

 or Jarroo cocoon. 



4th. " The Bughy silk-worm feeds indifferently on Byer and on 

 Asseen leaves, and is a species in every respect perfectly distinct 

 from the insect of the Palma Christi, the latter being different in 

 size, much less cultivated, and fed in houses as regularly as the 

 mulberry worm. I shall not proceed to describe it, as the species 

 is not at all included in Dr. Roxburgh's questions. 



" The Jarroo cocoons alluded to above, are so called from beinu 

 produced in the coldest month of the year, say January ; the 

 Bughy being about a month before them. The Jarroo are likewise 

 annual, and the history of them is nearly the same as that of the 

 Bughy ; they are however different, I am assured. The Jarroo 

 will eat the Byer leaf if he cannot get the Asseen, but he will 

 always prefer the latter, and produce a better cocoon when fed 

 on it. His silk is more of a dull colour than that of the Bughy, 

 which latter worm the hill people put on the Asseen alone, not 

 because it prefers it to the Byer, but because they have greater 

 plenty of Asseen than Byer, and, moreover, trim and dress out 

 plots of Asseen on purpose for the Avorms. The principal differ- 

 ence between the above two species is, that the natives retain a 

 part of the Jarroo cocoons for seed ; these they hang out on the 

 Asseen trees when the proper season of the moth arrives ; when 

 the moths come out, the male insects invariably all fly away, but 

 the females remain on the trees. These are not impregnated by 

 the males bred along with them, but, in ten or twelve hours, or 

 perhaps one, two, or three days, a flight of males arrive, settle on 

 the branches, and impregnate the females ; by the bye, the hill 

 people calculate good or ill fortune in proportion to the speedy 

 or tardy arrival of the stranger males. These insects die as soon 



us 



