542 Lieutenant-Colonel Syxes’ Account of the Silk-worm of the Deccan. 
western coasts of India, of a valuable insect whose labours can be so readily 
applied to the useful purposes of life. 
The following is a description of the animal, so far as I am acquainted 
with it, in its different stages. Eggs, dirty white, ovate, slighty compressed, 
firm, marked with two brown parallel rings longitudinally.* _Impregnation 
by the male in the moth state for the mere production of eggs unnecessary ; 
since, in several instances, and I have now one before me, the moth deposits 
its eggs immediately on issuing from its cocoon, without the possibility of 
its having met the male; but it is to be inferred that they want the vivifying 
principle. The eggs are one-tenth of an inch long, and of a proportionate 
diameter to form a compressed oval; they vary in number from a hundred 
to two hundred, and the moth is occupied from four to six days in 
their deposition. One moth produced a hundred and thirty, and another 
a hundred and ninety-six eggs, besides sixteen found in its abdomen after 
death. 
The first egg deposited is seized by the ¢arsi, which are armed with 
strong, sharp, incurvated claws. The second egg, on its under surface, 
has a small spot of reddish-coloured glutinous matter, by which it is 
attached to the preceding egg; each succeeding egg is provided with 
similar gluten, and is attached by a suitable motion of the abdomen to 
those that have preceded it: as the body of eggs accumulates, it is 
gradually drawn up towards the sternum by means of the farsi and claws, 
the operation being assisted by the pushing of the abdomen and by the 
hind legs; and on the insect having performed the duties imposed on it by 
nature, it dies, leaving its body as a shield or covering to its eggs. I 
witnessed this process, but am not satisfied that it is a usual habit, as 
another moth deposited her eggs without any such manifestation of econo- 
mical instinct. Under some circumstances, such as the eggs being 
deposited on a narrow branch of a tree, this covering must be of very 
little benefit, since it would necessarily be blown away by the wind, or 
shaken off by the motion of the branch. If it be an instinct, it is probably 
intended to screen the eggs from the eyes of depredators, as the body 
could afford them no other defence. Some days after the eggs are 
deposited, the depression on their sides becomes greater, and ultimately 
* Vide Plate 22, figure 2. 
