be observed was in the lighter or darker shade of the ground colour, from 

 blackish brown to velvetty black; and this very trivial difference could 

 scarcely be sufficiently important to constitute distinct species. The hill on 

 ■which I found the larvae was covered on one side with small pines, dwarf oak, 

 briars, azaleas and other small trees and scrub ; but I found the larvae feeding 

 only on pine and oak, and I found also cocoons on both trees, the cocoons 

 being also exactly the same. On my return to Shanghai I brought with me a 

 large quantity of larvae, some taken from pine and some from oak ; but owing 

 to my being unable to obtain the proper pine (the only food I could supply 

 them with was dwarf oak from the Fung-wan-shan hills, thirty miles from 

 Shanghai) all the pine-feeders died, and the oak-feeders made their cocoons. 

 The cocoons found on the two kind of trees I kept separate, and the same 

 great variation in colour and markings was noticed in the insects from both. 

 Therefore I think we may safely say that Oeona punctata, Lasiocampa remota 

 and Lebeda hebes are one and the same." 



Mr. Holdsworth's letter also contained the following description (see Proc. 

 Ent. Soc. 1869, p. xxi.) of the larva of Heterusia remota : — 



" Length when full grown, one inch. Head black, comparatively small. 

 Legs very short. Body primrose-colour, covered with tubercles and coated 

 slightly with fine hairs ; a black line down the middle of the back, a broader 

 black line on either side for the entire length of the body, upon which are white 

 tubercles having black centres ; on each side, near the end of the black line, 

 a vermilion spot, also one on either side of the head. The under side of the 

 body of a dirty white colour. Feeds upon an evergreen-like stumpy bush with 

 round glossy leaves, the blossom white with yellow centre. The larva curls a 

 small leaf with its edges inwards, and there makes a small white paper-like 

 cocoon, three-quarters of an inch in length. The larvae spun up 15th — 19th 

 May, and the moths appeared 4th — 5th June." 



The Secretary mentioned that Mr. Holdsworth had sent over some silk- 

 cocoons, which he had received from the interior of China, the provinces of 

 Honan and Szechuen ; the Honan cocoons were doubtless Bombyx Pemii ; 

 those from Szechuen belonged to an oak-feeding species, and though remarkably 

 large and heavy were probably only a fine race of the same B. Pernii. 



The Secretary also drew attention to a Report made by Mr. Adams, Secretary 

 to Her Majesty's Legation in Japan, on the subject of silk-culture in that 

 country, dated in January last. He states that the complaints of the degenerate 

 quality of the season's silk are universal. Several silk inspectors declare that 

 the general quality has visibly deteriorated, the hanks being unclean and very 

 tangled ; and one, who buys for a house in Lyons, says that there has been 

 very little really first-rate silk in the market since the beginning of the season. 

 The Japanese, incited by the high prices paid by foreigners, have looked to 

 quantity rather than quality, believing that they can sell profitably whatever 



