158 Captain T, Hutton on the 
underground cellar, in the Punjab; how then, in such a climate, 
can really good results be expected, since the same writer, while 
trumpeting forth the wonders performed in the Punjab, very 
naively winds up his laudations with the assurance that ‘out of 
taikhanahs the eggs cannot be preserved in the plains at all.” 
As to his assertion that those eggs ‘‘that survive the heat are 
not injured, but produce as healthy and fine worms as if the eggs 
had been kept in a cool climate,” it actually amounts to nothing, 
unless at the same time we can feel assured that the writer is well 
acquainted with what the worms ought to be, and can prove that 
they are as large and produce the same quantity of silk as those 
of colder climates; and that such is not the case is proved by the 
testimony of Mr. C. J. Turnbull, who states that Umritsir-reared 
cocoons are 56 per cent. below the Cashmere standard! 
Indeed this gentleman, who is undoubtedly a good authority, 
pronounces the cocoons of Oudh and of Umritsir to be about equal, 
so that they had degenerated in those localities in one season 
56 per cent. below the standard of Cashmere as furnished by 
Mr. Cope himself a couple of years before ! 
Again, cocoons raised at Lucknow in Oudh by Dr. Bonavia 
required 5,200 to the pound of silk ; at Candahar in 1840 the 
Afghans reckoned about 4,500 to the pound of silk; while in 
France, previous to the late epidemic, 2,500 cocoons were, on the 
testimony of Mr. Bashford,* equal to a pound of silk. 
Here, then, we have positive evidence that the climate of the 
Punjab and other parts of the plains of India is injurious to the 
health and general well-being of the insect. 
Now it is also the opinion of Mr. Turnbull that the Candahar 
and Cashmere yield of silk is pretty nearly on a par; and as from 
the above statistics the Oudh and Punjab cocoons are at least 50 
to 56 per cent. below the Cashmere standard, which is itself con- 
siderably below that of France, we may safely say that the cocoons 
of the Indian-bred Bombyx Mori are little short of 75 per cent. 
below what they ought to be. 
What benefit then, I would ask, is likely to ensue from the 
introduction into Italy of the eggs lately purchased in Cashmere 
by Dr. Carlo Orio? The worms reared from those eggs will no 
doubt be improved by the change of climate and more judicious 
treatment, but they will add nothing to the health and vigour of 
the European stock ! 
It has been justly remarked that “there are few individuals 
* Journal Hort. Soc, of India, vol. ix. part 3, p. 261. 
