FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT OF 



130 



THE VAMA-MAI SILKWORM— Aftoc?/s [Antheroea'] yama-mdi, Guer.-Men. 



(I.fpiiluptfni. liiimbycidse.) 



This worm is a native of 

 the northern j^arts of Japan, liv- 

 ing, as its name (meaning 

 '' worm of the mountains ") im- 

 plies, in the mountainous dis- 

 tricts. It feeds on a species of 

 Oak known botanically as Quer- 

 ciis serrata, and called Kunogi 

 b}^ the natives. Its silk is pro- 

 duced in large quantities in its 

 native country and already 

 forms an article of exjDort. It 

 was first introduced into Europe 

 in 1861 and soon afterwards 

 named and described by Guer- 

 iii-Menevillc.* It has been 

 found more difHcult to acclima- 

 tize than the Ailanthus worm, 

 and but indifferent success has 

 attended its culture. Yet there 

 are striking exceptions and in 

 Austria it has been successfully 

 reared in considerable quantities for several 3'ears. It is withal so valuable 

 An insect that further trial is fully justified. In America it has been experi- 

 mented with only since 1868, and I have for two years attempted to raise it in 

 small quantities in Missouri. In 1869, the weather was quite unfavorable, and 

 from two dozen eggs I failed to obtain anj- moths though most of the worms 

 j)assed through the third moult. The eggs hatched prematurely and I had 

 to feed the young worms on crushed buds. The disease they died of was 

 similar to one which attacks them in their native country, and which has 

 .also been noticed in Euroj^e. I am very much inclined to attribute it to ex- 

 cessive heat. The worms become sjDeckled and blotched, the beautiful clear 

 ^reen changes to dull 3'ellow, diarrhoea ensues, the body hangs by the pro- 

 legs, a flaccid shapeless mass of putrid fluid which soon bursts through its 

 tender and rotten covering, and finally leaves nothing but a dry shrunken 

 skin. In 1870 I had a little better luck with a second two dozen, though 

 nearly one-half hatched before food could be obtained for them, and conse- 

 quently died, and only one went through all its transformations and pro- 



♦ For details of the history of this worm, and its culture in Europe, the reader may refer more 

 especially to the following works : Different papers by Guerin-Meneville in the Revue et Magazin de Zoo- 

 logie, ana Revue (le Sericicultwe tor the yea,rslSiil-3. Le ver a Soie du Chene (Bombyx Yama^mai) son 

 histoire.sa description, ses mce.urs, hy M", Camille Personnat. Rapport sur une education en Anion du 

 ver du Chene (18(>i) by F. Blain. Also two essays by Alexander Wallace, M. D., one published in the 

 Transactions of the London Entomological Society (Vol. V, Part V, 1867) and one in separate form in 

 2869. 



