THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



13,5 



not come out. The cgi^s, in short, have to wait for the buds, which are ex- 

 pected about the 88th day after the Japanese new year, (say at the end of 

 AjDril or in the tirst ten da^'s of Ma}'), thoug-h they may be much later, A» 

 soon, however, as the buds have come out, all the eggs, whether from out- 

 side or from the cellar, are brought .into the house, and fixed with paste 

 made of barley, or still better, of buck-wheat, on the middle of slips of 

 paper five inches long and a quarter of an inch broad. About ten eggs are 

 placed upon each paper, and all the slips are then taken to the plantation 

 and tied to the branches of the Kunogi in a single knot, which the nature 

 of Japanese paper readily admits of, the two ends standing out at right 

 angles to the bi-anch. The paper thus surrounds a small section of the tree^ 

 the eggs lying on the external surface. The slips are placed in such man- 

 ner that the eggs may have a northern aspect, and not be exposed to the 

 rays of the sun. One slij) is sufficient for a small plant, two or three may 

 be attached to a large one. In four or five days the hatching will com- 

 mence, and it continues for five or six days more; the j'oung caterpillars^ 

 on leaving the shells, immediately crawl from the papers upon Kunogi, and 

 seek the leaves. We saw a number of these papers still remaining on the trees 

 as the}^ had been tied before the hatching, with the empty shells sticking to 

 the surfaces, and we untied some and brought them away with us as- 

 specimens. 



The length of time between 

 hatching and spinning, during 

 the whole of which the larvaj re- 

 main in the open air, passing- 

 through four periods of rest, ia 

 reckoned at about 60 days, more 

 or less, according to the temper- 

 ature. We were told that the 

 tirst rest commenced on the 

 seventh day, and continued for 

 two daj's, that the succeeding- 

 th]-ee periods of activity and 

 torjtor were severally longer 

 than the first, and that the spin- 

 ning commenced about ten or 

 eleven days after the fourth rest. 



Three days after the com- 

 mencement of spinning, said our 

 informants, the hinder part of 

 the cocoon is seen to be stained 

 a white color. This comes from 

 the secretion of the Yama-mai 

 which it emits after having finish- 

 ed spinning. The cocoons are then taken off the Kunogi, together with the 

 leaves to which they are attached, and a small portion of the branches. 

 They are then brought into the house, and placed upon shelves. About ten 

 days subsequently the leaves are stripped off, and the cocoons, held by the low- 

 er and broader ends, are shaken. Those which do not rattle are considered to 

 contain dead chrj-salides, and after having been dried through the action 

 of a charcoal brazier, are reeled. Those which rattle on being shaken are 

 considered to be in good condition, and such of them as are to be reserved for 

 seed are placed in tra3's, and the moths emerge in about twenty-five daya 

 from the time of spinning. The remainder are, of course, subjected to heat^ 

 In order to kill the chrysalides, and are reserved for reeling. 



