136 FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT OF 



The moths emerge between 4 in the afternoon and night, and the great 

 majority of the first moths are males. The proportion was stated to us to 

 be 300 males to 10 females.* The males are then secured in the bell-shaped 

 cages already mentioned, and as the females emerge, they are distributed 

 among the males. It would be best, we heard, to place but one couple in a 

 cage; in practice, however, several couples were put into the same, other- 

 wise there Avould not be sufficient cages. One of the men said he had as 

 as manj^ as 500. The bottoms of the cages are then closed with paper. 

 The coupling commences in the evening, and lasts ten or twelve hours,f 

 after which the males are thrown aM^ay and die. It happens now and then 

 that other males, coming trom a distance, fly to the bars of the cages and 

 couple with the females inside; these however are looked upon not as legit- 

 imate husbands, but as interlopers, and their presence or absence does not 

 •enter into the calculations of the rearers of this district. The females then 

 lay their eggs, as already stated, on the bars of the cages. This operation 

 lasts four oi" five days, the average number of eggs to each female being es- 

 timated at from 150 to 200. The females then die. The best eggs are those 

 laid on the first two or three days, and it is considered preferable that 

 the males which emerge on one evening should couple with the females 

 which emerge on the following evening. 



The same process which has already been described is then adopted 

 with the new eggs. 



The men to whom we spoke did not seem to trouble themselves much 

 about the Uji. They all allowed that this parasite preys upon the chrysalis of 

 the Yama-mai, and they considered that it was more prevalent after a rainy 

 season. They even talked of ten Uji found in one chrysalis. To our ques- 

 tions as to how they knew whether it existed, and at what stage of the 

 Yama-mai's life it was observable, we received the invariable answer, that 

 they could only detect it after the worm had become a chrysalis, which did 

 not rattle in the cocoon when the latter was shaken ; that such chrysalides 

 never turned into moths, and generally contained Uji. 



With regard to other diseases, they stated that after ttie 4th rest dark 

 spots someti.nes come out upon the worms, which subsequently die before 

 spinning : that they are also subject to attacks of diarrhoea, which prove fa- 

 tal; that another disease shows 'itself by a watery fluid exuding from the 

 pores, the worms turning a brown color and then dying. No particular 

 names appeared to be given to these maladies. Our informants also said 

 that if a considerable amount of rain falls whilst the egg-papers are attached 

 to the Kunogi in the open air, the eggs are apt to be spoiled. 



We were shown a species of creeping plant called Tonzuru, with leaves 

 resembling those of the Convolvulus and a dark stem, which sometimes 

 clings to tiie Kunogi. If the Yama-mai eats of these leaves, it is poisoned and 

 dies at once. 



*Itis not clear what our author here means; but probably that in a given lot of cocoons 300 males 

 will appear by the time 10 females have issued. If he means that the sexes are proportioixod as 300 d> 

 to 10 9 , then the statement is erroneous, as in a given lot the females predominate at last, so as nearly 

 to equal the males in number. 



tThis is also most probably an error; for there is abundant evidence to show that coitus lasts sel- 

 <lom as long as an hour. 



