THE PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGIST. 



13 



TO OUB WESTERN COSKESPOHDENTS. 



We have much pleasure in stating that Benj. 

 D. Walsh, Esq., of Rock Island, IlHnois, has con- 

 sented to take charge of communications from the 

 Western States, intended for the Editors of this 

 Bulletin. It would be superfluous for us to 

 speak of the attainments of so experienced and tho- 

 rough an Entomologist as Mr. Walsh is known to 

 be; we thank himfortaking an interest in the wel- 

 fare of our Paper, and relieving us of part of the 

 labors of our position. Our Western Correspond- 

 ents will please take note of this, and we trust that 

 we shall soon receive communications from that 

 quarter of interest to our readers and of benefit to 

 our cause. 



Communications should be sent to Mr. Walsh as 

 early in the month as possible, so that he may have 

 time to arrange the matter and forward it for inser- 

 tion in the number of the Bulletin due the last 

 Monday of the same month. 



THE OHIO POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



We have much pleasure in receiving a circular of 

 the Ohio Pomological Society, announcing their 

 thirteenth annual meeting at the rooms of the Cin- 

 cinnati Horticultural Society, commencing on Wed- 

 nesday, Dec. 6. We sincerely trust that this So- 

 ciety, which is a great and active benefit to Western 

 fruit-growers, will continue to receive popular sup- 

 port. We have received a communication from its 

 President, John A. Warder, Esq., who has kindly 

 and fully approved of the publication of our Bul- 

 letin, and we trust the time is not far distant 

 when, by combined efi^orts, the capacities of our 

 country for fruit growing may be better developed 

 through the cultivation of carefully selected kinds 

 and a dissemination of a correct knowledge of the 

 difierent enemies with which the Agriculturist has 

 to contend. 



A few Bemarks on Silk-producing Lepidoptera. 



Many persons can remember the excitement 

 which prevailed about twenty years since relative 

 to the raising of silk in this country from the £om- 

 hyx mori L. or common silk-worm of Europe, and 

 the quantities of mulberry tree.s — Moms alba L. — 

 which were imported to feed the caterpillars upon, 

 since this tree is not indigenous to America. The 

 causes which, after a short period, led to the aban- 

 donment of the enterprise, are variously stated, but 

 it seems that the result that it "would not pay," 

 told more effectually than any other argument 

 against its prosecution, which is now and has been 

 for some time wholly neglected here. We much 

 doubt that the Bombyx mori will do well in Ame- 



rica, for the reason that our climate is intemperate, 

 compared with that of France, Germany and Italy, 

 in both its heat and cold. However this may be, 

 it is well deserving of a fresh trial, since the ques- 

 tion of the result not being pecuniarily satisfactory, 

 is greatly modified by reason of our present heavy 

 tariff. Labor, which is so cheap in Europe, is thus 

 rendered accessible for the purpose in the United 

 States, while, if this matter were taken up by the 

 farmers generally, important results could be ob- 

 tained in this way. Almost every lady, whether a 

 farmer's wife or daughter, if informed as to the mode 

 of caring for these caterpillars, would find it well 

 worth the little trouble in rearing them, wei-e she 

 enabled to sell a few bushels of cocoons every year 

 to the manufacturers. This would give "pin money" 

 to many who make it now in more laborious occu- 

 pations, while it would add wealth to our country, 

 which sadly needs it at present, by increasing its 

 productiveness and lessening the imports, which 

 latter, now that our crops have more or less failed, 

 for one reason or other, are the principal cause of 

 the drain of specie hence to Europe. 



The Patent Office at Washington has commen- 

 dably brought before us one of the Asiatic silk- 

 worms, the Samia cynthia of Hiibner (^Bomhyx 

 cynihia Drury). This species feeds upon the Ailan- 

 thus, a Chinese or Asiatic tree, which grows very 

 rapidly and thrives well in our climate. But in a 

 Dutch translation of a Japanese work, which con- 

 tains a treatise on the mode of raising and prepar- 

 ing this silk in Japan, we read that it thrives well 

 in that country on various species of oak, such as 

 Qiiercus Sirocasi Sieb., Querciis serratus Thun. etc. 

 It would be well, therefore, to experiment upon 

 some of our indigenous trees, in localities where the 

 Ailanthus is not yet introduced. Kirby, in writ- 

 ing many years since on this species, says: "The 

 Arindy sWk-worm {Satiirnia cynthia Drury), which 

 feeds solely on the leaves of the Castor-oil plant 

 (Pa/ma christi), produces remarkably soft cocoons, 

 the silk of which is so delicate and flossy that it is 

 impracticable to wind it off: it is, therefore, spun 

 like cotton ; and the thread thus manufactured is 

 woven into a coarse kind of white cloth of a loose 

 texture, but of still more incredible durability than 

 the last (i. e. S. paphia, of which species Kirby 

 had previously been writing), the life of one person 

 being seldom sufficient to wear out a garment made 

 of it"" It is.not certain, however, that Kirby intends 

 the species which has been introduced by our Patent 

 Office, of which, however, the " moths" agree with 

 Drury's representation of "■ B. cynthia." Be this 

 as it may, the species introduced by the Patent 

 Office and which we determine as the Samia cyn- 

 thia of Hiibner, will certainly produce excellent 

 silk, and deserves the attention, as we are informed 

 it has already partially received here, of the manu- 

 facturer. This species belongs to the genus Samia, 

 a genus erected in the " Verzeichniss," by Hiib- 

 ner in 1816, and of which he considered it typical, 

 since it is first cited under the list of species, which 

 that author considers as representing the genus. 

 Of this species two broods can be obtained in one 



