RAIMA 



1 ''<li;i a still nmri- mm p|,- v ,-oi.dit tot, prevail*, when- ,f Bengal 



and Assam causes th.- m.Hects to becom- , nu (t. Tb 6oroj5o 



(bampalu) mseci i/.-om/,,/, /, r foj /. ,- or . 



bmetfii*), the wuK/fturi (/*. rw0, the cMatapat (I ,*i). ai.d 



the /////> i / arramitMSMto) all pan* through a nurre**. :,* 



tions in tin- rom-si- of tin- year, whirl, .soin.-t im.v, amount* to a* many ac 

 eight in number. 



The crop of silk produced by a generation of worm* is called a band, 

 In Bengal tl.,- ordinary crop* or band,, are known at the No 

 the March band, and the July /KI//. but there is occasionally a fourth 

 attempted after the close of the July H h rearer* a have sufficient 



leaf. 



Aristotl.' giv-H an mi. rating account ,,f tho sUkwurm. but he was not 

 ratal} acquainted with th.' tour stages in it* life. H. 

 ivun-d iii captivity hut simply that I'amphiiu. daughter of Plate*, wi 

 to II.-IM- u-cii the first to weave silk at Ooa. Arim 



at tin- anal -Mrrmity of th,- w..rm. .1 hi. t that proves fairly conclusively, how,,, . 

 that it was the same species as tla-miillK-rry-feeding insect of to-da> 



S.D.). a natnt of Asia Minor, gives full particulars of the stages) and rnuta- 

 tions c.t th.< silkworm, and he WIM the lir-i t.. mention the popular atlggwt 

 parallelism of the escape of the moth from the chrysalis with the resurrection 

 after death. Pausanias (in the 2nd century), also a native of Asia Minor, fur- 

 ni>h.-d particulars of the retiring-houses used in summer and those employed in 

 w inter by the silk-growers. Thus, when we first make acquaintance with the life- 

 liistory of the silkworm, it had probably been by then as fully domesticated aa 

 it is to-day. 



The first scientific writer who can be traced is Andrew Libaviu*. who bred 

 silkworms at Rothenburg and published his observations in 1500. He lays 

 stress on the horn-like tail as the most distinct i\o character of the domestic* tod 

 mulberry worm. But to the student of Indian sericulture a much more interest. 

 ing publication appeared nearly a century later. In 1080 the Rev. J. Ovington 

 wrote his Voyage to Suratt, in the Appendix to which there is given Oftsti uoft'oiu 

 concerning the Nature of the Silkworms (see pp. 1 1 > I 7. I < >20). This was apparently 

 framed as an account of the silk of India generally and not of Surat alone, 

 deals exclusively with the mulberry worm. It leaves the suspicion, therefore, 

 that it may have had special reference to an attempted Surat industry of rearing 

 silkworms, fully two centuries ago. He gives the utmost details as to the seasons 

 of each band, then concludes " This is the Nature of the Silk-worm* in the Indies 

 where the Heat of the Sun renders them much more fruitful than with u- 

 in 1 ndia the Worms breed and spin their Silk six times in the Year, and in England 

 only once." " There likewise they are sooner drought to perfection, and begin to 

 work sooner, viz., 28 days after they are hatcht. but in England not until the 40th. 

 Where also they are by a third part more tedious in breaking out of thi-ir Houses 

 from the first day of their Spinning than they are in the East, whu h .- there done 

 in ten days, but here only in fifteen." H -rbert (Travel*, etc., 1677, 183-4) gives 

 a highly instructive account of the domestication of the silkworm m Persia. It 

 was a uuivoltiue insect fed on white mulberry, and he says, " In most Villages 

 and Cottages we saw sheds filled with laborious People minding their entioaing 

 Silkworms." 



Races of latect*. The following may be given as the chief races : 



(a) B. morl proper, the European Silkworm. 



It is customary by writers on the Indian silk production and trad*' to chui* all 

 the races of the European worm as one, perhaps because under the Indian 

 ditioiis the differences that exist become immaterial. Mukerji gives man 

 teresting details regarding the directions under which the rearing of certain 

 grades of the European worm become possible in the plains. The eggs require 

 to hibernate under considerably lower temperatures than those for the bora pal* 

 (below) viz. 30 to 40 F. But there are certain disadvantages, such as the fact 

 that these worms usually die of flacheric if reared tr..m April to August. They 

 do not as a rule make good cocoons if fed on the ordinary nl>r 

 Bengal. They require to be fed on leaves gathered from trees. Where lane 

 i mil Kerry trees are available it may be profitable to rear European cocoons. In 



995 







Worm. 



Low 





