No Bearing- 

 houses. 



Districts. 



SILK 



BOMBYX INDIAN MULBERRY SILKS 



Races of Insect 



fact the opposite condition also prevails, namely the chhotapalu (presently to 

 be described) do not make good cocoons if fed on leaves from tree mulberries. 

 The reader desirous of full particulars of the methods to be pursued in rearing 

 European silkworms in Bengal should consult Mukerji's work (I.e. 162-70). 

 Kashmir. In Kashmir, largely through the great personal interest taken in the subject 



by Sir Walter Lawrence and Sir Thomas Wardle, much progress has been made in 

 acclimatising the European silkworm (see p. 1016). [Cf. Note on Sericult. in 

 Kashmir, Baluchistan and Quetta, in Agri. Journ. 2nd., 1907, ii., pt. iii., 286-7.] 

 More recently similar efforts have been made in Assam (p. 1015), in Baluchistan 

 (pp. 1016-7), and in Mysore (p. 1018). 



D.E.P., (/3) Bombyx arracanensls, Mutton, Trans. Entom. Soc., 1864, ii., 313 ; also 



vi., pt. iii., Journ. Agri.-Hort. Soc. Ind., 1871, iii., 125 ; Rondot, L'Art de la Soie, 1887, 

 7-10. ii., 483 ; Geoghegan, Silk in 2nd., 1880, 133-8 ; Liotard, Memo. Silk in 2nd., 



Burman 1883, 59 ; Manuel, Journ. Agri.-Hort. Soc. 2nd., 1886, vii., 291-307 ; Cotes, 



Silk. 2nd. Mus. Notes, i., pt. iii., 152 ; Allan. Agri. Ledg., 1896, No. 26 ; Cooke, Silk 



2ndust. in Yamethin, Agri. Ledg., 1897, No. 11 ; Handiman, Monog. Silk in Burma, 

 1901, 26-30 ; Quajat, Dei Bozzoli, 1904, 115. The nyapaw of the Burmans. This 

 is a multivoltine silkworm. Apparently the earliest notice of it occurs in a letter 

 from Major Bogle and referred to by Fytche, Assistant Commissioner, Arakan 

 (Journ. Agri.-Hort. Soc. 2nd., 1850, vii., 281-5). The best description of it, 

 however, is that written by Mr, R. A. Manuel. It lives on the mulberry and the 

 following are its stages in the egg, 8 days ; in the worm, 15-23 days ; in the 

 cocoon, 8-10 days; and in the state of moth, 2-3 days. Its cultivation in 

 Burma, he further says, is careless, slovenly and dirty. No separate rearing- 

 house is provided and the trays are never changed, the excreta never removed, nor 

 the refuse food cleared out. It is no wonder, therefore, that the mortality is very 

 high. The manipulation of the silk and the manufacture of the resulting fibre 

 are alike indifferent, so that the industries connected with this special worm can 

 hardly be regarded as more than of very local interest. The districts chiefly 

 concerned are Tharawaddi, Prome, Thayetmyo and Toungoo. Breeding is 

 confined to the higher tracts of the Pegu and Arakan Yomas. Still, the existence 

 of a special breed of B. in ori may either point to a great antiquity or denote the 

 comparatively recent domestication of a peculiarly Burmese insect which with 

 more careful inquiry may be found to exist even to-day in a wild or feral state, 

 much as in the neighbouring State of Manipur. 



(y) B. crsesi, Hutton, Trans. Entom. Soc., 1864, ii., 312 ; Cotes, 2nd. Mus. 

 Notes, i., pt. iii., 151 ; Quajat, I.e. 113. This is the nistri or nistari or 

 madrasi, a multivoltine insect reared chiefly in the March and rains bands of 

 Bengal and Assam, where it is second in importance to the desi variety. It 

 produces a succession of crops throughout the year, most of which are only reared 

 for seed. But unlike the desi, however, it thrives best in the hot weather. 

 Cotes (Journ. Agri.-Hort. Soc. 2nd., 1891, ix., 155) says the only real distinction 

 between desi and madrasi is that while the former thrives best in the cold weather, 

 the latter prefers the hot season. The cocoons are generally yellow, at least 

 externally, and are somewhat larger than those of the desi, but the fibre has less 

 elasticity and brilliancy. The moth is milky white in colour and the caterpillar 

 has two black spots on each segment. Blechyndon (Journ. Agri.-Hort. Soc. 2nd., 

 ix., 166) suggests that the name nistri is due to these spots, the comparison being 

 to the goddess Kali, an alternative name for whom is Nistari. Hutton says that 

 it goes through all its changes from egg to cocoon in twenty-five days but in cold 

 weather it takes thirty-five days. 



Perhaps the earliest account is that given in the Minutes of the Bengal Board 

 of Trade in 1819 (cf. Reports, etc., of Cotton, Silk, and Indigo (pub. E.I.C.), 1836, 

 app., 48-51). It is there stated that there are several distinct forms of the nistri 

 worm, such as the " madrassi, soonamooky, and the cramee." As to the origin 

 of these insects, it is stated that the " Board are not able to speak with the degree 

 of precision it were to be wished." They are peculiar to Commercolly district, 

 Madrasi. except the madrasi, which is also found in Bauleah, Soonamooky and Malda. 



The Resident at Commercolly was of opinion that the finest stock of nistri was 

 that of Soonamooky. The madrasi are inferior but next to these. They all 

 produce a silk of a greenish hue much inferior to that of the desi, but are much 

 sought after as they yield a large amount of silk. It is a hardy insect, requiring 

 little care and not at all choice in its food. 



The Resident at Malda wrote in the same papers that the madrasi silkworm 

 is distinguished from the desi by a black mark under the throat. He then adds, 



996 



D.E.P., 

 vi., pt. iii., 

 10-2. 

 Nistri 

 Worm. 



Block Spots. 



