BILK 



THE MUGA OF ASSAM ANTHCR>CA AMAH A 



no longer locally produced owing to the curtailment of the forMti. Of 

 BALASORE, PURI ami Cnn observes that the industry of 



tasar weaving is not an important "i..-. though the rearing of the worm* 

 production of cocoons are largely pur 



III. Antheraea aasama, \\ Hr. Ind. (Moths), i., D.B.P 



20; Hugon, Silk and Stlkwormi of Attam, Proe. At. Soc. Bettg.. 1837, St 



26-37, t. vi. ; Warnford U.-k. ./ ,u t 1880, 510; Groghepn. I? 



///>/.. 1880, 151-5; Wardl,-, ; 



also in Journ. Hoc. Art*, May 1885, xxxi -,/! i* 



1884, 5-9 ; Rondot, L'/lrl de la Soie t 1887 ; Cotes, /*/. A/UJ. '. 

 168-73 ; Allen, Monog. Silk Cloth* of Auam, 1899, 3, 10-6 ; also Oat, 

 Assam., viii., 158, etc. 



This is the muga (muiiga) silkworm of Assam, a name said to have 

 been originally given because of the amWr colour of the fibre, and hence 

 frequently used to denote any wild silk thus i-n-muga, tatar-muga and 

 katkari-muga. It is met with chiHly in .Usum, but its area extends ut 

 to the Naga hills, including Sylhet and Cachar, and south to Tippera 

 and the mountains of Burma. It has also been recorded as far to the 

 west as the valleys of Kumaon and Kangra, and a special insect mentioned 

 from Pondicherry, and named I. /*/</// n, has been accepted a* a form 

 of muga. 



Historic Records. It seems probable that the first mention of this silkworm 

 and of its silk occurs in 1662 in connection with Mir Jumltt. Hut it must long 

 anterior to that date have been known in India, since Tavornier (Travrl* Iitd.. 

 1676 (ed. Ball), ii., 281) makes special mention of the Assam silkworms that 

 remain on trees all the year; and he does not suggest that fact as being a 

 novelty, but rather implies that it was well known. He may, of course, be 

 alluding to the tasar silk, but in that case the locality Assam would hardly be 

 correct. The collection of official papers issued by the Bengal Board of Trade 

 in 1819 makes mention of the "mooga" being "the most common and plentiful. 

 the thread coarse but winds easily. The guti* are sold direct from the forests." 

 This is mentioned separately from " tuah." " terrah." " bonbunda," " dabba," 

 "buggoy " and "tarroy" silks, HO that it very possibly was intended to denote 

 the muga proper. In the Dictionary will be found numerous references to paper* 

 by Buchanan-Hamilton, Jenkins, Hugon, Heifer, Brownlow and Stack all of 

 whom have afforded interesting particulars regarding this silkworm and Assam 

 silk generally. 



Domestication. The muga exists in a state of even more complete Domeetica- 

 domestication than is the case with the tasar the eggs are hatched and tion. 

 the cocoons spun within doors, and while feeding on the trees the worms 

 are carefully supervised and protected from their enemies. When they 

 have finished eating they are removed from the trees and carried off to 

 the rearers' houses in order to spin their cocoons. The worm is multi- 

 voltine, has five generations during the year, but of these only two or at 

 most three are used by the rearers. The people of Upper Assam annu- 

 ally import their seed-cocoons from Kaiurup for their cold-season and 

 spring crops owing to the fact that the worm soon d.-umerates in tli- 

 Sibsagar district, and hence no seed-cocoons are retained from the last 

 brood of the season. This is said to be due to the fact that in Lower Attain 

 the insect is fed mainly on !.//> " /I///M//, thu swilu or hotcalo. l< '/ 

 D.E.P., vi., pt. iii., 176 ; Allen, Monog., I.e. 14-5.] 



Food-plants. The muga worm feeds on a fairly extensive series rood 

 of leaves, the most important being species of laur.-l. M , h ** the turn, planta. 

 n,i<nti**iin<i. Hut ot her trees may bcnu-iuiiim-l : ' 



1001) <N 



