SILK 



ANTHER>EA ASSAMA 



Muga 



INDIAN WILD SILKS 



Life- 

 history. 



Females made 

 Prisoners. 



Eggs. 



Method of 

 Storing. 



Hatching. 



Caterpillars. 



Feeding. 



Age of Trees. 



Enemies. 



Stages. 



Colour of 

 Cocoons. 



Reeling. 



momum, olttusifolium, Michelia Champaca, Symplocos ffrctndi- 

 flora., and several species of Litsoea. In Lower Assam it is also largely 

 bred on the sualu, Tetranthera monopetala. The most important of 

 these food-plants is the sum (Ind. For., 1879, v., 35-9, 202-21). 



Life-history. The cocoons intended for breeding are placed in trays 

 and hung up safely in the house. In a fortnight's time during the warm 

 months, and three weeks in the cold season, the insects come forth. The 

 females, recognised at once by their bulkier bodies, are immediately 

 secured by a thread passed round the thorax behind the wings and tied 

 to a short length of straw hooked on to a line stretched across the room. 

 The males are left free, but usually sufficient number consort with the 

 female prisoners. Each female produces 250 eggs in three days. All eggs 

 laid after then are rejected, and the moth dies about the fifth day. The 

 pieces of straw, with their attached eggs, are then taken down and placed 

 in baskets, covered with cloth, and the room in which stored is heated in 

 winter, but kept dark as much as possible. In summer it is not necessary 

 to retain the eggs within doors at all, and the straws may, therefore, be 

 carried at once to the trees, due precaution being taken against undue 

 exposure to sun, rain or dews. Generally, however, the worms are hatched 

 indoors. They pass through four moultings, and, when full grown, measure 

 about five inches long. While feeding, if the leaves get exhausted, the 

 worms are picked off and carried to fresh trees. The worms of their own 

 accord, in fact, descend from the tree and are caught by a trap of straw 

 or plantain leaves tied around the stem, and thus are easily picked up and 

 carried by the attendant to fresh trees. It is said that if placed on a tree 

 the leaves of which have already been devoured, they refuse to ascend. 

 When they have eaten all they desire, the worms are carried off and made 

 to spin their cocoons in the rearers' houses. Trees from three to twelve 

 years old are considered the best ; older are avoided, as they harbour 

 ants, and the lichen and moss on their branches impede the rapid move- 

 ments of the worms. But the greatest enemies of the muga are crows, 

 kites and many other birds by day, and owls and bats by night ; constant 

 watching is thus necessary, and abundant and continuous employment 

 thus afforded to the young, old and infirm members of the family. 



The periods and stages of the insect's life are as follows : hatching, 

 from 7 to 10 days ; feeding, from 26 to 40 days ; spinning, from 4 to 7 days ; 

 resting within the cocoon, from 14 to 21 days ; and life as a moth, from 3 

 to 5 days. The variations in time indicated are largely a consequence of 

 the season of the year or brood of worm under record. The cocoon is 

 fawn-coloured, large, thin, devoid of the suspensor, so characteristic of the 

 tasar ; and the short period spent within the cocoon, when taken in con- 

 junction with the more tractable habit of the insect generally, makes 

 this a very much more desirable form of silkworm than the tasar. The 

 cocoon is about If inch long and 1 inch in diameter. In colour it is of 

 a golden yellow, but there is usually a percentage of dark cocoons in 

 every brood, for which no satisfactory reason has been assigned. 



Reeling and Spinning. Keeling is simple. The insects within the 

 cocoons are killed by exposure to the sun or by fire. Thereafter they 

 are boiled in an alkaline solution. From 7 to 20 filaments are rolled 

 together between the palm of the right hand, drawn across the thigh, 

 while the left hand works the reeling apparatus. The whole of the 

 silk may be unwound except the innermost layer next to the chrysalis. 



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