246 



THE INSECT WORLD. 



north of France ; 3rdly, that the cultivation of the Ailanthus, or the 

 false Japan varnish tree, on which this insect lives, is easy even in 

 the most sterile soil. 



M. Guerin-Meneville showed still further that ailaiitine, the 



Fig. 228.— Eggs, larvae, and cocoons of Attacus (Bombyx) Cynthia. 



textile matter furnished by the cocoon of the Cynthia, is a sort of 

 floss silk holding a middle place between wool and the silk of the 

 mulberry-tree worm, and which, as it can be produced at scarcely any 

 expense, would be very cheap, and would serve for the fabrication of 

 what are called fancy stuffs, for which ordinary floss silk is now used. 

 In 1862 M. Guerin-Meneville sent in a Report to the Minister of 



