2o6 AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY. 



cultivated in Shantung, and which furnishes the so-called Pongee 

 silk of China ; with the East Indian Ricinus spinner [Satiirnia 

 Armdici) and the Indian Oak spinner {^Saturnia Mylitta) from which 

 is made the Tussah silk of Assam and Bengal. But the results 

 have not justified the hopes built upon the efforts. The evidence 

 has been convincing that no other can take the place of the Mul- 

 berry spinner, and that in future it will be the most important 

 silk producer. 



The attempts made with the Japanese Oak spinner (^Antheria 

 Yama-ina'i^ G. M.) aroused the liveliest interest of all. In its 

 various developments of ^g%, worm, chrysalis and butterfly, it 

 furnished very much that was instructive, besides surprising size 

 and beauty. The strong, shiny silk thread of its yellowish green 

 cocoons reels off like that of the Mulberry spinners, and furnishes 

 a durable web.' As the Oak spinner feeds on the green summer 

 foliage of the oak, and also likes the leaves of our common oak- 

 trees, and was reported as being much cultivated in Japan and its 

 silk highly prized there, the great expectations aroused by the 

 experiments are easy to understand. 



Several governments interested themselves in the attempt and 

 encouraged it, as Switzerland, which in 1865 ordered through her 

 consul in Yokohama, 6 kg. of eggs, and three years later a larger 

 amount. Samples were sent me from both packages, for testing, 

 and I made breeding experiments with both, as well as with the 

 eggs which Herr Baumann, Postmaster of Bamberg, had obtained. 

 The reports published regarding the results of the experiments on 

 the part of others were very unfavourable and agreed entirely with 

 my own experiences. The great activity of the young worms, 

 their lack of quiet association with each other at all ages, great 

 mortality even after the fourth casting, and the length of time 

 necessary for their development, were the principal objections which 

 the investigation brought to light. 



At the time of the Paris Exhibition of 1867, it was evident that 

 the hopes built upon Yama-mai were vain. In the Jardin de 

 I'Acclimatation, where in 1861 the first worms of this species were 

 cultivated, and their peculiarities studied by Guerin-Meneville, the 

 effort was abandoned. The favourable results obtained by Camille 

 Personnat in Laval, and his endeavours during the Exhibition to 

 awaken interest for the new breed, had no more effect to stimulate 

 the waning hope than had other single and individual efforts in 

 Germany and Austria. During my stay in Japan I tried to 

 become accurately acquainted with the preparation and uses of 

 Yama-mai" silk. I was moderately successful on the remote moun- 

 tain slopes where the cultivation is most thorough, and among the 

 weavers and dyers in several cities in the interior of Hondo where 

 this silk is manufactured, and where I could, by personal observation, 

 arrive at some certain opinion on the subject. In this way, I came 

 to the conviction that the importance of Yama-mai silk has been 



