1869] The Japanese Silkworm. 209 



It was determined however to give the Japanese insect 

 a trial under the Royal Dublin Society's auspices, and Mr. 

 More was given charge of the experiments, which were 

 carried out in the spring of 1869, partly at Glasnevin, and 

 partly in Mr. Herbert's demesne at Muckross, Killarney. 

 As far as possible the plan adopted was to keep the larvae 

 in the open air. As soon as the earliest oaks in the Botanic 

 Garden began to leaf, a number of young silkworms were 

 taken from the cool frame and hung in small bags on 

 the trees : most of these however were mysteriously ab- 

 stracted, and greater interest attached to the colony at 

 Killarney, where, it was thought, the features in which the 

 Irish approaches the Japanese climate attain their maxi- 

 mum. On May nth Mr. More went to Muckross with a 

 quantity of eggs imported from Paris ; but these nearly 

 all proved barren, and the experiment would have ended 

 prematurely had it not been found possible to get a supply 

 from Dr. Wallace's establishment at Colchester, which, 

 when they arrived, were hatching at the rate of fifty per 

 day. The larvae of this last lot were thus placed out of 

 doors from the first. So, at the start, everything promised 

 well, and the silkworms took most kindly to the situation. 

 " Each morning, after allowing the newly hatched worms 

 about half-an-hour to drink from a plate of glass sprinkled 

 with water, I swept them gently into two small net-bags, 

 containing each about twenty-five larvae ; and then, with 

 the assistance of Mr. Counihan, the obliging gardener at 

 Muckross, these small bags were pinned to the tenderest 

 leaves on the under side of a bough, which was then en- 

 closed in a large bag. The young larvae soon made their 

 way out of the small bags, and by the next morning were 

 generally to be seen scattered and feeding upon the newest 

 leaves. ... In this manner about a dozen colonies of the 

 silkworms were established upon different oak-trees in the 

 most sheltered and shady places that could be found ; and 

 at the time when I left Killarney, on the I9th of May, they 

 seemed to be doing well, although a few of the more weakly 

 worms had died." * 



* From Mr. More's Report in the " Journal of the Royal Dublin Society," 

 vol. v., pp. 486-9. 



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