134 THE ARRINDY SILKWORM MOTH.- 



Its uses are for clothing, for both men and women 

 It will wear constantly ten, fifteen, or twenty years ; 

 the merchants also use it for packing fine cloths, 

 silks, or shawls. It must, however, be always 

 washed in cold water ; if put into boiling water, il 

 makes it tear like old rotten cloth. There is a cocoon^ 

 produced wild upon the mango-tree, which they 

 gather, and mix with Arrindy cocoons in spinning. 

 I have only seen one caterpillar of it, and I did not 

 succeed in rearing it. I shall inquire for some, and 

 get a drawing made, if possible, as they cannot be 

 sent or carried to any distance. 



" This insect, known to the Hindoos by the 

 Arrindy in some parts, in others Arundi, appears * 

 to be peculiar to the interior parts of Bengal ; and, 

 so far as I can learn, to two districts only, viz. 

 Dinagepore and Rungpore, where the natives breed 1 , 

 and rear it in a domestic state, as they do the com-i 

 mon silkworm. The food of the caterpillar consists 

 entirely of the leaves of the common Ricinus, or* 

 Palma Christi, which the natives of these districts 

 call Arrindy, (hence the name of the insect,) and is 

 abundantly reared over every part of India, on ac- 

 count of the oil obtained from the seed. Feeding 

 these caterpillars with its leaves will, therefore** 

 make it doubly valuable where they know how toi 

 spin and manufacture the silk. 



tf The late Sir William Jones mentions this ani- 

 mal in a letter to Dr Anderson, dated l?th May 



