50 CURIOSITIES OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



The disease which made such ravages amongst the Bombyx 

 inori, or common silkworm, in the South of Europe, caused 

 attention to be directed to new sources for supply, or at least 

 for additions to the ordinary supply of silk, which, like the 

 cotton, paper, and cinchona supply, had become a question of 

 the greatest importance. In the great silk-cultivating districts 

 in the South of Europe, a failure or deficiency in the supply 

 of that commodity would cause great poverty among the 

 people of those countries, and as much distress among our silk- 

 weavers as the want of cotton inflicted upon our Lancashire 

 operatives. Science has also gained something, and will pro- 

 bably gain more, from the experiments in the acclimatisation 

 of various species, as in the case of the Bombyx Cynthia, or 

 ailanthus worm, which has been proved not only to exist, but 

 even to be more healthy and vigorous, in this country than in 

 France. It is now about fourteen years since the Bombyx 

 Cynthia was first reared in Europe, and since then many other 

 species from India, China, Japan, and Australia have been 

 brought into notice. 



The latest of these is the oak-feeding silkworm of China, 

 or Antliercea Pernyi. It produces what is known as mountain 

 silk, which has of late become a most important article of 

 trade amongst the Chinese. Specimens of the foliage and the 

 acorns of the oaks upon which they feed, together with some 

 cocoons containing some chrysalids, and some hanks of the 

 silk, were received at Kew from China about four years ago, 

 and from these specimens the species of oaks were ascertained. 

 Mr. Jackson, the Curator of the Museum at the Royal 

 Gardens, Kew, says : " Two of them, called by the Chinese 

 respectively large and small ' Tsing-kang-lew/ appear to be 

 Quercus Mongolica. Another called ' Hoo-po-lo ' is Quercus 

 obovata, Bunge, the leaves of which are larger and darker in 

 colour than those of Quercus Mongolica. There is also a 

 marked difference in the acorns, which are larger, and the 

 scales long and tapering, and of a dark brown colour, thus 

 giving to the cup the appearance of being covered with long 

 brown fur, which also partly covers the acorn itself. The 

 fourth is " Tseen-tso-tsze," and is the Quercus serrata of Thun- 



