INSECTS. 115 



pillars under a tree, they immediately search for them 

 among the branches, and carry off whatever they require. 

 These they distribute on the asseen trees ( Terminaha alata 

 glabra of koxb.), and as long as they continue in the cat- 

 erpillar state, the Pariahs guard them from bats by night 

 and from birds by day. The natural food of this species is 

 the Byer tree of the Hindoos, called Rhamnvs jujuba by 

 botanists. The Jaroo cocoons are produced from a mere 

 variety of the kind just mentioned.* 



The Arrindy silk-worm belongs, however, to an entirely 

 diiierent species (the Phalcena cynlhm, Drury, vol. ii. tab. 6), 

 and appears peculiar to two districts in the interior of Ben- 

 gal, viz., Kungpore and Dinagepore, where it is reared in a 

 domestic state. The food of this caterpillar consists entirely 

 of the leaves of the common Ruinius, or Palma Christi, which 

 the natives call Arrindy, and hence the name by which the 

 insect is itself distinguished. The cocoons are in general 

 about two inches long, and three inches in circumference, 

 pointed at either end ; they are of a white or yellowish 

 colour, and their texture is extremely soft and delicate. 

 The filament, indeed, is so exceedingly fine, that this silk 

 cannot be wound off, but is spun like cotton. The yarn is 

 wove into a kind of coarse white cloth, of a seemingly 

 loose texture, but of such extreme durability that the life 

 of one person is seldom sufficient to wear out a garment 

 of it ; so that the same piece frequently descends from 

 parent to child. It must always be v^ashed in cold 

 water. t 



The only other species of silk-worm to which we shall 

 refer is alluded to in an extract of a letter published in the 

 Annals of Agriculture by Mr. Arthur Young. It has been 

 introduced into India for a, good many years. " We have 

 obtained," says the writer alluded to, " a monthly silk-worm 

 from China, which I have reared with my own hands, and 

 in twenty-five days have had the cocoons in my basins, and 

 by the twenty-ninth or thirty-first day a new progeny feed- 

 ing in my trays. This makes it a mine to whoever would 



* The Tusseti silk-worm moth appears to be synonymous with the 

 Bombyx viyW.ta of Fabricius. It is figured by Drury in his Illustra- 

 tions of Natural History, vol. ii. tab. 5. 



t See Account of the Tu.sseh and Arrindy SiUi-worms of Bengal. By 

 (ViUiam Ro.\burfih, M.D., F.R.S.E. Linn. Trans., vol. vu. p. 33 



