174 TEXTILE FIBRES. 



the oak. The cocoon is furnished with a pedicle, and was of a light 

 brown colour when photographed. The insect is known as a Tussur 

 silkworm. 



(4) shows a variety of the cocoon of the Bombyx mori. It is made 

 up of two smaller cocoons of a yellowish colour. For these specimens 

 of cocoons I am indebted to Mr. J. T. Taylor, of Manchester. 



Bombyx fortunatus feeds on Morus indica, whose leaves also form the 

 food of Bombyx textor, B. meridionalis, and B. sinensis. Bombyx 

 ricini feeds on the peltate, palmate, simple leaves of the well-known 

 Castor Oil plant, which is a native of the East Indies. 



Muga silk is spun by Anther sea assama, which is indigenous and 

 cultivated in India. The food of this silkworm is the leaf of Macliilus 



Fig. 114. Caterpillar, moth, and cocoon of Attacus cynthia. 



odoratissimma. Other species of Bombyx include the B. hesperus, B. 

 polyphemus, B. cecropia, and B. fauretyi. 



Anthersea paphia is a native of Darjeeling in the Himalayas. It 

 produces a large quantity of silk, which is collected by the natives in the 

 jungles. This silkworm exercises some ingenuity in the building of its 

 cocoons, which are rolled up in the leaves and so resemble the true leaves 

 as to be difficult to distinguish, affording, certainly, a good example of 

 mimicry of foliage leaves. 



The silk from A. paphia is regarded as the true Tussur. It is easily 

 wound off from the cocoons, like that of the ordinary silkworm. 



Under the generic name of Anthersea a large number of species of 

 wild silkworms is included, particularly A. Perrottetti, A. Roylei, 

 A. Jana, A. Frithii, and A. Larissa. All these are known as Tussur 

 silkworms or moths. Among other genera and species of silkworms may 

 be mentioned Saturnia pyretorum and S. grotei. Among the plants which 

 are selected as food by Anther xa and some other genera may be 

 mentioned Berberis asiatica ; the sensitive plant Mimosa ; the Plum 



