Proceedings of the Far 



frequent opportunities of getting beef as lean as Dr. Smitli could 

 wish. They come from Texas, and sell for about ten cents a pound, 

 while good plump Kentucky and Ohio animals sell for seventeen and 

 seventeen and one-half. People will think that the seventeen cent 

 beeves have a finer flavor, and somehow this flavor is connected with 

 their condition as to ftitness. However, the exact degree of fatness 

 to which an animal had best be brought in order that the meat may 

 be nearest perfect, has not yet been determined, and it is a subject 

 which would repay more careful investigation. 



SiLK-WORMS THAT FeED ON THE LeAVES OF THE OaK AND AlLANTHUS. 



Mr. J. Q. A. Warren, correspondent of the Entomological Society 

 of Belgium and of the Silk Association of London, has just returned 

 from Europe, bringing with him the eggs and cocoons of the silk- 

 worms that feed on oak and ailanthus leaves. He showed many 

 specimens of the new silk, and of the animals which make it, and 

 said : " To go into the details of silk culture would occupy hours of 

 time. As a subject it is one of too great importance to be lightly 

 dwelt upon. My object is to ask your attention simply to a few 

 remarks upon the new species of silk-worms now in successful culti- 

 vation in Europe, viz.. Those who feed upon the oak and ailanthus. 

 The materials I have gathered upon this subject while in Europe are 

 quite voluminous. From visits to many of the principal menageries 

 in France and England, where not only this species are raised but 

 also the homhyx mo7'i, I have endeavored to collect the experience of 

 the most prominent breeders who have made the subject of silk cul- 

 ture a study for years, as well as to make researches among the 

 foreign works on the subject, which, in the most condensed form, I 

 now offer you. Frencli sericulturists have endeavored to obtain and 

 introduce all the best silk producing insects that could be found, dis- 

 carding such as were of no practical value, and reserving only two 

 or three species which seemed promising. Of these I will allude to 

 the two, most prominent, homhyx, yama-mai, that eats oak leaf, and 

 homhyx Gynthia, that feeds on the ailanthus. The oak feeder was 

 first introduced into Europe about the year 1861, after great diffi- 

 culty. The eggs were procured through the influence of the French 

 Ck)nsul at Japan, M. de Bellecourt. Many efforts have been made, 

 unsuccessfully, b}'' other parties to procure eggs of this species, on 

 account of the reported beauty of the fabrics made from the cocoons ; 

 but the species were so higlily esteemed in Japan, the law forbade 



