14 



As there are several modes of spelling this word, I add a 

 table of synonyms showing them : — 



Tamr.—Name in India for both the Tusser worm and 

 the silk. 



Ttissore. — French. 

 Bombyx seide. — German. 



Tusser, Tussah, Tussa, Tussar, Tusseh, modes of spelling 

 used in England, no doubt derived from the Hindostani 

 word Tusuru, which means a shuttle. 



Tussev silk is the product of the larva of the moth 

 Anthercza mylitta of Linnseus (Plate II., Figs. 1 and 2). 

 This species is also known by the following synonyms : — 

 Phalcena Attacus mylitta (Drury). 

 Bombyx mylitta (Fabricius). 

 Antherwa mylitta (Hubner). 

 Attacus mylitta (Blanchard). 

 Saturnia mylitta (Westwood). 

 Phalosna paphia (Roxburgh).* 

 Saturnia paphia (Heifer). 

 Bughy silkworm moth of the Beerbhoom Hills. 

 Kolissurra silkworm moth of the Mahrattas. 



There is but little doubt that this silk has been utilised 

 for many centuries both in India and China, but I have 

 not been able to find any important account of its ancient 

 history. 



One of the earliest notices of this insect, or of a species 

 very nearly related to it, is given by the venerable Rum- 

 phius, who was born at Hanau in 1657, in his " Herbarium 

 Amboinense " (dedicated by him to the East India Com- 

 pany), vol. iii. p. 113, pi. 75; he discovered the larvae in 

 Amboina feeding on the Mangium caseolari rubrum 

 (Rhizopliora caseolaris, Linn.), a plant of the order of 

 Terebintacew.'f He says : — 



" When I had kept the cocoons for three weeks a moth 

 came out quite perfect, which was the most beautiful and 

 largest I had ever seen, which, biting away the silk, showed 

 its head, and at the same time drew out with it a little 

 flock of yellow silk ; this the moth performed at night. 

 Its body, like all other moths', is a dirty yellow colour, and 

 in length two joints of a finger ; it has two downy horns 

 on its head of a golden hue, and four large wings, of which 

 the two largest are about an inch long and of a golden 



* Not of Linnaeus. The true P. Paphia is an African species (jP. Moore). 

 t Horsfield and Moore's catalogue of Lepidopterous insects, pp. 386, 387. 



