19 



affected either by w £ ater or fire. The cocoon consists of two 

 kinds of silk ; what it first spins is reddish, and of this the 

 pedicle and outside network are made. This silk consists of 

 threads of different lengths, but the rest is generally un- 

 broken from beginning to end of the cocoon. 



" After the caterpillar has spun a layer of silk thick 

 enough to conceal itself, it discharges some kind of gum 

 or cement, thick like plaster of paris, and with its muscular 

 action it causes this secretion to thoroughly permeate the 

 whole cocoon and solidify the wall. In this manner it goes 

 on spinning layer after layer of loops, and cementing them 

 altogether until the whole of its silk is exhausted, and the 

 wall of the cocoon becomes so hard that it requires a sharp 

 penknife to cut through it. The ring at the end of the 

 pedicle, which has been spun round the twig, is a most 

 necessary provision of nature ; for it often happens that 

 either the caterpillar has been unable to attach its cocoon 

 to a leaf, or that during the long time the cocoon remains 

 unburst on the tree the leaf or leaves to which the cocoon 

 was at first attached become separated from it, and the 

 cocoon hangs suspended to the twig like a berry." 



After eight or nine months in the pupa state a moist spot 

 is observed at one end of the cocoon. The moth is now 

 about to emerge both from its pupa shell and from the 

 cocoon. It secretes an acid fluid which softens the 

 cement of the cocoon, and enables it to separate the fibres 

 sufficiently to allow of its creeping out, it being no doubt 

 assisted in this by its short pointed spines. The head 

 of the moth first appears with its antennte, broad in 

 the male and narrow in the female, thus enabling the 

 observer to note the sex and to put them in pairs. The 

 male moth generally flies away the night of his exit from 

 the cocoon, after his wings become extended and dried. 



The female rarely flies off, but during the first three days 

 of her existence she lays her eggs, which hatch about 12 

 days afterwards. The new life of the moth does not extend 

 to more than eleven days. As will be seen from Plate II., 

 the moth is a fine and handsome insect. It measures 

 across the wings about six inches in the male and about 

 five inches in the female. Notice the vitreous and 

 transparent wing spots. They are like those of the Atlas 

 moth, but smaller ; they are regarded with superstitious 

 reverence by the natives, who see in them a resemblance 

 to the chakra or discus of the god Vishnu, and from this 

 consider the moth a sacred insect.* The colour of the moth 



* Geoghegau. 



b 2 



