106 ON SERICICULTURE. 



perate climate and feeding on the oak, there is apparently 

 no limit toils naturalization over a large portion of the globe. 

 Yet the fact that it is not found indigenous elsewhere than in 

 Japan,* and that the attempts hitherto made to introduce the 

 race into Europe have met with but scanty success, clearly 

 indicate no ordinary difficulty in acclimatizing this valuable 

 race. 



M. Gelot thus speaks of the silk of the Yama-Ma'i: — 

 " It appears to me to hold the next rank to the Mulberry 

 silk. It is, perhaps, a little finer, and not quite so strong, 

 but quite as glossy. It would, I believe, in many cases be 

 used equally with the Mulberry silk, and if we could accli- 

 matize it on a large scale, it might often supply the deficiency 

 of our present crops. The natural green tint would be no 

 impediment to its taking the dye, for it disappears in wash- 

 ing, and becomes white." 



This race (introduced into Europe first in 1861, when but 

 one cocoon was reared,) was imported with some difficulty 

 into Holland in 186*2, owing to the existence of a law in 

 Japan entailing the penalty of death on any one exporting 

 these precious eggs (wdiich were a royal monopoly). Since 

 that year the race has been preserved and cultivated in 

 Europe with varying success; and though a few individuals 

 have fortunately succeeded in procuring a brood annually, 

 the majority of experiments have failed. The greatest suc- 

 cess has been obtained by M. le Baron de Bretton, an ex- 

 tensive landowner in Moravia, who, in 1867, obtained 4,000 

 cocoons, and exhibited the silk thereby produced at the Paris 

 Exhibition. 



In England this species has been reared since 1865, but 

 only ift isolated cases. In 1868 I imported a large parcel 



* B. Cynthia, on the contrary, which has been fairly acclimatized on 

 a wide area, has naturally an extended range, being a denizen of Central 

 Asia, from the Philippine Islands to Persia. 



