152 ON SERICICULTURE. 



together, very greatly damaged the success of the season ; 

 nearly all worms kept out-of-doors, being half-starved and 

 unable to eat, failed. It is therefore clear from the experiences 

 of 1868 and 1869, one being a very hot, and the other an 

 extremely cold, season, that out-of-door culture of this insect 

 must be limited to those localities, if there are any, where 

 the habitual temperature never ranges below 45° or above 75°. 

 The experience of the past two seasons has pretty nearly in- 

 dicated the limits of temperature, which it is not safe to trans- 

 gress, and it now remains to fit up a magnamh'ej where the 

 temperature may be maintained with tolerable certainty be- 

 tween 60° and 75°, where a moist atmosphere, so fatal to the 

 mulberry-worm but so beneficial to the Yama-3Ia'ij may be 

 afforded, with an ample supply of pure fresh air and an 

 avoidance of sunshine, since shade seems especially grateful 

 to these larva?. 



Under these conditions I think it probable that the culture 

 of this valuable silk-worm may be carried on with success. 



The experience of the past three years seems to prove that 

 the comparatively cool and moist climates, during June and 

 July, of our western and northern coasts, are much better 

 suited to the culture of the Yama-Ma'i than the dry hot tem- 

 peratures of the southern and eastern counties: thus, in the 

 south of Ireland, in Wales, Herefordshire and western parts 

 of Scotland a much greater amount of success has been re- 

 corded than elsewhere. Residents in these districts are espe- 

 cially requested to make a trial of this valuable race, and to 

 record the result. 



The continued success of the Austrian nobleman Le Baron 

 de Bretton in his estates in Moravia and Sclavonia encourages 

 me to hope for a favourable European future for this species. 

 For the last five years the Baron has been uniformly suc- 

 cessful ; he has increased his stock from a few eggs given him 



