259 



Anthercea larissa. Walker, List Lep. Het. B.M. pt, 5. p. 1250 ; 

 Moore, Catal. Lep. Mus. Ind. House, ii. p. 398. 



Hab. Java {Dr. Horsfield) . In Museum, India House, London, 

 and M. Dalen, Rotterdam. 



Remark. — This beautiful species may be at once distinguished 

 from all the preceding by the ocellus of the fore-wing, which has the 

 exterior black lii^g dentated towards the costa. It is also more fal- 

 cated in the male. The figure referred to above is a good repre- 

 sentation of the male. 



Another species of AnthercBa inhabits Mantchouria, as appears 

 from the following : — 



" It has long been known that in the land of the Mantchour Tar- 

 tars, in a climate at least as rigorous as our own {i. e. England), a 

 kind of silk is obtained, of which very large quantities go into con- 

 sumption among the Chinese. This species is announced by M. 

 Guerin-Meneville as having lately been reared in France. 



" Some years since Mr. Rutherford Alcock, Her Majesty's Consul 

 at Shanghae, sent home samples of this material, both manufactured 

 and unmanufactured, along vrith live chrysalids (cocoons) ; but the 

 latter perished on the voyage, and the samples were accidentally 

 misplaced and lost in the Great Exhibition of 1851. The silk was 

 strong, with little lustre, and resembled some strong t-hin yellow 

 woollen linen. It now appears that the French have been more suc- 

 cessful, some males having already been hatched. Of the other 

 cocoons sent to Italy and Algiers, no account is given. 



"According to Guerin-Meneville, this Silkworm forms a new species 

 of Saturnia, and is nearly related to the (S. mylitta, which produces 

 the Tusseh silk of India. But the peculiarities observable in the 

 form, texture, and mode of attachment of the cocoons forbid the 

 Mantchour Moth being regarded as merely a northern local form of 

 the Tusseh Silkworm. It is also one of the same group as the 

 Moonga Silkworm of Assam {Sat. assamensis. Heifer). 



" Two circumstances give peculiar interest to the introduction of 

 this useful insect ; namely the coldness of the country it naturally 

 inhabits, and its feeding upon a species of oak, not on a mulberry. 

 The country called Mantchouria is described as mountainous, very 

 cold in winter, and producing furs among other articles of trade. 

 Oaks, pines, willows, birches, maples, and wild roses, said to consti- 

 tute the main feature of its woods, are all indications of a northern 

 climate. The oak on which this silkworm feeds is not clearly de- 

 scribed. According to M. Isidore St.-Hilaire, two sorts have been 

 raised in France from the acorns received with the cocoons, one re- 

 sembling the Quercus castanecefoUa, which is well known to be a 

 native of Northern China, and one of a species apparently unde- 

 scribed. But it is by no means improbable that the common oaks 

 of this country would be taken to by the silkworms in question ; and 

 if so, the sole obstacle to the introduction of silk-growing among 

 our rural population would be removed. 



