390 CATALOGUE OF 



Dr. Heifer's opinion does not bear out the truth of this remark ; and 

 I agree with him, as he further states in continuation, that, having 

 kept them in a musquito-curtain to prevent their escape, they were 

 readily impregnated by the males, and deposited thousands of eggs. 

 The moths, no doubt, both male and female, will fly away, if not con- 

 fined in any manner to prevent them, particularly the males, for the 

 sole purpose of seeking the females. I am of opinion that this silk- 

 worm might be reared and domesticated with very little care and 

 attention. A female, for instance, produced from the cocoon and 

 retained captive, can, as above stated, be readily impregnated by the 

 males, which are so eager for the intercourse, that I have at times 

 taken as many as from ten to fifteen individuals in the course of a 

 couple of hours — between the hours of two and four in the morning, 

 — and that for three or four nights in succession, with the aid of the 

 same decoy female. The moths, both male and female, live for about 

 ten days, if they are not allowed to approach each other for the pur- 

 pose of reproducing their species, and this without food of any kind, 

 seeing that they are not provided by nature with a mouth. 



" Mr. Hugon states that the natives consider there are two varieties 

 of this species, the Bhugy and jharroo. I do not think so. I believe 

 them to be one and the same species. The larva sometimes — for 

 instance, when feeding on the common Bair of the jungles — is of a 

 very dark-green colour, precisely that of the leaf itself, and might by 

 some be considered as a different species, when compared with one 

 that has fed on the Badaam (Terminalia Oatappa), which is of a much 

 lighter and prettier green, with a degree of transparency at the same 

 time, and a slight tinge of yellow pervading it. The fact of the per- 

 fect insect being devoid of any mouth, has led me to infer that the 

 secretion, which it emits for the purpose of softening the substance 

 of the very hard cocoon from which it has to make its escape, is voided 

 from the abdomen ; and when effected, it has to turn itself round in 

 the cocoon to enable it to set to work with its two fore-feet, which 

 are provided with extremely strong and curved claws, and thread by 

 thread works for itself an opening through which, while yet moist, 

 its escape from the cocoon is effected, and that, too, before its wings 

 have in any way enlarged by expansion to impede its exit. It is 

 my intention to endeavour to ascertain this point beyond any doubt, 

 if possible." * 



* Capt. Thomas Hutton, in Journal of the Agri-Horticultural Society of India 

 for 1856, p. 166, says, "Idouht this, because I have fully ascertained that the 

 species known as Actios Selene, which is furnished on the shoulder of each wing 



