396 CATALOGUE OF 



that enter the chrysalis state in July, come out in three weeks. Many 

 of the females lay eggs in eight or ten hours after quitting the 

 chrysalis, others again do not till the following night, or longer. In 

 ten days the young larvae make their appearance, and feed on the 

 Assun tree and the Sal Sakooa (Shorea robusta). In about three 

 weeks from the time of their exclusion from the egg they attain their 

 full size, and in eight or ten days more prepare for their transforma- 

 tion into the chrysalis. The caterpillar commences its operations by 

 drawing a few leaves slightly together, as if to screen it from observa- 

 tion. It then spins a strong cord, composed of many threads, alto- 

 gether about the thickness of a crow-quill, at the end of which it 

 weaves the cocoon. The cocoon is so transparent for the first six- 

 and-thirty hours, that the larva may be distinctly perceived at work 

 in the interior ; after that time the cocoon gradually acquires con- 

 sistence by the continued industry of the caterpillar, and becomes 

 quite opaque from the addition of a glutinous liquid, with which it 

 moistens the whole. "When that dries, the cocoon appears as if 

 covered with white powder, and in the course of a couple of days 

 becomes perfectly hard. 



" The moth generally deposits its eggs within a few yards of the 

 cocoon ; these the villagers collect, and keep in their houses till the 

 young caterpillars come forth, when they are placed on the Assun 

 trees in the jungles, the proprietors remaining to protect them from 

 the birds, and to bring home the cocoons when perfect. The people 

 who rear these silkworms are of the Sontal and Bhouree castes, and 

 practise many superstitious ceremonies while tending them in the 

 jungles." 



917. ANTHERA^A FRITHI, Moore. 



Anthersea Frithi, Moore, P. Z. S. (1859) , p. , pi LXII. 

 fig. 1. 



a. g. Darjeeling. From Indian Collection, Exposition 

 Universelle at Paris., 1855. 



Antheraea FritJii, n. sp. — Male, yellowish-ferruginous, the disc 

 suffused with patches of darker ferruginous, and the exterior margin 

 and about the base greyish-ferruginous ; fore-wing with the costal 

 band grey, the submarginal dark line evenly undulated, and parallel 

 with it and before the ocellus are two deeply-undulated lines, the 

 inner spaces between which are suffused with yellow, a large promi- 

 nent apical patch and space within the cell yellow ; hind-ioing with 



