236 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



from cocoons imported from India hatch for the most part in 

 May or June, and some in the beginning of July. Pernyi and 

 roylei moths pair together as if they were one and the same 

 species ; and it is the same with all closely allied species. The 

 eggs are apparently identical, and so are the larvae. The hatch- 

 ing of the eggs takes place after the same lapse of time, and the 

 duration of the rearing is the same. 



The crossing of the roylei with pernyi produces the remark- 

 able and robust hybrid which I obtained in 1881, susceptible of 

 reproduction and forming an intermediate type between the two 

 parent species roylei and pernyi. A. roylei is found at Simla, 

 Mussoori, Almorah, Darjeeling, and in Assam. 



With respect to the roylei-pernyi hybrid I obtained in 1881, 

 notices will be found in my reports on silk-producers for 1881 

 and 1882, which appeared in the ' Journal of the Society of 

 Arts,' London. Specimens of moths and cocoons were exhibited 

 and submitted to the Council of the Society of Arts on June 20th, 

 1882, after which an article on the subject was inserted in the 

 Journal on Sept. 8th, by the editor, who had come previously, on 

 my invitation, to examine the worms growing on the small oak 

 trees in my garden in July. I very much regret, however, to 

 have to record the extinction of my hybrid, in consequence 

 of very bad weather, the destruction of worms by sparrows, and 

 other causes, three years or more after the species had been ob- 

 tained by me ; but it never showed any sign of degeneracy. The 

 stock of hybrid cocoons which had been obtained was by far too 

 small to ensure a successful and lasting reproduction of this new 

 species. 



I shall now give the description of the hybrid by Mr. W. F. 

 Kir by, as read by him at the meeting of the Entomological 

 Society of London, on May 3rd, 1882 : — 



''Notes on a hybrid between Anther aea pernyi, Guer., and 

 A. roylei, Moore. — M. Wailly, the well-known rearer of silkworm 

 moths, has succeeded in obtaining hybrids between Antheraa 

 pernyi and A. roylei, and has requested me to describe one of the 

 moths. A. pernyi is the well-known oak-feeding silkworm of 

 North China, and A, roylei is a North Indian species, also an 

 oak-feeder. Hence they are not species occurring in the same 

 locality in a state of nature. M. Wailly states, in a paper lately 

 published in the ' Journal of the Society of Arts,' that the male 

 2)ernyi paired readily with the female roylei, and that the hybrid 

 larvae (which he describes) proved much more easy to rear than 

 those of roylei, with which he had but little success. The hybrid 

 before me expands just six inches across the wings, which is 

 about the size of large female examples of the two parent 

 species. It is of a greenish buff colour, nearly as in the female 

 of roylei, but much clearer, and with a distinct tawny shade, 

 especially within the common band ; the body and base of the 



