No. 2. ] Wild Silk hisects of India. 79 



shade, so that the experimeutSj which at one time seemed distinctly pro- 

 mising, have not led to any practical results. That A. pernyi and A, 

 yamamai are at least very closely allied to A, roylei is shown not only by 

 the great superficial resemblance of the three forms {vide plates 7 and 8), 

 but also from the fact that hybrids have been raised in Europe both 

 between A. pernyi and A. yamamai (Berce and Goossens : Bull. Soc. Eut. 

 France (5), IV, p. 154), and also between A. roylei and A. pernyi ( Waill}^ : 

 Ent. XIV, p. 246). An excellent account of A. pernyi in China is ^wqxx 

 by Rondot {U Art de la Soie, II, 1887, p. 127). The following is an 

 abstract : — 



Anthercea pernyi is a bivoltine species found botli wild and also in a semi-do- 

 mesticated state upon oak trees in many parts of China, where it is reared extensively 

 for the production of silk. The amount of fresh cocoons annually reared has been 

 estimated at twenty-two millions of kiloo;rammes, of which a considerable amount is 

 imported into Europe. Two yields of silk are obtained in the year, one in the spring 

 and another in the autumn ; the spring rearing occupying about sixty days and the 

 autumn rearing about a hundred. The insect is generally reared indoors, but to a certain 

 extent also upon trees or bushes in the open air. The worm is also common in a wild 

 state in the forests and copses of oak trees on the mountain sides. In Koiieitcheou 

 (according to Father Perny) there is an annual variety of the worm which is less es- 

 teemed than the bivoltine one, a fact which is noticeable in connection with the ten- 

 dency to become annual, which bas been observed in the species when reared in France. 

 The cocoon is enveloped in two or three oak leaves drawn together by a network of 

 silken strands, and is further attached at one end to some small branch or leafstalk 

 by a flat silken cord. The cocoon of the spring rearing contains only about half as much 

 silk as that of the autumn rearing, but the silk itself is far more brilliant, that of the 

 autumn rearing being somewhat dull and lustreless. The cocoons are either reeled or 

 spun. The reeling is done in two ways — either wet or dry. In the dry process the 

 <jccoons, after having been dipped in a mordant made from oakwood ashes, are washed 

 in clean water and are then reeled drj^, the basket containing them, however, being 

 sometimes steamed over a vessel of boiling water. In the wet process, the cocoons 

 are simply reeled as they lie in the iron boiler, which contains either a solution of raw 

 6oda or strong mordant made oat of oak ashes, the liquid being but just sufficient to 

 cover the cocoons ; the wet process therefore differs materially from that of mulberry 

 silk filatures, where deep basins of water are used for holding the cocoons while they 

 are in process of reeling. Of the wet and dry processes, the dry one is preferred and 

 gives the most satisfactory results. A large portion of the autumn crop and all the 

 pierced cocoons are spun, the spinning being done either by hand or with a jenny 

 worked bj the foot. 



The figures of A, roylei are from specimens in the Indian Museum; 

 those o£ A, yamamai after Snellen^s figures (Tijd Voor. Ent. VII, 1864) • 

 those of A. pernyi after Guerin Meneville^s figures (Kev. et Mag. de 

 ZooL, 1855), 



Other Indian Species op Anther^a. 



Besides the cultivated species — Antherc&a mylitta (Tusser), A. assama 

 (Muga) — described in Vol. 1, No. 3 of these Notes, and the wild 

 species — Anthercea roylei, A, helferi, and A. fritJiii, which have been 

 noticed above, five other Indian species of the genus Antheraa have 

 been described by entomologists. There are no specimens of them, how- 



