JJo. 3. ] Silkworms in- India. 159 



In Chota Nagpur and the Central Provinces, where tusser is cultivated 

 Tusser cultivation in by Sontalis, Dhimars, and other jungle tribes, mostly 

 Central India. f } ow caste, the cocoons are collected each year in 



the jungle, in the early part of the hot weather, when the foliage is thin, 

 and are brought into the village before the rains commence; fresh 

 cocoons being obtained each year. 1 



The moths emerge from the cocoons in the early part of the rains; 

 the females remain clinging to their cocoons where they are fertilized, 

 usually by wild males which fly in from the jungle and which are sup- 

 posed to be often attracted from considerable distances ; the male moths, 

 after emerging from the cocoons, usually take flight and disappear 

 without copulating with the females of the same crop. After fertiliza- 

 tion the moths are put into little baskets made of grass, in which they 

 lay their eggs. These baskets are then hung up in the branches of the 

 pollarded trees, which have been prepared to receive them, by bending 

 down the branches and clearing away the rubbish and vegetation around 

 them. 



In Chota Nagpur the worms are reared on Shorea robusta [sal, or sa- 

 Tcooci), and Terminalia tomenlo&a (saj, assun, asain, or en) ; cocoons are 

 also found on Zizyphus jujuba. In the Central Provinces they are chiefly 

 reared on Terminalia tomenlo&a. 



The worms, which emerge from the eggs, crawl out of. the baskets 

 and are allowed to wander over the foliage at will. Constant watching, 

 however, is required to protect them from birds and insects. They feed 

 on the leaves, and, after molting several times, spin themselves up into 

 cocoons, which, however, are only used for producing a second crop of 

 cocoons, which are formed in the latter part of the rains, and which are 

 the ones that are made into silk. 



Under favourable circumstances it is said that about 80 worms can 

 be raised from the eggs of one female, while about 44 per cent, of the 

 cocoons produce female moths. According to Captain Brooks (as quoted 

 by Wardle), the caterpillars molt five times at intervals of from five to 

 eight days ; when first hatched they weigh but one fifth of a grain, and 

 are about a quarter of an inch long; but at the end of their larval exist- 

 ence, which extends over from forty to forty-five days, they are some- 

 times as much as seven inches long, an inch in diameter, and weigh about 

 370 grains. They then begin to spin their cocoons, from which the moths 



1 Except by the Bhoyahs and Ghatwals of Chota Nagpur, who keep seed cocoons 

 from one year to another. They tie the cocoous up in bundles in October, and expose them 

 to the atmosphere, at the end of a long pole, through the cold weather and until February, 

 when they bring them into their huts and hang them up until required for rearing in June. 

 — (Dumaine.) 



