] 60 S'dkioorms in India. [ Vol. L 



soon emerge, to lay the eggs from which is raised the main crop of 

 cocoons at the end of the rains. 



The rearers carefully watch over and protect the worms, and while 

 rearing is going on, live with great cleanliness and self-denial, abstain- 

 ing from alcohol and all intercourse with women, and adhering very 

 strictly to certain ceremonial observances. The business is a very pre- 

 carious one, much depending on favourable weather, any stoppage of the 

 rain being most injurious to the worms, especially if it occurs when molt- 

 ing is going on. 1 The insects also are most subject to the attack of ene- 

 mies of various kinds. The moths are said to be eaten by bats, rats, 

 and ants, while they are still hanging to the cocoons. The caterpillars 

 are said to be eaten by rats, snakes, toads, wasps, ants, and also by a 

 Hemipterous insect {Canthecona furcellata) , wherever they can be got at; 

 they also perish in large numbers from the attack of Ichneamonida and 

 Tachina? which are parasitic on them ; while in the Central Provinces, at 

 least, they are said to be particularly liable to disease, it being no un- 

 common occurrence for the whole of a crop of worms to die off, leaving 

 the Dhimars without any return whatever for their time aud labour. 



The chrysalids inside the cocoons intended for reeling are generally 

 killed by steaming, and the cement of the cocoon is softened in some 

 alkaline solution, such as that obtained by mixing the ashes of the dried 

 seed-pods of the pulse Phaseolus radiatus (urd) in boiling water. 



In Assam tusser does not appear to be cultivated to any appreciable 



extent, its place being to a great extent taken by the 

 Tusser in Assam. . . . . . , 



muga silkworm {Anther aa assama), which is reared 



much in the same way. The tusser insect, however, is undoubtedly found 



wild in Assam. 



In his report on Silk in Assam (February 1884) Stack writes : — 



" The wild silkworm called kutkuri is believed to be the same as the common tus- 

 ser of Bengal. Its food is principally the kutkuri (Vangueria spinosa) from winch 

 it takes its name, or else the plant called (erroneously) the wild Rhododendron {Melas- 

 toma malabaricum), the Assamese name of which is phutuka. It has been cultivated 

 in the palmy days of the Assam silk industry, but it is now almost entirely neglected 

 as being inferior to muga, and, also, perhaps, because it yields only three 3 broods in 

 the year. Its habits are now known only to a few old people in Jorhat. Mr. Bucking- 



1 In attempts made in the Indian Museum to raise tusser worms in captivity, in perfo- 

 rated zinc breeding-cages, it was found that, though the eggs hatched out readily, producing 

 vast numbers of apparently healthy worms, these worms invariably died, although supplied 

 with plenty of fresh food. At length, at the suggestion of Mr. J. Cleghorn, daily watering 

 of the worms with a watering-pot was tried in imitation of the heavy rain to wbich they are 

 exposed in their native jungles, and it was found that, when regularly watered, a certain 

 number could easily be reared through all their stages. 



a Mons. J. Bigot has determined the Tachinid fly forwarded to the Indian Museum as 

 parasitic on tusser worms in Sinphbhoom, as Masicera grandis of Walker. 



3 In Central India tusser yield but two. 



