Uo. 3, Silkworms in India. 161 



bam, to whom I am indebted for most of my information about this worm, savs that 

 the huthuri is common in the wild state in the neighbourhood of Jorhat. It is also 

 common in Gachar, but there also no use is made of it. Some worms reared in June 

 and July took rather more thau a month from the laying of the egg, to the spinning 

 of the cocoou. 



" The worms were fed on the phutuha. Worms put outside while very young 

 were speedily devoured by ants, but if kept indoors till the second molting, they were 

 then found to do very well on the bushes. Mr. Buckingham adds : — ' I reared ten worms 

 in this way, aud all except one made their cocoons between the leaves of the shrub, one 

 solitary worm descending and making its cocoou in the grass. The natives had pre- 

 viously informed me that this wild species of worm was less liable to tLe attacks of 

 crows, bats, &c, than tame species were, and it was curious to watch how the wormi 

 at the slightest show of danger, let go the leaf or stem with all its front le^s, bang- 

 ing on by its holders behind, and in this position, with its head slightly curled round 

 aud its. front legs well tucked up, it took an experienced eye to detect the difference 

 between the leaf of the tree and the worm.' " 



"Some worms reared by Krishna Kanta Ghugua spun their cocoons on 7th Octo- 

 ber, the moth emerged on 10th April, and laid their eggs which hatched, and formed 

 cocoons on 21st May, the chrysalis state thus lasting sixth months. 



" The only point in which the huthuri cocoons seemed to Mr. Buckingham to 

 differ from those of the Bengal tusser, was that the tusser cocoon was rather closer 

 spun and more compact, and less pointed at the ends than the huthuri ; but the colour 

 was as nearly as possible the same. 



" The silk is ranked below muga in value, being coarse though glossy, and so 

 strong that the natives compare it to rhea thread. The phutuha is one of the com- 

 monest wild shrubs in Assam, and the worm could probably be cultivated at very little 

 cost, but the silk could not compete with the cheaper and better tusser supplied by 

 bengal. 



"Another worm which appears to be simply a variety of the tusser, feeding on the 

 phutuha, like the worm just described, is counted by the Assamese as a distinct 

 species and known by the name of Deomuga. It must not be confounded with the 

 genuine Deomuga described further on. An experiment was made with cocoons of 

 this (so-called) Deomuga by Krishna Kanta Ghugua." The cocoons were obtained on 

 14th August, the eggs were laid, and the worms reared and spun up by the 22nd Sep- 

 tember, moths again emerging in the following March. 



" The wild silkworm called Sdlthi is also a species of tusser. It is called Deomuga 

 by the Kacharis, but must not be confounded with the Deomuga proper, which is de- 

 scribed below, and which is a Bombyx. The Sdlthi worm feeds on the Kamranga 

 (Barringtonia racemosa) and the Hiddl. The worm itself is very rarely met with, 

 but herd-boys and wood-cutters occasionally bring home the cocoons, aud the silk ob- 

 tained from them can be used for mixing with Eri. To extract it, the cocoon has first 

 to be boiled in a strong alkaline solution, and afterwards bruised in a mortar. The 

 hollow cocoon is often converted into a tobacco-box, or is used to keep lime in for eat- 

 ing with the betel-nut, or as a cup for dipping oil out of a jar. The habitat of the 

 worm is the jungle at the foot of the Bhutan Himalayas. The chrysalis of this spe- 

 cies, as of all the wild silkworms, is eaten with much relish by the Kacharis." 



Tusser cocoons are met with extensively, in a wild state, throughout 



the submontane districts of the Punjab, chiefly 

 Tusser in the Punjab. „. , . .. , ,,, , . , T J 



on Zizyphus jujuba (the ber tree). It does not ap- 

 pear, however, that the insect has ever been reared otherwise than ex- 

 perimentally for the production of silk. 



