Uo. 3. ] Silkworms in India. 17 1 



to arrest them till they can be gathered and transferred to another tree. This may be 

 done either by simply placing them on the trunk and leaving them to crawl up ... . 

 or by means of a triangular tray, which is pushed at the end of along bamboo, and 

 hooked on to one of the upper branches. The latter is also the method employed in 

 putting the young worms on the tree for the first time. Young trees are preferred to 

 begin with, and generally trees from three to twelve years old are considered the best. 

 Old trees are avoided, as they harbour ants, and the moss on their branches impedes 

 the movements of the worm. The worms feed from about eight o'clock in the morning 

 till near noon, and again from three to sunset. During the intervening hours they 

 descend the trunk to bask in the sun, and at night they take shelter under the leaves. 

 A dropping sound like that of light hail is heard under the tree at feeding time, and 

 is caused by the pea-like excrement {lad) of the worms, which is constantly falling to 

 the ground. 



" During their life in the open air the worms are exposed to the attacks of various 

 enemies, among whom the crows and kites are the most persistent and destructive, but the 

 sdksdkia, or wandering pie, by day, the aziola, or ' little downy owl ' {peso), and the 

 large frugivorous bat (hand all) by night, are also to be dreaded. The insects which 

 do most damage are the wasp, the ichneumon fly, and a red ant called amrulli, but the 

 latter is dangerous to the worm only in its earlier stages. The result of a bite is a 

 blackness extending from the injured part over the whole body, which gradually 

 withers away. The cultivators wage war against the ants with fire and hot water, or 

 skewer bits of fish on the trunk to attract them and prevent them from ascending the 

 tree ; the pellet-bow is used against the birds by day, and a tall clapper of split bamboo 

 pulled by a string from within the watcher's hut serves to frighten away nightly 

 marauders ; but with all these precautions he losses by theft are considerable. This 

 constant watching becomes very troublesome, especially in the months of inclement 

 weather, and is usually left to the children and old people, where there are any in the 

 family. Continued heavy rain is apt to wash the worms off the trees, but they can 

 shelter themselves under the leaves against passing showers, and, in fact, light rain in 

 October and November is considered favourable to the growth of the tviuter brood. A 

 hail-storm is the greatest calamity of all, for it not only kills numbers outright, but 

 so weakens others that they die before maturity, or spin imperfect cocoons, and the 

 weakness is even said to be transmitted to the moths if any emerge. The worms, 

 finally, are subject to a disease called ' the swelling ' (phula-rog), for which no remedy 

 is known. In Upper Assam this epidemic occasionally destroys the worms on acres of 

 sum forest together, and even where the mortality is less wholesale, the silk-pro- 

 ducing power of the survivors is found to be' impaired. The worms often die off in 

 large numbers without any swelling or other external symptoms, merely ceasing to 

 feed, and perishing apparently of inanition, and in this case also the yield of silk from 

 the surviving portion of the brood is poor. Apart from these causes, a difference is said 

 to be noted in the productive powers of worms of the same breed. It is alleged that 

 some worms can be distinguished as destined to die immature; these are called hahoya 

 and bisa ; others, called phutuha, spin cocoons yielding an imperfect quantity of silk. 

 " The period from hatching to maturity varies from 26 days in summer to 40 days 

 in winter. The moltings are completed about a week or ten days before the end of 

 this term. There is no difficulty in discerning when the worm is ready to begin its 

 cocoon, because it invariably descends the tree to the edge of the plantain leaf band, 

 and there remains motionless, grasping the bark with its holders only, while the fore 

 part of the body is raised and thrown slightly back. Another sign is said to be a 

 peculiar sound yielded by the body when lightly tapped. Worms which show these 

 symptoms are removed at nightfall, or, if left overnight, they begin to make their 

 preparations for spinning in a roll of grass tied round the tree for that purpose. 



