24 REPORT ON THE DISEASES OP SILKWORMS IN INDIA 



of disease. It is useless depending entirely for evidence on rearers 

 and others connected with silkworm-rearing. It is to me amazing 

 that so much has been written about the amount of disease present 

 in the silkworm in India and so little has actually been done to find 

 out the truth. I have endeavoured to take a census which was 

 conducted as follows. Cocoons were collected from various nur- 

 series and villages and forwarded to me. When the moths cut out, 

 they were examined and the amount of disease was in this way 

 directly discovered. The details of this investigation are given in 

 Appendix 1 : some of the results as regards pebrine are given below. 

 The results thus got were checked in two ways : (1) by questioning 

 professional rearers from various parts of Bengal and (2) from the 

 personal observations of myself and my assistants while touring at 

 different times in the different silk districts of India. The answers 

 given to my inquiries from the professional rearers are given in 

 Appendix II. A general statement of the opinions expressed on 

 pebrine will be given later, after the facts elicited by the first census 

 are discussed. 



The first sample of qocoons received gave most interesting and 

 most typical findings. There were four lots — three of Chhotapolu 

 and one of Nistari — and all that was known about them was that 

 they had been reared in some villages near Berhampore in Bengal. 

 The cocoons were all of poor quality and the Nistari were no better 

 than the Chhotapolu. On examination the Chhotapolu were found 

 to be practically 100 per cent, diseased — one lot was 99 per cent. — 

 while the Nistari showed only 3 v per cenfc, disease. Inquiries were 

 then made as to the origin of the seed used in producing the cocoons, 

 and it was found that the Nistari were from nursery seed while the 

 Chhotapolu were from village seed — traced back as village seed for 

 three generations (See Appendix I A, lot 1 ; and I B, lots 1 —3). 



And this is what has been found all through. When unexamined 

 seed is used, heavy infections of Nosema are always got (Appendix 

 I A, lots 17 and 19 ; and I B, lots 1 — 4). In this connection the 

 hybrids in Appendix. I C, lots 1 — 5, are most interesting. These 

 were reared under exceptionally favourable conditions — they are not 

 village seed — and yet the percentage of disease is very high. The 

 nursery stock has been singularly free from disease and the cocoons 

 reared from nursery seed are also very satisfactory (Appendix I A, 

 lots 1, 5—7 ; and I B, lot 5). 



In Appendices I G and I F, I publish extracts from the grairiage 

 registers of the Mysore Department of Sericulture — by the kind 

 permission of the Superintendent — and of Berhampore Central 

 Nursery — by the kind permission of the Deputy Director of Seri- 

 culture, Bengal. The former of these is very interesting as it con- 



