V. A NOTE ON DISEASES OF THE TASAR SILKWORM 

 (ANTHERAEA MYLITTA). 



I have been unable to obtain any exact information about the 

 diseases of Tasar silkworms or to obtain any specimens of the same. 

 Indeed the tasar industry is so imperfectly known and so little 

 organized that it is practically impossible to get any satisfactory 

 information about it. Something is given by Lefroy (1916) in his 

 report but just sufficient to demonstrate the practical impossiblity 

 of doing anything in the matter. ■ This insect belongs to the same 

 genus as the muga worm and has much the same mode of life, it 

 is therefore to be expected that it might suffer from the same 

 diseases. Mukerji (1899) states that these worms suffer' from 

 flacherie — he classes the muga worm as a tasar worm and his 

 remarks apply to all known Indian species of AntJiercea alike. 

 There are several vernacular names of diseases of tasar worms 

 given by Lefroy (1917) in his report (page 189, Appendix). 

 The meaning of only two seems to be clear : in one case the name 

 means a form of cholera, and in the other that the worm turns 

 black. Both might very well be symptoms of flacherie. In the 

 absence of any really reliable- information on the subject of the 

 Indian tasar it is impossible to make a satisfactory statement. 

 As the worm is hardly at all domesticated, at best less so than the 

 muga worm, and as it is grown or collected as a rule in the jungle 

 by aboriginal tribes, any inquiry into the diseases of the worm 

 would be of the greatest difficulty and when made would be of 

 little except academic value as practically nothing could be done 

 to control them. 



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