Entomological Society. 4641 



Indian Method of preparing the Silk of Bombyx Cynthia. 



Mr. Westwood read, from the ' Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' vol. vi., 

 brought by Brigadier Hearsey, the following account of the method used in India to 

 prepare the silk from the cocoons of Bombyx Cynthia. 



" The cocoons are put over a slow fire, in a solution of potash, when the silk easily 

 comes off: they are taken out, and the water slightly pressed out ; they are then taken 

 one by one, loosened at oue end, and the cocoon put over the thumb of the left hand ; 

 with the right they (sic) draw it out nearly the thickness of twine, reducing any irregu- 

 larity by rubbing it between the index and thumb : in this way many cocoons are joined 

 on. The thread is allowed to accumulate in heaps of a quarter of a sur (sic) ; it is after- 

 wards exposed to the sun or near the fire to dry ; it is then made into skeins, with two 

 sticks tied at one end, and opening like a pair of compasses : it is then ready to be 

 woven, unless it has to be dyed." 



Mr. Newman read the following note, intituled 



" A Word for the Cockroach. 



" * There is nothing new under the sun : ' so says the proverb. I believed, until a 

 few days back, that I possessed the knowledge of a fact in the dietary economy of the 

 cockroach of which entomologists were not cognizant, but I find myself forestalled ; 

 the fact is ' as old as the hills : ' it is that the cockroach seeks with diligence, and de- 

 vours with great gusto, the common bed bug. I will not mention names, but I am so 

 confident of the veracity of the narrator that I willingly take the entire responsibility. 

 ' Poverty makes one acquainted with strange bed-fellows,' and my informant bears 

 willing testimony to the truth of the adage : he had not been prosperous, and had 

 sought shelter in a London boarding-house : every night he saw cockroaches ascending 

 his bed-curtains; every morning he complained to his very respectable landlady, and 

 invariably received the comforting assurance that there was not a ' black beetle' in the 

 house: still he pursued his nocturnal investigations, and he not only saw cockroaches 

 running along the tester of the bed, but, to his great astonishment, he positively ob- 

 served one of them seize a bug, and he therefore concluded, and not without some 

 show of reason, that the cockroaches ascended the curtains with this especial object, 

 and that the minor and more odoriferous insect is a favourite food of the major one. 

 The following extract from Webster's ' Narrative of Foster's Voyage ' * corroborates this 

 recent observation, and illustrates the proverb which I have taken as my text: — 

 * Cockroaches, those nuisances to ships, are plentiful at St. Helena ; and yet, bad as 

 they are, they are more endurable than bugs. Previous to our arrival here, in the 

 Chanticleer, we had suffered great inconvenience from the latter, but the cockroaches 

 no sooner made their appearance than the bugs entirely disappeared : the fact is that 

 the cockroach preys upon them, and leaves no sign or vestige of where they have been : 

 so far it is a most valuable insect.' " 



Coccus arborum-linearis, Geoff. 

 The President read the following extract of a letter from Dr. A. Fitch : — 



* ' Foster's Voyage,' Vol. i. 373. 



