Entomological Society, 4751 



and that sereral persons have discovered means whereby the glutinous substance 

 which fastens the threads together may be dissolved and the silk unwound, I am 

 inclined to think that several other Bombyces meet with undeserved neglect, and 

 especially the subject of these notes, which appears to be well adapted for introduc- 

 tion into England, since it is a native of a climate subject to severe alternations of 

 temperature ; and the larva feeding only in July and August, it would not be at all 

 affected by the cold of this island, as most of the other foreign species of Bombycidae 

 are. If we add to this that it produces an immense quantity of a very strung 

 material, and that its food-plants nourish well in England, we have all the requisites 

 to constitute a valuable silk-producing insect. During my residence in Canada 

 I had several opportunities of observing its transformations ; but I regret I did not 

 determine accurately, from my own observation, its food, as only one of its splendid 

 larva, and that a full-fed one, came into my possession : this larva was picked up 

 crawling across a road at Sorel, Lower Canada, on the 19th of August, 1849, and was 

 confined in a small basket covered with gauze: after many fruitless attempts to effect 

 its escape it finally settled itself in the middle of the handle of the basket, and there 

 began spinning its cocoon (No. 1) the same evening, which, however, it did not com- 

 plete till the third or fourth day after, being engaged in spinning, with scarcely any 

 intermission, during the whole of that time. Having been kept in a warm room 

 through the winter, it was evolved on the 7th of April, 1850, seven months and 

 nineteen days from the commencement of its cocoon. In its natural state, however, 

 it does not make its appearance till June, remaining, therefore, nearly ten months in 

 the pupa. The cocoon (of which the accompanying specimens are examples) 

 contains an immense quantity of silk, and is double — a wise precaution against the 

 severity of the Canadian winters: the outer case is of a very close and stiff texture; 

 but the inner or true cocoon is rather finer, and is covered on the outside with a 

 quantity of rough silk, whilst the side next the pupa is very smooth and polished. 

 Could it be made useful it would be a great boon, as it must be a durable material 

 indeed to resist the wind and rain of ten months, or of even two or three years, as I 

 have found these cocoons adhering as strongly as ever to the tree the following spring 

 after the escape of the moth. 



"Even if the cocoons could not be unwound they might be carded and spun in 

 the same manner as they do those of Bombyx Cynthia, &c, in India. These cocoons 

 are common about Sorel and Montreal, and still more so about Toronto, in Upper 

 Canada, and are very easily found, as they are spun on the smaller branches of 

 various trees, and are very conspicuous when the leaves have fallen: they are most 

 abundant on maple, but I have found them also on apple, fir, &c, and on palings 

 and dead stalks of weeds. It appears to feed on a variety of plants, and amongst 

 others I have reason to think on the choke-cherry {Prunus serotina), of which several 

 plants, reared from seed sent from Canada, are now flourishing in the garden here, 

 and could be grown to any extent required. I have seen it stated that it feeds on the 

 wild American plum (Prunus pennsylvanica), and that it has been occasionally reared 

 on apple-leaves. There would, therefore, be no trouble in finding food for it in this 

 country; and I do not think there would be much difficulty in introducing it, as the 

 cocoons could be gathered in any number in Canada and the United States, and sent 

 home by steamer, packed in air-tight boxes, as sea air, from my own experience, 

 seems to be fatal to them. It would be hardly possible to send the eggs across the 

 Atlantic, as only two months intervene between the appearance of the moth and 



