4276 Entomological Society. 



amis, which protrudes like a thirteenth joint : they are hard and horny, except on the 

 under side of the pectoral portion, and especially the metathorax, where the joints are 

 partially soft and skin-like. The first thoracic segment is larger than the other two, and 

 on its abdominal side is marked with a deep incision, like a V, in which almost the 

 entire under side of the head is uncovered and visible, while, on its back, the head has 

 its posterior part covered by the prothorax. The legs are long and strongly developed, 

 whence the motions of the animal are proportionably rapid. The coxa tends ob- 

 liquely inward and backward, and lies close to the body ; it is cylindrical in form, 

 rather long, and movably connected with the femur, which, although stouter, is not 

 longer than the tibia : the foot consists of a single, long, very pointed, but slightly 

 curved claw. Of the segments of the body, the first four are of nearly equal length, 

 but are perceptibly shorter than the last five, and these again differ slightly amongst 

 themselves : the abdominal portion of the first eight segments is divided into five parts 

 by means of four furrows, of which parts the middle one is broadest, the two on each 

 side narrower ; or it may be thus stated : — The ventral portion of the body is covered, 

 not as on the back, by one, but by five horny shields. The spiracles are nine in num- 

 ber on each side ; the foremost on the under side of the mesothorax, close to the an- 

 terior margin of this segment ; the remaining eight on the eight first segments of the 

 abdomen, where they are situated on the dorsal shield, directly below the edge, where 

 it bends towards the ventral side." 



Bornbyx Cynthia. 

 Mr. Spence communicated the following extract from the ' Journal of the Society 

 of Arts,' February 24, 1854 : — 



" Col. Sir William Reid, Governor of Malta, has forwarded to the Society of Arts, 

 through the Colonial Office, a communication in which he states, that after many fail- 

 ures, through the very laudable and persevering efforts of Mr. Piddington, of Calcutta, 

 with the aid of the Directors of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Packet Company, 

 he has received some sound eggs of the Indian silk-worm {Bornbyx Cynthia), called 

 by the natives of Assam * Eria,' and which feed on the leaves of the castor-oil plant. 

 Of the eggs received about five hundred have hatched, and the worms, after undergo- 

 ing two mutations, still appear to be in a very healthy state, feeding only on the cas- 

 tor-oil plant. Mr. Piddington had, for some time previously to Sir William Reid's 

 arrival in Malta, been striving to convey this silk-worm to the Agricultural Society of 

 Turin, as they wish to introduce it into Italy ; it will be his first duty, if he succeeds, 

 to send it there." 



Sir William Reid has also inclosed some copies of an account of the Assam silk- 

 worm, which have been published in the ' Journal of the Society of Arts of March 

 3rd. The following are extracts : — 



"It is stated by Dr. Heifer that 'the Eria is reared over a large part of Hindo- 

 stan, but more extensively in the districts of Dinagpur and Rangpnr, in houses, in a 

 domesticated state, and feeds chiefly on the leaves of Ricinus communis. The silk of 

 this species has never been wound off, but people are obliged to spin it like cotton. It 

 gives a cloth of seemingly loose coarse texture, but of incredible durability, the life of 

 one person being seldom sufficient to wear out a garment made of it, so that the same 



