Entomological Society. 4517 



insects appear to stand in a certain sort of relation to each other. If the branches be 

 put into water there will be no difficulty in the breeding ; indeed the moth will be ob- 

 tained earlier by the warmth of a room than it could be taken at large." 



On Entomological difficulties, 



Mr. Stainton read a paper entitled " On the difficulties experienced by En- 

 tomologists, as exemplified by recent experience with the Larva? of the Genus 

 Elachista." 



Introduction of Bombyx Cynthia into Malta and Italy. 



The Secretary, adverting to the mention of the subject at the March and June 

 meetings of this Society, read, from the 'Journal of the Society of Arts,' July 14th, 

 an account, transmitted by Col. Sir Wrn. Reid, Governor of Malta, to the Duke of 

 Newcastle, of the successful propagation and distribution in Italy of the larvse of this 

 moth. 



" The following despatch and enclosures have been received through the Foreign 

 Office :— 



" Valetta, May 17, 1854. 



"My Lord Duke — In my despatch dated 2nd February, 1854, I begged your 

 Grace to inform the Society of x\rts, Manufactures and Commerce, that through the 

 very laudable efforts of Mr. Piddington, of Calcutta, with the aid of the directors of 

 the Peninsular and Oriental Company (after many failures), I had received sound 

 eggs of the Indian silkworm (Bombyx Cynthia), called by the natives 'Eria' or 

 ' Arrindy,' and which feeds on the leaves of the castor-oil plant. 



" These worms having passed through all their mutations in Malta in a healthy 

 state, a second generation, from eggs laid here, are now hatching daily. 



" I have also had the satisfaction of learning that cocoons sent from Malta to the 

 Agricultural Society of Turin have produced moths. Eggs have also been sent to 

 Rome, and I am preparing to send them to other places in Italy, where they have 

 already been asked for. 



" I am not sure whether the natives of India usually spin the silk of this worm or 

 wind it, although it is said that by a weak solution of alkali they so far dissolve the 

 gum as to be enabled to wind the silk. But we have not yet succeeded in doing so 

 in Malta. 



" I enclose, from a Malta newspaper, some account of the periods at which the 

 first brood made their changes, and also, from the ' Piedmontese Official Gazette,' an 

 account of their progress at Turin, both of which may be interesting to the Society of 

 Arts. 



" I also send for the Society of Arts a few old cocoons, left by the chrysalides on 

 assuming the state of moths, in the hope that the Society may be able to find some 

 means of dissolving the gum, by which the worm unites the silken threads. 



" I have, &c, 

 " (Signed) William Reid, Governor. 

 " His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, K.G." 



XTT. 3 B 



