412 NOTES ON THE SILK-PRODUCING INSECTS 



A cross breed between this and the Madrassee partaking even to a greater 

 extent the chief qualifications of the Madrassee, as respects the cost of pro- 

 duction of cocoons, which resemble that of the Desee, but it is decidedly 

 an inferior worm to either ; for the cocoon being of loose texture, though 

 imperceptible in outward appearance, throws off a weak rough silk, and is 

 the medium of vast imposition, under the Desee semblance at British reel- 

 ing establishments, supported by a combination of the servants with the 

 farmers of cocoons, and others interested." 



5. Bombtx Arracanensis (Hutton). The Arracan silkworm. 

 Habitat. Arracan. " Cultivated in Arracan, but is said to have been 



introduced from China through Burmah. Yields annually several crops of 

 silk superior to that produced in Bengal" (Hutton). In 1847, Major Bogle, 

 the Commissioner of Arracan, sent to tbe Agri-Hort. Soc. of India some fine 

 specimens of silk, raised in the southern part of the Sando way district, not far 

 from the Burmese town of Bassein. Lt. A. Fytche, Principal Asst. Comms. at 

 Sandoway,in continuation, states : " The worm is fed on the mulberry plant, 

 and is strictly the domesticated mulberry worm, and is attended with great 

 care and attention. The silkworm and mrdberry plant have been brought 

 by immigrants from Burmah into this district ; from several old men, who 

 were asked concerning them, it appears that there were little or none in the 

 time of the Arracan Bajahs, but that it sprung up during the reign in this 

 province of the Burmese. The silkworms in the Ava territories came 

 originally from the Shan states, and the latter are believed to have obtained 

 them from China ; they are tended in Burmah chiefly by the Ya-Cheins, 

 but the Burmese have learnt the art from them, and cultivated the 

 mulberry plant to some extent. The Ya-Cheins are a hill tribe bordering 

 on the Shan States, and numbers of them have come down and settled in 

 the Delta of the Irrawaddi. The mulberry plant is cultivated, and the 

 silkworm tended in this district by Burmese immigrants ; there are a few 

 Karens, as also Kyengs, too, who have learnt the art from the Burmese, and 

 are now pursuing it." " 



6. Bombtx textor (Hutton). The Boro Poloo of the Bengalese. 

 Habitat. China. " Cultivated in China, Bengal, Italy, and France, and 



produces, when healthy, a pure white cocoon. In Bengal, it does not thrive, 

 and is there called the Boro poloo, or large cocoon In the larva of this and 

 B. mori there is no apparent difference except in size, this being an inch 

 less, but the form and texture of the cocoon are totally different. Strange 

 to say, although it is only an annual in France, Italy, Bengal, and China, 

 with me at Mussooree, it invariably yields a second or autumnal crop, 

 which B. mori never does. The appearance of the caterpillar as to colour 

 and marking is precisely that of the Cashmere worm, which I hold to be 

 true B. mori, but it only attains to about 2^ inches in length, invariably 

 spins a smaller cocoon of a different shape and of a pure white silk, and 

 when domesticated with me at Mussooree it is double brooded (spring and 

 autumn), wbile the Cashmere worm remains an annual. The silk is white, 

 even in China, Italy, and France, as well as with us, although the 



