414 NOTES ON THE SILK-PRODUCING INSECTS. 



Habitat. Singapore. 



12. Ocinara dilectula (Walker). 



Habitat. Java. The caterpillar feeds on a species of Ficus, appearing 

 but not very abundantly in April. 



13. Ocinara moorei (Hutton). 



Habitat. Mussooree. Caterpillar feeds on Ficus venosa. 



14. Ocinara lactea (Hutton). 



Habitat. Mussooree. Caterpillar of. this also feeds on Fiats venosa. 



15. Ocinara comma (Hutton). 

 Habitat. Deyra Doon. 



16. Actias selene (Mac Leay). 



Habitat. Silhet, Darjeeling, Mussooree, Pondicherry, and Ceylon. 



Common at Mussooree, writes Capt. Hutton, the caterpillar feeding 

 upon Andromeda ovalifolia, Carpinus bimana, Coriaria nepalensis, Ced- 

 rela paniculata, Glochidion ovatum vel Bradleia ovata, the wild cherry 

 and the walnut, and can be easily domesticated. M Perrottet, of Pondi- 

 cherry, has the credit of having first turned the silk of this to useful 

 account, having sent to the "Madras Exhibition" of 1857 samples of the 

 raw and spun silk, with gloves knit with the latter. He states that the 

 caterpillar there feeds on the leaves of the Odina wodier, and the cocoons 

 are softened in a solution of potash or wood ashes, taken out, picked, and 

 immediately spun without being either combed or carded ; the silk being 

 exceedingly strong, tenacious, elastic and brilliant, and that four broods 

 can be produced annually. 



17. Actias m^nas (Doubleday). 

 Habitat. Silhet. 



18. Actias sinensis (Walker). 



Habitat. North China. We know nothing of the last two, save the 

 existence of the moths. 



Anther^ea paphia (Linn.) Syn. Saturnia Mylitta (Drury). The 

 " Tusser " or " Tusseh " silkworm of the Bengalese ; " Bughy " of the 

 Burbhoom Hills; "Kolisurra" of the Mahrattas (Deccan) ; " Kontkuri 

 Mooga" of the Assamese. 



Habitat. Assam, Silhet, Upper and Lower India (but the precise 

 localities not yet determined), and Ceylon. This is one of the most com- 

 mon in use of the native wild silkworms ; it is found in abundance over 

 many parts of Bengal and the adjacent provinces, and has afforded to the 

 natives, from time immemorial, an abundant supply of a most durable 

 silk. Millions of the cocoons are annually collected in the forests and 

 taken to the silk filatures near Calcutta, but the principal place of manu- 

 facture is at Bhagulpore. 



Tusser silk is everywhere used as clothing by the natives and even 

 by Europeans, while considerable quantities of woven Tusser is imported 

 into England. The caterpillar feeds upon the leaves of the " Baer " or 

 "Byer" (Zizyphis jujuba), the Asseen (Terminalia alata), and the Semul 

 (Bombax heptaphyllum). Col. Sykes states it to feed in the Deccan, indis- 



