OF INDIA AND ITS ADJACENT COUNTRIES. 417 



not use it on account of its causing a severe itching in weaving (arisiug from 

 the intermixture of the spinous hairs of the caterpillar). At Moulmein 

 the caterpillar is stated to feed on the Cashew-nut tree {Anacardium orientale), 

 and iu Java on Protium javauum, Canarium commune, and Mangifera ingas. 



40. Attactjs Atlas (Linn.). The Atlas moth. 



Habitat. China, Burmah, India, Ceylon, and Java. The caterpillar of 

 the Atlas moth feeds upon Falconeria insignis, Bradleia ovata, &c. It is 

 easily reared in a state of domestication, producing a cocoon well stored 

 with a fine yet strong silk of a greyish colour. It is stated that the Tusseh 

 silk of China is produced hy this. 



41. Attacus Edwardsii (White). The Sikkim Atlas moth. 

 Habitat. Sikkim. 



42. Attacus Cynthia (Drury). The " Ailanthus" silkworm. 

 Habitat. China. This has been cultivated for centuries past in China, 



its silk clothing the people. It has two broods in the year. 



Europe is indebted for the introduction of this valuable silkworm to 

 the Abbe Fantoni, a Piedmontese missionary, in the province of Hang 

 Tung, in C!hina, who sent some living cocoons to friends in Turin, in 1856. 

 These cocoons yielded moths in June, 1857, and eggs were hatched a few 

 days after. These worms multiplied, and some eggs were transmitted to 

 France. The produce of these, together with the Bengal " Eria " or 

 "Arrindy," and a fertile hybrid between the two are now being extensively 

 and profitably reared in France — through the praiseworthy exertions of 

 M. Guerin-Meneville — and are known as the " Ailanthus silkworm," from 

 the name of the tree {Ailanthus glandulosus) upon which they feed. Both 

 the tree and silkworms have also been successfully introduced into England, 

 Piedmont, Holland, Malta, as well as Africa, America, and Australia. 



In England, Lady Dorothy Nevill is now rearing them at Dangstein, 

 near Petersfield, and a numerous brood was raised by myself in 1859, in 

 the centre of the " City " of London ! 



Var. Attacus Canningii (Hutton). The sub-Himalayan Eria silk- 

 worm. 



Habitat. Sub-Himalayas. Discovered, according to Captain Hutton, at 

 Mussooree in a wild state, feeding upon the "Mussooree " (Coriaria nepal- 

 ensis). It will also feed on the Tex Bui {Xanthophyllum hostile), and the 

 Cape Woodbine, and. will likewise eat the leaves of the Ricinus communis, 

 but does not take kindly to the latter. It is an annual only. 



43. Attacus Ricini (Sir W. Jones), vide Roxburgh, Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. 

 (1804;, p. 42. — Syn. Bombyx (Saturnia) Arrindia (Milne-Edwards). — Bull. 

 dAgri. de France (1854), p. 13. — Attacus lunula (Walker), 1855. — Var. 

 Attacus Guerini (Moore). — The Eria, Arrindie or Arrindy Arria silkworm of 

 Bengal. 



Habitat. Bengal, and other parts of India ; Assam. This is the com- 

 monly cultivated Eria, and in Bengal yields four or five crops annually, 

 and is reared over a great part of Hindostan, but more extensively in the 

 districts of Dingajur and Rangpur, in houses in a domestic state, and feeds 



vol. ii. I i 



