ON THE CULTIVATION OF SILK IN TASMANIA. 307 



mulberry tree (Morus Indica). The cocoons are extensively used by 

 matchlock men, cut into thongs as ligatures for binding the matchlock 

 barrel to the stock ; the thongs are more durable than those of leather. 

 It cannot, according to some authors, be domesticated, but is found in 

 such abundance over many parts of Bengal and the adjoining provinces 

 as to have afforded to the natives from time immemorial an abundant 

 supply of a most durable coarse dark coloured silk, commonly called 

 Tusseh silk, which is woven into a kind of cloth called Tusseh doothies, 

 much worn by Brahmins and other sects of Hindoos. 



Anthercea pemyi (Guerin, 1855). — 'Feeds on the oak ; a native of 

 China ; introduced into France by its describer. 



Anthercea yama-mai (Guerin, 1861). — A native of Japan, where it 

 feeds upon the leaves of the oak, and bears the name of Yama-mai. 

 The silk which it produces is of a very beautiful quality. It is more 

 solid and more beautiful than that of other species of silkworm which 

 feed upon the oak. It was sent to the Society of Acclimatisation by 

 the French Consul in Japan, M Duchesne de Bellecourt. Two circum- 

 stances give peculiar interest to the introduction of this useful insect — 

 viz., the coldness of the country it naturally inhabits, and its feeding 

 upon a species of oak, not mulberry ; the oak on which the silkworm 

 feeds is not exactly described, but it has been found by Guerin to feed 

 on two or three species in France, Quercus castancefolia, pedunculata, Sfc. 

 Many other species of Anthercea are natives of the warmer portions 

 of the Himalaya, Assam, Silhet, &c, &c, also of the West Coast of 

 Africa. One, however, Anthercea helena of Adam White, first described 

 in the 12th vol. of the Annals of Natural History, p. 344, is a native of 

 Tasmania, where it feeds on the leaves of the peppermint tree. This 

 is the emperor moth of the colonists, and I have the pleasure of laying 

 before this meeting drawings of the chrysalis, cocoon, and caterpillar, 

 in all its stages, admirably executed by Mrs. Allport, and also speci- 

 mens of the male and female of this beautiful moth, together with its 

 cocoons in their natural state. I fear that the silk spun by this cater- 

 pillar can never be turned to any commercial advantage, because as yet 

 no method has been discovered of reeling, or of carding the material ; 

 and also on account of the caterpillar being subject to the attacks of an 

 ichneumon which prevents more than one in a hundred from attaining a 

 state of maturity. When, for instance, you are expecting the appearance 

 of the moth, you are astonished by finding a large mass of wool, sur- 

 rounded by about fifty or a hundred small cocoons of this insect which 

 I now exhibit. 



If, however, either the Anthercea pemyi from N. China, or the 

 Anthercea yama-mai from Japan could be introduced as they are both 

 very closely allied to Anthercea helena, and therefore in all probability 

 the larva might be induced to feed on the leaves of the Eucalyptus, an 

 unbounded field would be opened for making this a silk-producing 

 colony. They have already been introduced into France, after twice 



