Oct. 1, 1864.J THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



SILKWORM CULTURE. 120 



little of the care which is bestowed upon them in France, where the 

 duties of the sericulteur are constant and most troublesome. In 

 Persia the worms are placed on rough wooden stages, and, being sup- 

 plied with plenty of food, are left almost to themselves till the spinning 

 time arrives ; yet it is said that the disease which has attacked the 

 worms so seriously in France is not known in Persia. The inference 

 drawn is, that the Persian silkworm is more hardy than those reared in 

 France. The statistics of the culture in the former country are not 

 very complete, for the French authorities have been unable to procure 

 even an approximate estimate of the amount of silk produced in more 

 than three of the above-named provinces. Cachan is said to yield only 

 750 kilogrammes — an insignificant quantity ; Yezal, 21,000 kilos. ; and 

 Ghilah, 206,000 kilos. ; in all about 478,000 lbs. English. 



M. Guerin de Meneville makes the following remarks : — 



" For several years the Academy of Sciences has welcomed with in- 

 terest the communications which I have had the honour to make to it 

 on one of the most important applications of zoology, the introduction 

 and acclimation of new species of silkworms, the products of which 

 clothe the sntire populations of India, China, and Japan. 



" My attempts in this direction have been approved, for the immense 

 good which would result from the introduction of these producers of 

 textile fabrics is comprehended in view of the nearly irreparable cotton 

 famine resulting from the deplorable American war. 



" All now understand that the silkworms which live on the ailanthus 

 and on the oak may become auxiliaries, susceptible of supplying to a 

 greater or less extent this scarcity of cotton. 



" Up to the present time I have attempted the introduction of three 

 species of Asiatic silkworms living on the oak : the Bombyx mylitta of 

 Fabricius, from Bengal ; my Bombyx Pernyi, from the north of China ; 

 and my Bombyx Yama-mai, from Japan. 



" To-day I have the honour of presenting to the Academy the first 

 specimens received in Europe of a fourth silkworm of the oak, the 

 Bombyx (Authercea) Roylei, of Moore. 



" Twenty living cocoons of this remarkable species were sent to me 

 by Captain Hutton, obtained from the high plateaus of the Himalaya, 

 on the frontiers of Cashmere. The caterpillar lives on the thick oak 

 leaves, the Quercus incana, which bears a close analogy with our oaks — 

 liege and the holm, and it is evident that they, like the three others, may 

 be fed with the oaks of our forests. 



"Its cocoon differs from those of the other three species — as may be 

 seen in the comparative collection which I deposited on the bureau — in 

 having a greater volume, and above all in being surrounded by an enve- 

 lope also composed of silk of a clear, handsome grey. 



" It is evident that this new worm of the oak will be easily accli- 

 mated in the centre and north of France, for the climate of the elevated 

 parts of the Himalaya cannot differ notably from ours, since many of the 

 vegetables of that central chain of Asia prosper very well among us. 

 vol. v. Q 



