DIRECT BENEFITS FROM MOTHS. 6'7 



toms of decay after being constantly wom for nine 

 or ten years. These insects, which feed upon the 

 Jugubc tree, or Bi/an, of the Hindoos, and also of 

 the Terminalia alata glabra of Roxburgh, called by 

 the Hindoos Asscau, are guarded by the natives 

 with the most unwearied solicitude ; for, by day, 

 they are the prey of crows and other insectivorous 

 birds, while, by night, they are eagerly sought after 

 by bats. 



The Arrindy Silkworm (the Phalcena Cynthia 

 of Drury) spins cocoons of an extremely sofl texture. 

 The filaments are so excessively delicate and glossy, 

 that they cannot be unwound by the ordinary pro- 

 cess, but are spun in the same manner as cotton ; and 

 afterwards manufactured into a loose and coarse kind 

 of white cloth. The durability of this thriftless look- 

 ing material exceeds all credibility — a lifetime being 

 barely sufficient to wear out a dress made of it. The 

 natives use it for packing sheets, as well as clothes. 



Besides the species above named, there are others 

 to be met with in China, from which silk is pro- 

 cured ; for we find, in Young's Annals of Agricul- 

 ture* an extract of a letter, from which it appears, 

 that a recent introduction of them from that country 

 into India has taken place. " We have," says the 

 writer, " obtained a monthly Silkworm from China, 

 which I have reared with my own hands, and in 



• Annals of Ai/ricullure, vol. xxiii. p. 235. 



