132 THE ARRINDY SILKWORM MOTH. 
the country where this species of silkworm is eulti- 
vated, and he laughed at my endeavours to get 
cocoons to reel; asserting that it was impossible, 
and that they were always spun off into a thread 
like cotton by the women only: he attempted to 
show me how, but made a very awkward hand of 
it, and a very bad specimen of thread: the opera- 
tion, too, appeared tedious, so that I do not think 
that any thing is to be expected from this insect, 
except as a natural curiosity.’ 
“ Mr John Glass, the surgeon at Bauglipore, 
writes to me as follows on the same subject :— 
««T am glad to hear you have got the worm 
that feeds on the Ricinus, but sorry to say there is 
no possibility of winding off the silk from the cones. 
Inclosed is a little of some I bred a few years ago, 
when I sent a quantity of it to the directors, but 
have neyer received an answer. I at the same 
time sent a little to my friends in England, and 
T understand that some manufacturers, to whom it 
was shown, seemed to think that we had been de- 
ceiving them by our accounts of the shawls being 
made from the wool of a goat ; and that this Rici- 
nus silk, if sent home, could be made into shawls 
equal to any manufactured in India.’” 
Extract of a letter on the same subject from 
Henry Creighton, Esq. of Malda, dated 12th Febru- 
ary, 1800. 
Some of the silk of this worm, which was brought 
