134 THE ARRINDY SILKWORM MOTH. 
Its uses are for clothing, for hoth men and women. 
It will wear constantly ten, fifteen, or twenty years ; 
the merchants also use it for packing fine cloths, 
silks, or shawls. It must, however, be always 
washed in cold water; if put into boiling water, it 
makes it tear like old rotten cloth. There is a cocoon 
produced wild upon the mango-tree, which they 
gather, and mix with Arrindy cocoons in spinning. 
I have only seen one caterpillar of it, and I did not 
succeed in rearing it. I shall inquire for some, and 
get a drawing made, if possible, as they cannot he 
sent or carried to any distance. 
“ This insect, known to the Hindoos by the 
Arrindy in some parts, in others Arwndi, appears 
to be peculiar to the interior parts of Bengal ; and, 
so far as I can learn, to two districts only, viz. 
Dinagepore and Rungpore, where the natives breed 
and rear it ina domestic state, as they do the com- 
mon silkworm. ‘The food of the caterpillar consists 
entirely of the leaves of the common Ricinus, or 
Palma Christi, which the natives of these districts 
call Arrindy, (hence the name of the insect,) and is 
abundantly reared over every part of India, on ac- 
count of the oil obtained from the seed. Feeding 
these caterpillars with its leaves will, therefore, 
make it doubly valuable where they know how to 
spin and manufacture the silk. 
« The late Sir William Jones mentions this ani- 
mal in a letter to Dr Anderson, dated 17th May 
