KAW-SILK. 



43 



insect, of which the Board will speak hereafter (E.) 

 more fully. The Resident observes, that during ^of^Beng 

 the April bund the China cocoons prevail exclu- 

 sively, and pretty generally also in the July bund, 

 though there is frequently a very considerable ad- 

 mixture of the dessee or country worm throughout 

 the latter. He also states, that formerly, when he 

 assumed charge of the factory, the descriptive 

 mark of the China insect was the length and thin- 

 ness of the cocoons; and of the dessee worm, its 

 comparative bulk or thickness. But since the 

 intermixture of the two genera, this distinction is 

 scarcely perceptible ; in so much, that the native 

 rearers term them indifferently China or country 

 cocoons, although the appellation of the China 

 insect more exclusively belongs to the April bund. 



The Resident estimates the produce of the April 

 bund at one lac and a half of rupees of silk, and 

 the July bund as capable of producing from three 

 to four lacs of rupees, when the rains are moderate 

 and the weather favourable. 



In his letter of the 3d September 1817, the 

 Resident further states : 



It has been found by experiments long ago 

 made, that the large worm, * the best in Bengal, 

 will only produce silk annually. The next in rank 

 is the small or dessee worm, which in this aurung 

 may be procured nearly throughout the year; and 



the 



* Neither will it generate with the dessee worm. 



