154 



RAW- SILK. 



(K.) of the eggs of silk-worms received from Bombay, 

 ^RetideiT ^^"^iich accompanied your Secretary's address of the 

 atBluieah, j^^}^ Octobcr 1832 and 28th January 1833, duly 



15 April 1833. 



came to hand by the dawk, and I now beg to 

 report the result of their rearing, and of that por- 

 tion which has come to maturity. 



2. The eggs said to be the produce of the Italian 

 worm, reared at St. Helena, seem to correspond 

 with the eggs of the annual w orm of these aurungs, 

 but from some unknown cause (probably from the 

 egg having been laid at different periods) they 

 have hatched at intervals. On some days a few 

 worms made their appearance, and on other days 

 many. With the exception of a few which pre- 

 viously extricated themselves, the period at which 

 the eggs began to hatch was about the end of 

 January last, from which time to the beginning of 

 March, more or less daily disentangled themselves 

 from the shell. This continued process of hatch- 

 ing has been attended much to the detriment of 

 the worm, as well as with inconvenience and with 

 greater expense, for so many stages of maturity 

 being together, required additional labour and 

 different cutting up of the leaf, as necessary for 

 each stage. Those which were latest in hatching 

 have had to encounter warmer w^eather and the 

 greater prevalence of the southerly wind (which 

 is prejudicially felt by the annual worm), also 

 other unseasonable events for the description of 

 worm, 



3. From 



