JJq. 2. ] Wild Silk Insects of India. 77 



Anther^ia heleeri, Moore. Plate 7, fig. 1. 



In the Indian Museum are several moths of both sexes of this species 

 from Sikkim, but there are no authentic cocoons, and little seems to be 

 known about it beyond the bare fact of its occurrence in Sikkim, and 

 Hutton's observation (Journ. Agri. Hort. Soc. Ind. III., p. 125, 1871) 

 that the cocoon resembles that of the Tusser {Anther aa mylittd). 

 The insect is far too scarce to have any commercial value whatever. 

 The moth from which the figure of the male was made was determined 

 by Mr. H. J. Elwes. The figure of the female is taken from a specimen 

 in Colonel A. M. Lang's collection determined by Mr. F. Moore. 



Anther^a. eoylei, Moore. Plate 9. 

 In the Indian Museum are specimens of this species from Simla, 

 Mussoorie, Sikkim, and the Khasi Hills, also a cocoon from Sikkim. It 

 is said to be very closely allied to Anthercea pernyi, a semi-domesticated 

 species largely reared upon oaks in China for the production of silk. 

 Rondot, indeed, in his L'Art de la Soie, Vol. II, notices that a hybrid 

 race has been obtained by crossing A. pernyi males with A. roylei 

 females. If, therefore, Hutton is right in saying that A. roylei can 

 be easily reared upon the common hill oak (Quercus dilatata?), it is not 

 by any means impossible but that it may become of value for the 

 production of silk in the Himalayas, the cocoons being of a kind which 

 would certainly be valuable for carding, if not for reeling purposes. 

 Little has hitherto been recorded about this insect, though it has been 

 bred by several people both in India and in Europe (see Entomologist, 

 XIV, p. 246, and Bull. Soc. Ent. France (5), IV, p. 154). Hutton 

 writes in the Journ. Agri. Hort. Soc. Ind. Ill, p. 125, 1871 : 

 " Anthercea roylei is common at Simla, Mussoorie, Almora, and I think 

 Darjiliug. It feeds upon the common hill oak, spinning a large but thin 

 cocoon between three or four leaves .... The outer coating is 

 very strong, and I do not think it could be reeled, but within this case is 

 the true cocoon, of an oval form and yielding good silk. The worms are 

 easily reared and sometimes give two or three crops, but this is when 

 treated in the house." Major Harford also, writing recently from the 

 North-West Himalayas, notices the peculiar double- walled cocoons which 

 he has found upon ilex (hill oak ?) and the khakee colored males and 

 pinkish females he has bred from them. Some observations also on the 

 habits of A. roylei, by the late Mr. Otto Moller, appeared on page 201 

 of Vol. I of these Notes ; it is thought, however, that these observations 

 referred to some other species, as the cocoon forwarded with them was 

 single- walled and pedunculate, instead of having the double-walled struc- 

 ture characteristic of typical A. roylei cocoons. A double-walled cocoon 

 found by Mr. A. V. Kuyvett on a chestnut tree in Sikkim was sent to 



