Vol. IL1 [No. 2, 



SB 

 818 



ent SfDIA-B" museum notes. 



THE WILD SILK INSECTS OF INDIA. 



By E. G. COTES. 



The following account of the wild silk-producing insects of India is 

 intended to be a supplement to the paper on the cultivated forms, pub- 

 lished as Vol. I, No. 3, of these Notes. It includes a summary of what 

 has been ascertained about the various forms of Saturniidae and Bomby- 

 cidse which occur in India — the mulberry-feeding silk worms, and the 

 Eri, the Muga, and the Tusser alone being omitted, as they have already 

 been dealt with in the paper cm the cultivated forms. 



It is a well known fact that the caterpillars of most moths spin a 

 small amount of silk. The only groups, however, which contain species 

 whose silk is at all suited for utilization are the Saturniidse and Bomby- 

 cidse, and tbe whole of the Indian species belonging to these groups, 

 therefore, have been included in the present report, though many of them 

 do not produce sufficient silk to be of any use. So much, however, has 

 of late years been said about the wild silk insects of India, and such 

 exaggerated opinions have been expressed as to their value, that it has 

 been thought best to deal exhaustively with the matter, so as to clear the 

 ground and show precisely how the question really stands. 



All that is known about the possible commercial utility of the cocoons 

 of the various species has been noticed in dealing with each insect. 

 The conclusion arrived at has been, that while many of the wild species 

 produce silk which would be of considerable value if it were forthcoming 

 in sufficient quantities, there is nothing to show that any of it is superior 

 to the silk produced by the species which are already under cultivation ; 

 and although the cocoons of numerous wild species are collected, when 

 they happen to be found, and are sold to be spun up with other materials, 

 this source of supply is too precarious to have any commercial import- 

 ance ; so that upon the whole it may be concluded that an increased 

 demand for Indian silk is far more likely to stimulate the production of 

 the species which are already under cultivation than to bring any of 

 the wild forms into general use. 



The only cocoons, other than those of the cultivated forms, which are 

 to be found in any appreciable quantity in the Calcutta market, belong 



