No. 24.— 1881.] SERICULTURE IN CEYLON. 145 



the leaves fresh. It has not hitherto been cultivated except by 

 entomologists, all the tussur silk being made from wild cocoons 

 gathered in the jungles. I have tried keeping the larvae on exposed 

 trees, but it did not answer, as they were all destroyed by birds, red 

 ants, or lizards. Major Coussmaker keeps them on bushes covered 

 with bamboo cages, and that plan might answer here ; but I believe it 

 would be too expensive a way of obtaining cocoons in sufficient quan- 

 tity for manufacturing purposes. I keep mine on cut branches, and I 

 have an arrangement by which they are transferred from exhausted 

 branches to fresh ones with very little trouble. But this plan requires 

 a plant that, after being cut and put in water, will not wither before 

 the silk-worms have time to consume the leaves ; and I have not yet 

 found any plant that is perfectly satisfactory in that respect for feed- 

 ing the Mylitta, though, in the case of the Atlas, the Milnea Roxbur- 

 ghiana answers perfectly. For the Mylitta I have used kahata, 

 verahi) and kaju, and I am now using katakalu (Sinhalese for a 

 common weed of which I do not know the botanical name). This 

 plant seems to answer better than auy I have tried before, but I have 

 had very little experience of it yet. For keeping the branches for the 

 silk-worms I have long tin cylinders placed horizontally and filled 

 with water, and along the upper side of the cylinder there is a bar 

 of wood pierced with holes for inserting the branches ; but the plan 

 is not easy to describe, though very simple when seen. 



The culture of the tussur silkworm is only an experiment yet, and 

 except as a matter of scientific investigation, it would be premature 

 to give it any encouragement. Though a silk-worm be polyphagous 

 in a state of nature, yet it does not follow that it has no proper food 

 plant, and the proper food plant of the tussur — -if it has one — is not 

 yet known. Then there is no general market for tussur silk, because 

 it is not a recognized commercial product as real silk is. Tussur 

 silk may in future to a considerable extent supersede cotton, and it 

 may also be largely used in combination with cotton and woollen yarn 

 for improving fabrics both in appearance and durability, but it never 

 can be a substitute for true silk. Those who are now giving attention 

 to the artificial propagation of the tussur silk-worm may confer a 

 service on future commerce and manufacturing industry, but they 



