263 



they are also in the sixth and seventh stages ; but the caterpillar 

 increases rapidly in size, and is most beautiful and delicate in appear- 

 ance, with a semi- transparency of hue, which makes it look some- 

 thing like wax-work. 



" One of these commenced spinning its cocoon on the 1 7th July, 

 being then about forty-six or forty-seven days old, and the remainder 

 after the interval of a day or two. The cocoon is formed of coarse 

 brown silken threads, closely interwoven, and of an ovate form ; it is 

 inclosed among the leaves of the tree, which are in fact glued closely 

 round it. It is hard, and not furnished interiorly with a soft silken 

 bed, the chrysalis lying within a hard and hollow chamber. The 

 chrysalis remained thus until the 14 th August, when the one which 

 had turned on the 1 7th July produced a perfect female, after a period 

 of twenty-nine days. Another, which had turned on the 1 9th July, 

 came forth a male on the 1 6th August, showing the time to be pretty 

 uniform. A large caterpillar, however, which I found in the forest 

 on the 16th July, turned to a chrysalis on the 24th of that month ; 

 but, instead of coming forth in the autumn, it remained in the chry- 

 salis state throughout the winter, as did some others, coming out in 

 the following summer, namely on the 11th, 14th, and 18th of June. 



"The caterpillar feeds upon several trees common on these hills. 

 The most common food appears to be the Munsooree, a shrub which 

 is so common, as to have given rise, I believe, to the name of this 

 settlement, viz. * Munsoory,' or more commonly among Europeans 

 ' Mussooree 5 (Coriaria nipalensis)." 



" I have again reared specimens of A. selene, and observed atten- 

 tively the method by which it cuts its way through the cocoon, by 

 means of the instrument which I have named ' the wing spur ' or 

 ' spine.' Before proceeding to separate the threads of the cocoon 

 by means of the wing spines, I have ascertained that the Moth ejects 

 from the mouth a few drops of a clear colourless fluid, with which 

 the gum is dissolved ; and it appears to use the tuft of down on the 

 front, between the eyes, as a brush for the application of the solvent." 

 — P. Z. S. 1856, p. 5. 



Capt. Hutton further remarks (Journal of the Agri-Horticultural 

 Society of India, ix. p. 167-9 (1856), "I have this season (1855) 

 watched the process of the escape of this Moth from the cocoon in 

 no fewer than 200 specimens, and can answer for there being no 

 mistake in the matter, a drop of the clear colourless liquid often re- 

 maining upon the tuft of hair or down on the forehead between the 

 eyes, and which tuft appears to be used as a brush for the applica- 

 tion of the solvent to the threads of the cocoon. 



"I have this year (1855) reared a number of the caterpillars of 

 A. selene for the purpose of ascertaining the value of the silk, but 

 am sorry to say have failed in my attempts to unwind the silk from 

 the cocoons. With some difficulty I managed to procure a supply 

 of eggs from the moths, which came forth in October, and had in- 

 tended sending them to Europe, when to my regret and surprise they 

 began to hatch on the 4th of November, and are still coming forth 



