— 162 — 
so pleasantly soft and flexible; aud rarely to be bought, being 
made by the more wealthy Assamese for their own use, and 
handed down as Heirlooms. The worm is a lonely creature, 
and found in all the jungles abundantly, although devoured 
wholesale by hosts of enemies, winged and creeping. 
“ 1 am preparing two cases of moths, male and female, with 
sample of cocoons. You will have one of these boxes ; the 
other is for Algoa Bay. I applied for two years leave three 
months ago, and have not yet got my conge. I hope to catch 
the Gondolah if possible ; she will be in Calcutta immediately. 
I have various seeds for you, and will now indent on all my 
Botanical correspondents in India for further supplies. 
“ Since writing to you last, I have been busy among the 
Lapidaries, cutting and polishing all manner of minerals, among 
them fossil Bambusa and Cycas, of wonderful proportions, and 
the bones, too, of the tremendous quadrupeds who grazed 
thereon, all turned into hard, heavy stone. In these districts 
Saturnia Atlas silk is a leading article of jungle commerce, 
The aboriginal race called Gonds, collect the cocoons in sacks, 
and dispose of them at the frontier markets. — Yours, &c. 
“ W. IT. Lowtiieb, Lieut.-Colonel.” 
“ Jubbulpoor, 9th July, 1871. 
“ My dear Sir, — As I am detained here sine die (my appli- 
cation for furlough on private affairs — after thirty one years 
absence from Europe — being now three months old), I lose 
no time in sending you a second instalment of Saturnia Atlas 
eggs, and only hope they will be retarded (in transit) in their 
vitality that the experiment may prosper. If rough hand 
labor of the cheapest character can realize 2s. per yard or 
. 
even more for such silk, what would not organization and ma- 
chinery do for this hardy worm, a wild iusect indeed to which 
rain aud storm are necessary features of climate ! 
“ Zizyphus Jujuba could be raised to any extent in the 
barren soils where it flourishes ; and as to cold that matters 
not, for cutting frosts in the north west Punjaub do not seem 
to injure the tree ; moreover the grafted small wild Zizyphus 
