ON THE DURATION OF THE BREED OF WORMS. 
647 
however short, is sure to be fatal to several 
worms : the goolail which is always at hand 
often punishes the thief ; but the mischief is 
done. 
Numbers are destroyed in the more advan- 
ced stages by the sting of wasps, and by the 
ichneumon insect, which deposits its eggs in 
their body. These are hatched when the 
cocoon is half formed : they perforate it at 
the side and the chrysalis is found dead : the 
W'orms which have thus been stung are 
hnown by black marks on their body. Were 
the people more careful in their management, 
this would be of little consequence : by mak- 
ing these worms spin apart, the cocoon being 
formed before the chrysalis is killed, the silk 
could be saved. 
The worms thrive best in dry weather : but 
a very hot sunny day proves fatal to many at 
the time of moulting. At these periods rain 
is very favorable : thunder storms do not 
injure them as they do the mulberry worm ; 
continual heavy-rains (which are rarer in 
Assam than in Bengal) are hurtful by throw- 
ing them down : showers, however heavy, 
cause no great damage, they taking shelter 
under the leaves with perfect safety, d'he 
worms during their moultings remain on the 
branches, but when about beginning to spin 
they come down the tiunk; the plaintain 
leaves preventing their going further down, 
they are collected in baskets, which are 
afterwards put under bunches of dry leaves 
suspended from the roof : they crawl up into 
these and form their cocoons ; as with the 
Bm, several are often joined together, d ue 
silk of these they spin instead of winding: 
above the plantain leaf a roll of grass is tied 
for those that come down during the night 
to begin spinning in. After four days the selec- 
tion of cocoons for the next breed is made 
and the rest wound oif. 
The total duration of a breed varies from 
sixty to seventy days. Tlie period is thus 
divided ; four moultings, with one day’s illness 
attending each, 20 
From fourth moulting to beginning 
of cocoon, 10 
In the cocoon, 20 
As a moth, 6 
Hatching of the eggs, 10 
66 
On being hatched the worm is about a 
quarter of an inch long; it appears composed 
of alternate black and yellow rings : as it 
increases in size the former are distinguish- 
ed, as six black moles, in regular lines on 
each of the twelve rings which form its body. 
The colours gradually alter as it progresses ; 
that of the body becoming lighter, the moles 
sky-blue, then red. with a bright gold-colored 
ring round each. When full grown, the worm 
is above four inches long ; its colours are most 
brilliant and varied in shades ; the body 
appears transparent, and is of a very light 
yellow or dark green colour, with a brown 
and yellow streak at the sides ; in the latter 
the breathing holes are distinguished by a 
black speck. The moles are red and have each 
four sharp prickles and a few black hairs ; 
the head and claws are of a light brown, the 
holders green, and covered with short black 
hair ; the last pair have a black ring on the 
outside. On being tapped with the finger 
the body renders a hollow sound ; by the 
sound it is acertained whether they have come 
down for want of leaves on the tree, or from 
their having ceased feeding. 
'J’he chrysalis not being soon killed by ex- 
posure to the sun, when they have many co- 
coons they put them on stages, cover them up 
with leaves, and burn grass under them : the 
cocoons are then boiled for about an hour in a 
solution of the potash made from the dried 
stalks of rice ; they are then taken out and 
laid on cloth folded over to keep them warm : 
from this they are taken as required, and 
thrown in hot water (not over the fire) after 
the floss has been removed with the hand. 
The instrument used for winding off the silk 
is the coarsest imaginable. A thick bamboo 
about three feet long is split in two, and the 
pieces driven equally in the ground two feet 
apart ; over the interior projection of one of 
the knots is laid a stick, to which is fixed, 
a little on one side, a round piece of blank 
about one foot in diameter. The rotary mo- 
tion is given by jerking this axle, on which 
the thread rolls itself : in front of the vessel 
holding the cocoons a stick is fixed horizon- 
tally for the thread to travel upon. 'I'wo 
persons are employed : one attending the 
cocoons; the other jerks the axle with the 
right hand, and w’ith the same hand directs 
the thread up the left forearm, so that it is 
twisted in coming down again towards the 
hand ; the left hand directs the thread over 
the axle. Fifteen cocoons is the smallest 
number they can wind off in one thread, 
twenty the number generally ; even the last 
is often broken from the coarseness of the 
instrument used, although the fibre is much 
stouter than that of the mulberry silk. 
When nearly a quarter of a seer has accumu- 
lated on the axle, it is dried in the sun and 
made into skeins of one or two rupees weight. 
This is done with a small bamboo frame set 
in motionby the common spinning machine of 
the country : if it has to be dyed, the same 
process is followed as with the Eria, The 
cloths are usually made of moo^a,and their use 
will be found in the annexed table : besides 
those, I have seen it used as the warp with 
cotton, and the cloth so made is a little 
lighter colour than nankin and much stronger; 
but this is seldom done, from the trouble 
of spinning the cotton fine enough. Cotton 
twist adapted to that purpose would, I 
think, meet a ready market, 
'J he exact quantity of silk, which an acre 
of mooga trees can produce, could not be 
ascertained without a trial. Fifty thousand 
cocoons per acre*, which makes upwards of 
• All Assamese Poorali of land is a hiile more 
than an Englisli staiutc acre, and such laiuis liiilier- 
to have luu oeeii taxed, or ai a very low rate, if 
cultivated with other crops beside^ the mooga. 
