SILK. 
489 
Bombyx mori : Mulberry Silk ; 
Univoltine Italian races or Multivoltine Indigenous races ; mulberry 
the exclusive foodplant used ; wholly domesticated, never free-living, 
silk white or yellow, reelable, the pupa requiring to be stifled. Grown 
in Bengal and Eastern Bengal as in parts of the Punjab, Baluchistan, 
and in Kashmir for export or local use. 
Anthers a paphia : Tasar. 
Univoltine or bivoltine, polyphagous on wild forest trees ; never 
domesticated, but fertilisation takes place in captivity from reared 
females; found wholly free-living in forests. Silk dirty-brown, reelable, 
cocoon with a peduncle, pupa requiring to be stifled. Collected in the 
forests of Bombay, Madras, Central Provinces, Bengal, United 
Provinces and the Punjab for local use and for export. 
Attacus ricini : Eri. 
Multivoltine, polyphagous but reared only on castor ; partly or 
wholly domesticated for rearing but also found wild rarely ; silk white 
or brick-red, not reelable, the moth being often allowed to emerge from 
the cocoon before it is used ; cultivated in Eastern Bengal and Assam 
mainly for local use, but also for export for spinning with the waste of 
mulberry and other reeled silks. 
Anther^ea Assama : Muga. 
Multivoltine polyphagous on wild forest trees ; partly domesticated 
but also found wild ; silk white or yellow, reelable, the pupa requiring to 
be stifled ; cultivated in Eastern Bengal and Assam, mainly for local use. 
Literature.— There is an extensive literature on Indian silk and 
sericulture ; with the exception of Cotes’ papers in Indian Museum Notes, 
little has been written by persons acquainted with entomology but much 
is valuable from other points of view ; Watt’s Dictionary of Economic 
Products summarises the literature down to 1893, since then the principal 
papers published are :— 
Monograph of Silk Fabric Industry in Madras (E. Thurston, 1899). 
Monograph upon the Silk Fabrics, Bombay (S. M. Edwardes, 1900). 
Monograph upon the Silk Fabrics, Bengal (N. G. Mukherji, 1903). 
Monograph upon the Silk Fabrics, Assam (B. C. Allen, 1899). 
Monograph upon Silk in Burma (J. P. Hardiman, 1901). 
Monograph on Silk Fabrics in North-West Provinces and Oudh 
(A. Yusuf Ali, 1900). 
