Selene feeds on various trees--walnut, wild cherry, wild pear,
etc. In Ceylon (at Kandy), it is found on the wild olive tree. As far as
I am informed by correspondents in Ceylon, this species is not found--or
is seldom found--on the coasts, but _Attacus atlas_ and Mylitta are
commonly found there.
_Attacus (antheroea) roylei_ (with sixty cocoons); three pairings only
were obtained, and this species I found the most difficult to pair in
captivity. Two moths emerged on the 5th of March, a male and a female,
and a pairing was obtained; but the weather being then too cold, the ova
were not fertile, the female moth, after laying about two hundred eggs,
lived till the 22d of March, which is a very long time; this was owing
to the low temperature. The moths emerged afterward from the 8th of
April till the 25th of June. A pairing took place on the 2d of June, and
another on the 6th of June.
Roylei (the Himalaya oak silkworm) is very closely allied to Pernyi, the
Chinese oak silkworm; the Roylei moths are of a lighter color, but the
larvae of both species can hardly be distinguished from one another.
The principal difference between the two species is in the cocoon. The
Roylei cocoon is within a very large and tough envelope, while that of
Pernyi has no outer envelope at all. The larvae of Roylei I reared did
not thrive, and the small number I had only went to the fourth stage,
owing to several causes.
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