Not only did the moths
emerge too late in the season, but there never was a chance of obtaining
a pairing. In my report on Indian silkworms, published in the November
number of the "Bulletin de la Societe d'Acclimatation," for the year
1881, compiled from the work of Mr. J. Geoghegan, I reproduce the first
appendix of Captain Thomas Hutton to Mr. Geoghegan's work, in which are
given the names of all the Indian silkworms known by him up to the year
1871.
Of _Attacus atlas_, Captain Hutton says: "It is common at 5,500 feet at
Mussoorie, and in the Dehra Doon; it is also found in some of the deep
warm glens of the outer hills. It is also common at Almorah, where the
larva feeds almost exclusively upon the 'Kilmorah' bush or _Berberis
asiatica_; while at Mussoorie it will not touch that plant, but feeds
exclusively upon the large milky leaves of _Falconeria insignis_.
The worm is, perhaps, more easily reared than any other of the wild
bombycidae."
I will now quote from letters received from one of my correspondents in
Ceylon, a gentleman of great experience and knowledge in sericulture.
In a letter dated 24th August, 1881, my correspondent says: "The Atlas
moth seems to be a near relation of the Cynthia, and would probably feed
on the Ailantus. Here it feeds on the cinnamon and a great number of
other trees of widely different species; but the tree on which I
have kept it most successfully in a domestic state is the _Milnea
roxburghiana_, a handsome tree, with dark-green ternate leaves, which
keep fresh long after being detached from the tree.
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