Scientific American Supplement, No. 344, August 5, 1882Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 344, August 5, 1882
Various
Science -- Periodicals
_Actias Selene_.--With sixty cocoons I only obtained one pairing. The
moths emerged from the beginning of March till the 13th of August,
at intervals of some duration, or in batches of males or females. I
obtained a pairing of Selene on the 30toh of June, 1881, and the worms
commenced to hatch on the 13th of July. The larvæ in first stage are of
a fine brown-red, with a broad black band in the middle of the body. The
second stage commenced on the 20th of July; larvæ, of a lighter reddish
color, without the black band; tubercles black. Third stage commenced on
the 28th of July; larvæ green; the first four tubercles yellow, with a
black ring at the base; other tubercles, orange yellow. Fourth stage
commenced on the 6th of August; larvæ green; first four tubercles
golden-yellow, the others orange-red. Fifth stage commenced on the 19th
of August; first four tubercles yellow, with a black ring at the base;
other tubercles yellow, slightly tinged with orange-red; lateral band
brown and greenish yellow; head and forelegs dark-brown. As stated
before, the larvæ were reared on a nut-tree in the garden, till the last
stage. 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
larvæ 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 larvæ of Roylei I reared did
not thrive, and the small number I had only went to the fourth stage,
owing to several causes. I bred them under glass, in a green-house. A
certain number of the larvæ were unable to cut the shell of the egg.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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