tree, on the so-called almond of this country (_Terminalia catappa_),
which is a large tree entirely different from the European almond, and
on many other trees. Most of the trees whose leaves turn red when about
to fall seem to suit it, but it is not confined to these. In the case of
the Atlas moth, I discovered one thing which may be well worth knowing,
and that was, that with cocoons brought to the seaside after the larvae
had been reared in the Central Provinces, in a temperature ten or twelve
degrees colder, the moths emerged in from ten to twenty days after the
formation of the cocoon. The duration of the _pupa_ stage in this, and
probably in other species, therefore, depends upon the temperature in
which the larvae have lived, as well as the degree of heat in which the
cocoons are kept; and in transporting cocoons from India to Europe, I
think it will be found that the moths are less liable to be prematurely
forced out by the heat of the Red Sea when the larvae have been reared in
a warm climate than when they have been reared in a cold one.

"I do not agree with the opinion expressed in one of your reports, that
the short duration of the larva stage, caused by a high temperature, has
the effect of diminishing the size of the cocoons, because the Atlas
and Tusser cocoons produced at the sea-level here are quite as large as
those found in the Central Provinces at elevations of three thousand
feet or more. According to the treatise on the "Silk Manufacture," in
"Lardner's Cyclopedia," the Chinese are of opinion that one drachm
of mulberry silkworms' eggs will produce 25 ounces of silk if the
caterpillars attain maturity within twenty-five days; 20 ounces if the
commencement of the cocoons be delayed until the twenty-eighth day; and
only 10 ounces if it be delayed until between the thirtieth and fortieth
day. If this is correct, a short-lived larva stage must, instead of
causing small cocoons, produce just the contrary effect."