Volume 33, Plate XV / Entomology (Insects)

Caterpillars of Saturnia Cynthia & S. Mylitta

1. Saturnia Cynthia. A Saturnia about five inches across, greyish-brown with a broad transverse light band, a brownish-grey triangular inner space, narrow parallel marginal streaks, and a white-crescented black spot near the apex. Its caterpillar is the Arrindy silkworm, pale sea-green with conic tubercles, reared domestically in Bengal upon Palma Christi leaves; the cocoon’s filament being too delicate to wind, the silk is spun like cotton into a coarse white cloth of incredible durability.
2. Saturnia Mylitta. A variable Indian Saturnia usually five to six inches across, the wings yellowish-brown with a round transparent ocellus in each centre ringed yellow, grey, and black, the fore wings strongly falcate. Its yellowish-green caterpillar grows to four inches with golden side specks, spins a firm oval cocoon suspended by a strong cord, and remains dormant about nine months; native to Bengal and Assam, it yields the durable Tusseh silk woven by Hindoos.