tivation of silk at
Jaffna[1], but it never attained such a development as to become an
article of commercial importance. Ceylon now cultivates no silkworms
whatever, notwithstanding this abundance of the favourite food of one
species; and the rich silken robes sometimes worn by the Buddhist
priesthood are imported from China and the continent of India.

[Footnote 1: The Portuguese had made the attempt previous to the arrival
of the Dutch, and a strip of land on the banks of the Kalany river near
Colombo, still bears the name of Orta Seda, the silk garden. The attempt
of the Dutch to introduce the true silkworm, the _Bombyx mori_, took
place under the governorship; of Ryklof Van Goens, who, on handing over
the administration to his successor in A.D. 1663, thus apprises him of
the initiation of the experiment:--"At Jaffna Palace a trial has been
undertaken to feed silkworms, and to ascertain whether silk may be
reared at that station. I have planted a quantity of mulberry trees,
which grow well there, and they ought to be planted in other
directions."--VALENTYN, chap. xiii. The growth of the mulberry trees is
noticed the year after in a report to the governor-general of India, but
the subject afterwards ceased to be attended to.]

In addition to the Atlas moth and the Mylitta, there are many other
_Bombycidae_; in Ceylon; and, though the silk of some of them, were it
susceptible of being unwound from the cocoon, would not bear a
comparison with that of the _Bombyx mori_, or even of the Tusseh moth,
it might still prove to be valuable when carded and spun. If the
European residents in the colony would rear the larvae of these
Lepidoptera, and make drawings of their various changes, they would
render a possible service to commerce, and a certain one to
entomological knowledge.

_Stinging Caterpillars_.--The Dutch carried to their Eastern settlements
two of their home propensities, which distinguish and embellish the
towns of the Low Countries; they indulged in the excavation of canals,
and they planted long lines of trees to diffuse shade over the sultry
passages in their Indian fortresses. For the latter purpose they
employed the Suriya (_Hibiscus populneus_), whose broad umbrageous
leaves and delicate yellow flowers impart a delicious coolness, and give
to the streets of Galle and Colombo the fresh and enlivening aspect of
walks in a garden.

In the towns, however, the suriya trees are productive of one serious
inco