Page:Jardine Naturalist's Library Exotic Moths.djvu/187

Rh "The implement used for taking off the thread is a small common reel of four bars. The cocoons are laid in a smooth earthen dish, without water; the reel is turned by the right hand, whilst the thread of four or five cocoons passes over the left thigh of the spinner, and he gives the thread a twist with his left hand upon his thigh. The operation is this instant in my sight, with a thread of five cocoons, the produce of another species called Jarroo, and described below, but the reeling is exactly the same as that of the Bughy, and therefore one description answers for both. I must add, that the thread is exceedingly apt to come off double and treble for several yards together, which is not regarded by the natives, as breaking off double threads would diminish the produce, and, moreover, would occasion loss of time: a very even thread, however, may with care be reeled from either the Bughy or Jarroo cocoon. "The Jarroo cocoons, just alluded to, are so called from being produced in the coldest month of the year, say January; the Bughy being about a month before them. The Jarroo are likewise annual, and the history of them is nearly the same as that of the Bughy; they are, however, different, as I am assured. The Jarroo will eat the Byer leaf if he cannot get the Asseen, but he will always prefer the latter, and produce a better cocoon when fed on it. His silk is more of a dull colour than that of the Bughy, which latter worm the hill people put on the Asseen alone, not because it prefers it to the