Scientific American Supplement, No. 344, August 5, 1882

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The larvae of _Samia gloveri_ were reared, during the first four stages
on a wild plum-tree, then on _Salix, caprea_, and I reproduce the notes
taken on this species, which I bred this year (1881) for the first time.

Gloveri moths emerged from the 15th of May to the end of June; five
pairings took place as follows: 1st, 4th, 9th, 24th, and 26th of June.
First stage--larvae quite black. Second stage--larvae orange, with black
spines. Third stage--dorsal spines, orange-red; spines on sides blue.
Fourth stage--dorsal spines, orange or yellow, spines on the sides blue;
body light blue on the back, and greenish yellow on the sides; head,
green; legs, yellow. Fifth and sixth stage--larvae nearly the same;
tubercles on the back yellow, the first four having a black ring at the
base; side tubercles ivory-white, with a dark-blue base.

The above-mentioned American species, like most other silk-producing
bombyces, were bred in the open air; but besides these, I reared three
other species of American bombyces in the house, under glass, and with
the greatest success. These are: _Hyperchiria io_, a beautiful species
mentioned in my report for the year 1879; _Orgyia leucostigma_, from ova
received on December 29, 1880, from Madison, Wis., which hatched on the
27th of May, 1881.

The third American species reared under glass is the following very
interesting bombyx: _Ceratocampa (Eacles) imperialis_. The pupae of
this species are rough, and armed with small, sharp points at all the
segments; the last segment having a thick, straight, and bifid tail. The
moths, which measure from four to about six inches in expanse of wings,
are bright yellow, with large patches and round spots of reddish-brown,
with a purple gloss; besides these patches and round spots, the wings
are covered with small dark dots. The male moth is much more blotched
than the female, and although of a smaller size, is much more showy than
the female.

With twenty-four pupae of Imperialis I obtained nineteen moths from the
21st of June to the 19th of July; five pupae died. Two pairings took
place; the first from the evening of the 13th to the morning of the
14th; the second from the evening of the 15th to the morning of the 16th
of July.

The ova, which are about the size of those of Yama-mai, Pernyi, or
Mylitta, are rather flat and concave on one side, of an amber-yellow
color and transparent, like those of sphingidae. When the larvae have
absorbed the yellow liquid in the egg, and are fully developed; they can
be seen through the shell of the egg, which is white or colorless when
the larva has come out.

The larvae of Imperialis, which have six stages, commenced to hatch on
the 31st of July; the second stage commenced on the 7th of August; the
third, on the 17th; the fourth, on the 29th of August; the fifth, on
the 18th of September; and the sixth, on the 1st of October. The larvae
commenced to pupate on 13th of October.

The larvae of this curious species vary considerably in color. Some are
of a yellowish color, others are brown and tawny, others are black or
nearly black. My correspondent in Georgia, who bred this species the
same season as I did, in 1881, had some of the larvae that were green. In
all the stages the larvae have five conspicuous spines or horns; two on
the third segment, two on the fourth, and one on the last segment but
one; this is taking the head as the first segment with regard to the
first four spines These spines are rough and covered with sharp points
all round, and their extremities are fork-like. In the first three
stages they are horny; in the last three stages these spines are fleshy,
and much shorter in proportion than they are in the first three
stages. The color of the spines in the last three stages is coral-red,
yellowish, or black. In the fifth and sixth stages the spine on the last
segment but one is very short.

Here are a few and short notes from my book:

1st stage. Larvae, about one-third of an inch; head, brown, shiny, and
globulous.

2d stage. Larvae, dark-brown, almost black; spines, white at the base,
and black at the extremities; head shiny and light brown.

3d stage. Larve, fine black; head black; white hairs on the back;
spines, whitish, buff, or yellowish at the base, and black at the
extremities; other larvae of a brown color.

4th stage. Larvae, black granulated with white; long white hairs; horns,
brown-orange with white tips; on each segment two brown spots. Spiracles
well marked with outer circle, brown, then black; white and black dot in
the center. Anal segment with brown ribs, the intervals black with white
dots; head shining, black with two brown bands on the face, forming a
triangle. Other larvae in fourth stage, velvety black, with coral-red
spines; others with black spines.

5th stage. Larvae, entirely black, with showy eye-like spiracles,
polished black head; other larvae having the head brown and black. Larvae
covered with long white hair; spines black or red. No difference noticed
between the fifth and sixth stages.

One larva on fourth stage was different from all others, and was
described at the British Museum by Mr. W. F. Kirby as follows: "Larva
reddish-brown, sparingly clothed with long slender white hairs, with
four reddish stripes on the face, two rows of red spots on the back,
spiracles surrounded with yellow, black and red rings; legs red, prolegs
black, spotted with red. On segments three and four are four long
coral-red fleshy-branched spines, two on each segment, below which, on
each side, are two rudimentary ones just behind the head; in front of
segment two are four similar rudimentary orange spines or tubercles;
last segment black, strongly granulated and edges triangularly above and
at the sides, with coral-red; several short rudimentary fleshy spines
rising from the red portion; the last segment but one is reddish above,
with a short red spine in the middle, and the one before it has a long
coral-red spine in the middle similar to those of segments three and
four, but shorter"

As soon as my Imperialis larvae had hatched, I gave them various kinds of
foliage, plane-tree, oak, pine, sallow, etc. At first they did not touch
any kind of foliage, or they did not seem to touch any; and I was afraid
I should be unable to rear them; but on the second or third day of their
existence, they made up their minds and decided upon eating the foliage
of some of the European trees I had offered them. They attacked oak,
sallow, and pine, but did not touch the plane-tree leaves. In America,
the larvae of Imperialis feed on button-wood, which is the American
plane-tree (_Platanus occidentalis_), yet they did not take to _Platanus
orientalis_. After a little time I reduced the foliage to oak and sallow
branches, and ultimately gave them the sallow (_Salix caprea_) only, on
which they thrived very well. I was pleased with this success; as I had
previously read in a volume of the "Naturalist's Library" a description
of _Ceratocampa imperialis_, which ends as follows: "The caterpillars
are not common, and are the most difficult to bring to perfection in
confinement, as they will not eat in that situation; and, even if they
change into a chrysalis, they die afterward."

Before I finish with _C. imperialis_, I must mention a peculiar fact.
During the first stage, and, I think, also during the second, several
larvae disappeared without leaving any traces. I also saw two smaller
larvae held tight by the hind claspers of two larger ones. The larvae thus
held and pressed were perfectly dead when I observed them, and I removed
them. My impression then was that these larvae were carnivorous, not
from this last fact alone, as I had previously observed it with larvae
of Catocalae when they are too crowded, but from the fact that some had
disappeared entirely from the glass under which they were confined. I
began to reduce their numbers, and put six only under each glass, so as
to be able to watch them better. Whether I had made a mistake or not
previously to this I do not exactly know; but from this moment the
larvae behaved in a most exemplary manner, especially when they became
larger. They crawled over each other's backs without the least sign of
spite or animosity, even when they were in sleep, in which case larvae
are generally very sensitive and irritable, all were of a most pacific
nature. It is, therefore, with the greatest pleasure that, for want of
sufficient evidence, I withdraw this serious charge of cannibalism which
I first intended to bring against them.

From what has been said respecting the rearing of exotic silk-producing
bombyces, especially tropical species, it must have been observed
that several difficulties, standing in the way of success, have to be
overcome. The moths of North American species emerge regularly enough
during the months of May, June, or July, but Indian and other tropical
species may emerge at any time of the year, if the weather is mild, as
has been the case during this unusually mild winter of 1881-1882. From
the end of December to the present time (March 14, 1882) moths of four
species of Indian silk-producers, especially _Antheraea roylei_ and
_Actias selene_, have constantly emerged, but only one or two at a time.
These moths emerged from cocoons received in December and January last.

It is only when these tropical species shall have been already reared in
Europe that the emergence of the moths will be regular; then they will
be single-brooded in Northern or Central Europe, and some will very
likely become double-brooded in Southern Europe. But when just imported
the moths of these tropical species will always be uncertain and
irregular in their emergence; hence the importance of having a
sufficient number of cocoons so as to meet this difficulty, i.e., the
loss of the moths that emerge prematurely or irregularly.

Before I conclude, I shall repeat what I already stated in a previous
report, that the sending of live cocoons and pupae from India and other
distant countries to Europe, can easily be done, so that they will
arrive alive and in good condition, if care be taken that the boxes
containing these live cocoons and pupae should not be left in the sun or
near a fire (which has been the case before), and that they should at
once be put in a cool place or in the ice-room of the steamer. The
cocoons and pupae should be sent from October to March or April,
according to distance, and it is most important to write on the cases,
"Living silkworm cocoons or pupae, the case to be placed in the ice
room."

By taking this simple precaution, live cocoons and pupae, when newly
formed, can be safely sent from very distant countries of Europe.

To continue these interesting and useful studies, I shall always be glad
to buy any number of live cocoons, or exchange them for other species,
if preferable.

ALFRED WAILLY.

110 Clapham Road, London, S.W.

* * * * *

MOSQUITO OIL.

A correspondent from Sheepshead Bay, a place celebrated for the size of
its mosquitoes and the number of its amateur fishermen, recommends the
following as a very good mixture for anointing the face and hands while
fishing:

Oil of tar. 1 ounce.
Olive oil. 1 ounce.
Oil of pennyroyal. 1/2 ounce.
Spirit of camphor. 1/2 ounce.
Glycerine. 1/2 ounce.
Carbolic acid. 2 drachms.

Mix. Shake well before using.--_Drug. Circular_.

* * * * *

THE CATHEDRAL OF BURGOS.

This most remarkable structure, in the province of the same name, adorns
the city of Burgos, 130 miles north of Madrid. The corner stone was laid
July 20, A.D. 1221, by Fernando III., and his Queen Beatrice, assisted
by Archbishop Mauricio. The world is indebted to Mauricio for the
selection of the site, and for the general idea and planning of what he
intended should be, and in fact now is, the finest temple of worship in
the world. This immense stone structure, embellished with airy columns,
pointed arches, statues, inscriptions, delicate crestings, and flanked
by two needles or aerial arrows, rises toward the heavens, a sublime
invocation of Christian genius.

Illuminated by the morning sun it appears, at a certain distance, as if
the pyramids were floating in space; further on is seen the marvelous
dome of the transept, crowned with eight towers of chiseled lace-work,
over the center of the church.

Pubic worship was held in a portion of the edifice nine years after the
work was begun; from that time onward for three hundred years, various
additional portions were completed. On March 4, 1539, the great
transept, built fifty years previous, fell down; but was soon restored.
August 16, 1642, at 61/2 o'clock, P.M., a furious hurricane overthrew the
eight little towers that form the exterior corner of the dome; but in
two years they were replaced, namely July 19, 1644: the same night the
great bells sounded an alarm of fire, the transept having in some way
become ignited. The activity of the populace, however, prevented the
loss of the edifice, which for a time was in great danger.

The first architect publicly mentioned in the archives of the edifice
was the Master Enrique. He also directed the work of the Cathedral of
Leon. He died July 10, 1277. The second architect was Juan Perez, who
died in 1296, and was buried in the cloister, under the cathedral. He is
believed to have been either the son or brother of the celebrated Master
Pedro Perez, who designed the Cathedral of Toledo, and who died in 1299.
The third architect of the Cathedral of Burgos was Pedro Sanchez, who
directed the work in 1384; after him followed Juan Sanchez de Molina,
Martin Fernandez, the three Colonias, Juan de Vallejo, Diego de Siloe,
the elder Nicolas de Vergara, Matienzo, Pieredonda, Gil, Regines, and
others. It is worthy of note that a number of Moorish architects were
employed on the work during the 14th and 15th centuries, such as
Mohomad, Yunce, the Master Hali, the Master Mahomet de Aranda, the
Master Yunza de Carrion, the Master Carpenter Brahen. Among the figure
sculptors employed were Juan Sanchez de Fromesta, the Masters Gil and
Copin, the famous Felipe de Vigardi, Juan de Lancre, Anton de Soto, Juan
de Villareal, Pedro de Colindres, and many others. Our engraving is from
a recent number of _La Ilustracion Espanola y Americana_.

[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL OF BURGOS, SPAIN.--PHOTOGRAPH BY DE
LAURENT.--DRWAWING BY M. HEBERT.]

* * * * *

THE PANAMA CANAL.

By MANUEL EISSLER, M.E., of San Francisco, Cal.

I.

HISTORICAL NOTES.

When Cortez, in the year 1530, made the observation that the two great
oceans could be seen from the peaks of mountains, he, in those remote
days, preoccupied himself with the question to cut through the
Cordilleras.

Therefore, the idea of an interoceanic canal is by no means a modern
one, as travelers and navigators observed that there was a great
depression among the hills of the Isthmus of Panama. As Professor T.E.
Nurse, of the U.S.N., says in his memoirs:

"This problem of interoceanic communication has been justly said to
possess not only practical value, but historical grandeur. It clearly
links itself back to the era of the conquest of Cortez, three and a half
centuries." [1] It is a problem which has been left for our modern era
to solve, but nevertheless its history is thereby rendered still more
interesting, having needed so many centuries to bring it to an issue.

[Footnote 1: From Prof. Nurse's historical essay. See Survey of
Nicaragua Canal, by Com. Lull.]

Spain, which acquired through her Columbus a new empire, lying near, as
it was supposed, to the riches of Asia, could not be indifferent, from
the moment of her discoveries, to the means of crossing these lands to
yet richer ones beyond.

India, from the days of Alexander and of the geographers, Mela, Strabo,
and Ptolemy, was the land of promise, the home of the spices, the
inexhaustible fountain of wealth. The old routes of commerce thither had
been closed one by one to the Christians; the overland trade had fallen
into the hands of the Arabs; and at the fall of Constantinople, 1453,
the commerce of the Black Sea and of the Bosphorus, the last of the old
routes to the East, finally failed the Christian world. Yet even beyond
the fame of the East, which tradition had brought down from Greek and
Roman, much more had the crusaders kindled for Asia (Cathay) and its
riches an ardor not easily suppressed in men's minds.

The error of the Spanish Admiral in supposing that the eastern shores
of Asia extended 240 degrees east of Spain, or to the meridian of
the modern San Diego, in California--this error, insisted on in his
dispatches and adopted and continued by his followers, still further
animated the earlier Spanish sovereigns and the men whom they sent into
the New World to reach Asia by a short and easy route.

Nobody in Europe dreamt that Columbus had discovered a new continent,
and when Balbao, in 1513, discovered the South Sea, then it was known
that Asia lay beyond, and navigators directed their course there. On
his deathbed, in 1506, Columbus still held to his delusion that he had
reached Zipanga, Japan. In 1501 he was exploring the coast of Veragua,
in Central America, still looking for the Ganges, and announcing his
being informed on this coast of a sea which would bear ships to the
mouth of that river, while about the same time the Cabots, under Henry
VII., were taking possession of Newfoundland, believing it to be part of
the island coast of China.

Although these were grave blunders in geography and in navigation, the
discoveries really made in the rich tropical zones, the acquirement of
a new world, and the rich products continually reaching Europe from it,
for a time aroused Spain from her lethargy. The world opened east and
west. The new routes poured their spices, silks, and drugs through new
channels into all the Teutonic countries. The strong purposes of having
near access to the East were deepened and perpetuated doubly strong, by
the certainties before men's eyes of what had been attained.

Balbao, in 1513, gained from a height on the Isthmus of Panama the first
proof of its separation from Asia; and Magellan enters the South Sea
at the southern extremity of the country, now first proven to be thus
separate and a continent. Men in those days began to think that creation
was doubled, and that such discovered lands must be separate from India,
China, and Japan. And the very successes of the Portuguese under Vasco
da Gama, bringing from their eastern course the expectancy of Asia's
wealth, intensely excited the Spaniards to renew their western search.

The Portuguese, led around the Cape of Good Hope, had brought home vast
treasures from the East, while the Spanish discoverers, as yet, had not
reached the countries either of Montezuma or of the Inca. Their success
"troubled the sleep of the Spaniards."

Everything, then, of personal ambition and national pride, the thirst
for gold, the zeal of religious proselytism, and the cold calculations
of state policy, now concurred in the disposition to sacrifice what
Spain already had of most value on the American shores in order to seize
upon a greater good, the Indies, still supposed to be near at hand. And
since it was now certain that the new lands were not themselves Asia,
the next aim was to find the secret of the narrow passage across
them which must lead thither. The very configuration of the isthmus
strengthened the belief in the existence of such a passage by the number
of its openings, which seemed to invite entrance in the expectancy that
some one of them must extend across the narrow breadth of land.

For this the Spanish government, in 1514, gave secret orders to
D'Avilla, Governor of Castila del Oro, and to Juan de Solis, the
navigator, to determine whether Castila del Oro were an island, and to
send to Cuba a chart of the coast, if any strait were possible. For
this, De Solis visited Nicaragua and Honduras; and later, led far to the
south, perished in the La Plata. For this, Magellan entered the straits,
which, strangely enough, he affirmed before setting out, that he "would
enter," since he "had seen them marked out on the geographer Martin
Behaim's globe." For this, Cortez sent out his expeditions on both
coasts, exposing his own life and treasure, and sending home to the
emperor, in his second relation, a map of the entire Gulf of Mexico
(Dispatch from Cortez to Charles V., October 15, 1524). For this great
purpose, and in full expectancy of success in it, the whole coast of
the New World on each side, from Newfoundland on the northeast, curving
westward on the south, around the whole sweep of the Gulf of Mexico,
thence to Magellan's Straits, and thence through them up the Pacific to
the Straits of Behring, was searched and researched with diligence.
"Men could not get accustomed," says Humboldt, "to the idea that the
continent extended uninterruptedly both so far north and south." Hence
all these large, numerous, and persevering expeditions by the European
powers.

Among them, by priority of right and by her energy, was Spain. The great
emperor was urgent on the conqueror of Mexico, and on all in subordinate
positions in New Spain, to solve the secret of the strait. All Spain was
awakened to it. "How majestic and fair was she," says Chevalier, "in the
sixteenth century; what daring, what heroism and perseverance! Never had
the world seen such energy, activity, or good fortune. Hers was a will
that regarded no obstacles. Neither rivers, deserts, nor mountains far
higher than those in Europe, arrested her people. They built grand
cities, they drew their fleets, as in a twinkling of the eye, from the
very forests. A handful of men conquered empires. They seemed a race of
giants or demi-gods. One would have supposed that all the work necessary
to bind together climates and oceans would have been done at the word of
the Spaniards as by enchantment, and since nature had not left a passage
through the center of America, no matter, so much the better for
the glory of the human race; they would make it up by artificial
communication. What, indeed, was that for men like them? It were done
at a word. Nothing else was left for them to conquer, and the world was
becoming too small for them."

Certainly, had Spain remained what she then was, what had been in vain
sought from nature would have been supplied by man. A canal or several
canals would have been built to take the place of the long-desired
strait. Her men of science urged it. In 1551, Gomara, the author of the
"History of the Indies," proposed the union of the oceans by three of
the very same lines toward which, to this hour, the eye turns with hope.

"It is true," said Gomara, "that mountains obstruct these passes, but if
there are mountains there are also hands; let but the resolve be made,
there will be no want of means; the Indies, to which the passage will
be made, will supply them. To a king of Spain, with the wealth of the
Indies at his command, when the object to be obtained is the spice
trade, what is possible is easy.

But the sacred fire suddenly burned itself out in Spain. The peninsula
had for its ruler a prince who sought his glory in smothering free
thought among his own people, and in wasting his immense resources in
vain efforts to repress it also outside of his own dominions through all
Europe. From that hour, Spain became benumbed and estranged from all
the advances of science and art, by means of which other nations, and
especially England, developed their true greatness.

Even after France had shown, by her canal of the south, that boats could
ascend and pass the mountain crests, it does not appear that the
Spanish government seriously wished to avail itself of a like means of
establishing any communication between her sea of the Antilles and the
South Sea. The mystery enveloping the deliberations of the council of
the Indies has not always remained so profound that we could not know
what was going on in that body. The Spanish government afterward opened
up to Humboldt free access to its archives, and in these he found
several memoirs on the possibility of a union between the two oceans;
but he says that in no one of them did he find the main point, the
height of the elevations on the isthmus, sufficiently cleared up, and
he could not fail to remark that the memoirs were exclusively French or
English. Spain herself gave it no thought. Since the glorious age of
Balbao among the people, indeed, the project of a canal was in every
one's thoughts. In the very wayside talks, in the inns of Spain, when a
traveler from the New World chanced to pass, after making him tell of
the wonders of Lima and Mexico, of the death of the Inca, Atahualpa,
and the bloody defeat of the Aztecs, and after asking his opinion of El
Dorado, the question was always about the two oceans, and what great
things would happen if they could succeed in joining them.

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