An 1868 article by W. V. Andrews urging American cultivation of the Cynthia silk moth (Samia cynthia) as a source of silk, after disease struck the mulberry silkworm (Bombyx mori) in Europe. He compares it with native American silk moths and with the Yama-mai, sorts out confusion over its identity in the literature, and gives a journal of his own rearing on ailanthus, including life-cycle dates and open-air feeding. He closes with economic arguments for silk-culture and for government support, and notes the difficulty of reeling the hard cocoons.