On the first half of the 20th century, there was a widespread debate on the utilization of feed in China’s livestock and poultry industry. The focus was whether the modernization of livestock and poultry industry should follow the principle of economy or nutrition. The former is a relic of traditional society, while the latter is a pioneering proposition of animal nutrition. This controversy originated from the theoretical circles, and basically achieved the consensus that nutrition is the first, then frustrated in the production circles, and got limited recognition and adoption in the political circles. During this period, many relevant scientific and social forces participated passively or actively, and finally reached a seemingly compromised consensus. The debate actually reflects obstacles in the process of China’s modernization, especially the constraints of economic cost.

The ancient Chinese were pioneers in cultivating silkworms, including both domestic silkworms (*Bombyx mori*) and various wild silkworm species. While tussah (*Antherrea pernyi*) and toon silkworms (*Philosamia spp.*) were used for silk production in northern China, southern China boasted a richer variety of wild silkworms, known as “mountainous silkworms.” These wild silkworms, such as Chinese tallow silkworm (*Attacus atlas*), chestnut silkworm (*Dictyoploca japonica*), and willow silkworm (*Actias selene*), fed on forest vegetation and required no human intervention, earning names like “yecan” (wild silkworm) or “tiancan” (natural silkworm). However, not all silkworms, such as fish line silkworms (*Saturnia pyretorum*), were used for silk weaving.

As demand for wild silk grew, forest-gathered cocoons proved insufficient, leading villagers to semi-domesticate wild silkworms. In Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan, silkworms were raised on cut branches of Chinese tallow trees, housed indoors to shield them from predators. Two notable centers of wild silk production were the Great Yunkai Mountain region and Meizhou (formerly Chengxiang County), where "Chengxiang wild silkworm silk" (*程乡茧绸*) became renowned for its quality.

Mr Genjin Ni

The influence and international prestige of French science owes much to the activities of the five major academies of the Institut de France: The Académie des sciences d'outre-mer has a special place in the cross-cultural approach to representations of nature.It was founded in 1922 under the aegis of Albert Sarraut, then Minister for the Colonies, and on the initiative of the journalist and explorer Paul Bourdarie and the historian Gabriel Hanotaux, who were respectively its first Permanent Secretary and first President. Taking its profile from the legacy of the Geographical Societies of the 19the century, from the outset it benefited from the participation of some of the leading personalities of the time.Today, the Académie des sciences d'outre-mer has 275 members, including 100 full members and 100 correspondents in five interdisciplinary sections. Backed by an extremely rich library, focusing mainly on the former French overseas territories and the French-speaking world, it has, from the outset, been involved in a wide range of scientific and academic activities that have made, or continue to make, unparalleled contributions to the representation of nature in pre-industrial societies. It has included, and still includes, many botanists (Raymond Dacary, Paul de Peyerhimoff), geologists and mineralogists (Alfred Lacroix), prehistorians (Yves Coppens, Henri de Lumley), often with a cross-disciplinary profile (Théodore Monod), as well as doctors (Alexandre Yersin, Eugène Jamot, Albert Calmette), soldiers, colonial administrators and diplomats, engineers and archaeologists (Jean Leclant), orientalists (Louis Massignon), geographers (Pierre Gourou) and historians (Hubert Deschamps, Robert Cornevin, and alii).

The purpose of this paper is to report on the activities of the French Committee of the Fontes Historiae Africanae. Since 2019, the ‘Sources africaines’ collection of the Académie des sciences d'outre-mer has already published, in co-publication with Geuthner, five volumes of unpublished indigenous sources that are difficult for researchers to access: Philippe Beaujard, Traditions historiques du sud-est de Madagascar, 2019 ; Mohamed Diagayété, Barth à Tombouctou, 2019 ; Mustafa Alloush, Thierno Woûri Diallo Lâriya, Alfa Mamadou Lélouma, Bernard Salvaing, Écrire la guerre au Fouta-Djalon. Récits en vers arabes d’expéditions militaires au XIXe siècle, 2023; Silvia Neposteri (dir.), Voici l’histoire de nos ancêtres Anakara : le manuscrit arabico-malgache HB6, texte arabe transcrit, traduit et commenté par Silvia Neposteri; préface de Philippe Beaujard, 2023 ; Anne Regourd et Sana Mirza, Catalogue des manuscrits du Sherif Harar Municipal Museum. Les corans, 2024.