SILK-PRODUCING INSECTS. 31 



Whyte lias forwarded cocoons to several establish- 

 ments. The product of this new insect is said to 

 be of a very superior kind ; and the insect is ex- 

 tremely abundant in that colony. 



It is not very long since that the famous Mada- 

 gascar silkworm created much sensation in Europe, 

 and hopes were entertained of rearing it in France. 

 The most remarkable peculiarity of this insect is that 

 several of its larvae spin together and produce a 

 cocoon as large as an ostrich egg. 



Some experimenters have endeavoured to make 

 the silkworm produce silk ready dyed. On this 

 point we know that when certain colouring matters 

 extracted from the 1 vegetable kingdom are mixed 

 with the food of animals they are absorbed without 

 decomposition and colour the bones and tissues of 

 the body. Starting from this fact, Messrs. Barri and 

 Alessandrini, in Italy, sprinkled certain organic 

 colouring matters over the mulberry-leaves on which 

 the silkworms were feeding. M. Roulin, in France, 

 employed in the same way the colouring matter 

 known as chica. These attempts have met with 

 partial success only, up to the present time ; but 

 they deserve to be continued. Coloured cocoons 

 were thus produced several times. Some observers 

 assert, however, that the silk was not really secreted 

 in a coloured state, but that the colouring matter 

 sprinkled on the leaves merely adhered to the body 



