54 SILKWORMS. 



elaborate arrangements cannot be made, and recourse must be 

 had to such substitutes as can be provided; e.g., the eggs, might 

 be placed on the mantelpiece over the ordinary sitting-room or 

 kitchen fire, and if there be a difficulty about keeping up the 

 requisite warmth at night, they might be taken into bed with one, 

 if their company be not objected to ! With us, however, it will 

 generally be the case that the eggs hatch before the mulberry 

 leaves are ready for them, unless precautions are taken to keep 

 them sufficiently cold. Under such circumstances, they must be 

 fed with some substitute such as lettuce, which, however, must be 

 carefully wiped before being given to them, that it may be quite 

 dry, otherwise it will injure their health. 



It will soon become evident, from the changing colour of the 

 eggs, when the first hatching may be expected. Even at the 

 very commencement of their larval life, the insects observe those 

 methodical and punctual habits which never after desert them, 

 and in the majority of cases they crack their eggshells in the 

 early morning hours, between three and eight o'clock, and by far 

 the greater number of the same batch make their debut on two 

 successive days. There will be a few who are in a hurry to 

 commence their larval life, and issue a day or two before the rest 

 " galloping worms," as they are called in China ; these may be 

 allowed to perish for their temerity, for it is very important to 

 keep all at the same stage of development, in order that they may 

 perform their moults at the same time. For a similar reason, those 

 of the second day's grand hatch should be kept separate from those of 

 the first. Any eggs that have not hatched by the fourth day after 

 the first caterpillars appeared may be thrown away, as they yield 

 only inferior and feeble insects, which are not worth the trouble 

 of rearing. 



Now comes the feeding business. The true food of Bombyx 

 mori is the leaves of the white mulberry tree ; but in this country 

 it is chiefly the black mulberry that is cultivated, the leaves of 

 which are coarser than those of the other species. Where 

 mulberry leaves cannot be obtained lettuce may be used as a 

 substitute, but the worms do not thrive so well on it, and the 

 operator must not be surprised if he loses some of them by death, 

 and if the cocoons of the rest do not turn out so good as he had 

 hoped and expected. Other substitutes, such as dandelion, 

 cherry, black-currant, have been used with more or less success, 

 but it cannot be too strongly insisted upon that to produce 

 a thoroughly successful rearing, every effort should be made to 

 secure mulberry leaves, When the young caterpillars first emerge, 

 the leaves are still very small and tender, and well-suited to 



