1 6 SILKWORMS. 



the colour gradually becomes lighter day by day, as the time for 

 hatching draws near. But if closely examined now, the pale tint 

 will be seen not to be uniform, and two dark marks may be 

 detected, a black spot and a brownish curve round the outside. 

 The egg-shell is semi-transparent, and the body of the little grub 

 can be traced as it lies coiled up inside. The black spot shows 

 where its head rests, and the dark curve is the outline of its body. 

 At this time, a slight clicking sound may sometimes be detected 

 proceeding from the egg, arising from the movements of the grub 

 inside. 



To extricate itself from its prison, it brings its little jaws into 

 requisition, giving them their first employment in eating a hole 

 through the walls that have so successfully sheltered its tiny life 

 during the long winter months. The hole is always made at the 

 side of the egg, never on the flat surface. And thus it makes its 

 entry into the outer world, in which it has but one main business 

 to perform the operation of eating. But as it looks round in 

 search of somewhat to try the strength of its jaws upon, we may 

 as well inspect it, and see what manner of creature has been 

 fabricated by the mysterious processes of nature out of that 

 unpromising-looking mass that a few months ago filled the now 

 broken egg-shell. It is a dark, almost black, hairy object of 

 which one is at first puzzled to know which end is head and which 

 tail, and as its entire length is but little over one-twelfth of an inch 

 and it is extra thin in proportion, we find it necessary to use a 

 magnifying glass, if we are to get anything like an accurate 

 portrait. 



Bringing a little hand-lens to bear on the tiny being, therefore, 

 we soon learn to distinguish the two ends of the body from one 

 another, for at one end there is a hard, smooth, shining, rounded 

 plate, rather too large for the slender body that succeeds it, while 

 at the other, no such structure appears ; and we rightly conclude 

 that the former is the head. Looking along the space between 

 these two extremities, we find a cylindrical body covered with 

 hairs, which closer inspection shows to proceed from a number of 

 tiny pale warts or tubercles, placed in rows. The hairs consider- 

 ably interfere with a sight of the body itself, which, if they were 

 cleared off, would be found to be marked at intervals with slight 

 constrictions passing right round its circumference, as though 

 there were a series of elastic rings attached inside the skin, and 

 drawing it slightly inwards at those points. Counting up carefully, 

 we should then find that, exclusive of the head, these constrictions 

 divide the body into twelve parts, or segments, succeeding one 

 another in line, though in the three immediately behind the head, 



