184 ' NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 



but also the insignia of office, rank and power. The 

 academic gown, the priestly vestments, and the mon- 

 archs' royal robes, were all once enclosed within the 

 chrysalis of a silkworm. 



This caterpillar is the most renowned and the most 

 profitable of all, and is extensively cultivated in 

 France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Persia, China and 

 Transcaucassia,* and might as well be cultivated in 

 this country, if the importation of foreign silk and the 

 tariff did not operate against this branch of industry. 

 We have, however, quite a number of Moths, indigen- 

 ous to this country, the cocoons of which might also 

 furnish a very valuable, strong and excellent silk, and 

 of which extensive use will probably be made as soon 

 as the young giant of North America arrives at ma- 

 turcr age. Of these I shall speak at length in some 

 of the following pages. 



Various kinds of apparatus have been invented for 

 the purpose of raising caterpillars, and the simplest 

 kind are boxes, the bottom of which is covered with 

 earth, and the top with gauze, so as to admit of fresh 

 air at all times. In some places large cages, like those 

 for birds, are used, which are also covered with gauze, 

 and in which are placed the different plants upon 

 which the caterpillars feed. This is a very convenient 

 contrivance for observing their mode of living, the 

 casting of their skins, and their metamorphoses, as also 



*Sce : " B.'Jucgcr's Vcrsueh cincr Parstellung dea natiirlicher Reichtums 

 ilcr russichen Lander jenscits des Caucasus. Leipzig, 1830. 



