202 SOUTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 



durable dress, -such as this silk furnishes y is much want- 

 ed. The durability of this silk is really astonishing;, 

 as after constant use for nine or ten years, it does not 

 show the least appearance of wear or decay. The in- 

 sects which make this silk, are thought by the natives 

 of so much consequence, that they guard them by day 

 to preserve them from crows and other birds, and by 

 nio-ht from the bats. The second, the Arindv Silk- 

 worm, Phalama Cynthia, Drury, feeds solely on the 

 leaves of the Palma Christi, and produces remarkably 

 soft cocoons, the silk of which is so delicate and flossv 

 that it is impracticable to wind it off, like other silk, 

 from the cocoons ; it is, therefore, spun like cotton, 

 and the thread thus manufactured, is woven into a 

 coarse kind of white cloth of a loose texture, but of 

 still more incredible durability than the other, the life 

 time of one person being seldom sufficient to wear out 

 a garment made of it. It is used, not only for cloth- 

 ing, but for packing fine cloths. Some manufacturers 

 in England, to whom the silk was shown, seemed to 

 think that it could there be made into shawls equal to 

 any received from India. 



