114 NATURAL HlSTOilY. [cH. VI. 



• The silk is so exceedingly delicate as to render it 

 impracticable to wind it off; it is therefore spun like 

 cotton. The yarn thus manufactured is woven into 

 a coarse kind of white cloth, of a seemingly loose 

 texture, but of incredible durability, the life of one 

 person being seldom sufficient to wear out a gar- 

 ment made of it, so that the same piece descends 

 from mother to daughter. 



The manner of spinning the cocoon of this spe- 

 cies is stated to be in the following way, viz. : four 

 or five are fastened to a stick, stuck in the ground, 

 or on an apparatus held in the hand ; their threads 

 are united into one, by means of being made fast 

 to a piece of wood, with a heavy weight to make it 

 spin round, while suspended by the thread ; but 

 they are always spun wet, by being placed in cold 

 water. The cloth is woven in small pieces in a 

 loom ; it is coarse and open. On being however 

 well washed and beaten in cold water, it is made 

 soft and pliable ; if placed in boiling water, it causes 

 it to tear like old rotten cloth. 



There is also a cocoon which is mixed with the 

 above species in spinning, found wild on the mango- 

 trees, but otherwise little known. 



Various means have been employed in Europe to 

 obtain different sorts of silks ; thus the caterpillars 

 of a minute moth {Tinea punctata) have been used 

 by M. Habenstreet in the following manner: — A 

 great number of these worms are placed on a 

 model (which is suspended from the ceiling of a 

 room), of the form of the robe or shawl, &c., that 

 is required to be made, and the motions of the in- 

 sects are directed by oiling the part of the model 

 not to be covered by them. The cloth thus ob- 

 tained exceeds in fineness the lightest gauze, and 

 has been worn as a robe, over her court dress, by 

 the Queen of Bavaria. 



In America Mr. Bartram has experimented on 

 an indigenous species of moth, which he found 



