3o8 



Marvels of Insect Life. 



Photo by^ [H. Main,F.E.S. 



An Open-work Cocoon. 



The caterpillar of the little plutella-moth, 

 when about to become a chrysalis, spins this 

 net-like cocoon, through which the chrysalis 

 may be plainly seen. Six times the actual size. 



Cocoon of Tusseh-Silkworm. 

 The cocoon is spun up in a folded leaf or 

 between two leaves, the caterpillar taking care 

 first to spin a long stalk of silk which will 

 attach the cocoon fjrmly to the branch should 

 the leaf-stalk become detached. The dark- 

 coloured silk is rather coarse and tough, but 

 it makes a very durable fabric. 



country silk was long a peculiar and staple commodity. 

 It was not cultivated in France until the time of 

 Henry IV., who, considering that mulberries grew 

 in his kingdom as well as in Italy, resolved, in 

 opposition to the opinion of Sully, to attempt 

 introducing it, and fully succeeded." 



But in classical times, long before the intro- 

 duction of the silkworm, very fine silk was produced 

 in the island of Cos, in the JEgea.n, probably from 

 the cocoons of a large brown moth,^ a native of 

 South Europe and Western Asia. James I. of 

 England had visions of a British silk industry when 

 he encouraged the planting of mulberry trees in this 

 country ; but all attempts to breed silkworms on 

 a large scale in these islands have ended in failure. 

 It has been estimated that in the production of one 

 pound of raw silk the silkworms consume thirty 

 pounds of mulberry leaves. 



Most persons have been in their youth amateur 

 silk-farmers, and have reared this Insect right 

 through from lead-coloured eggs and the smooth, 

 white caterpillars with the caudal horn to the 

 insignificant-looking moth, which has been so demo- 

 ralized by thousands of years of domestication that 

 it no longer has the power or the inclination to fly. 

 There is no moth that has a less interesting life- 

 history than this ; and yet, because of this silk- 

 producing power of its caterpillar, it outweighs 

 in importance all other species of moths put together, 

 according to the notions of civilized man. There 

 are finer moths whose caterpillars produce silk of 

 fine quality more abundantly, but they fail in the 

 spinning quality of the thread. Of some of these 

 great hopes have been entertained from time to time, 

 but with the exception of certain wild Indian species 

 which supply the tussa, taser, or tusseh silk and 

 the eri silk, the results have been somewhat dis- 

 appointing commercially. These big silkworms 

 belong to a family different from that which includes 

 the silkworm. They are more closely related to our 

 emperor moth, already described ; but a few words 

 upon the chief silk-producing species will not 

 be out of place here. We have seen that 

 the upper part of the emperor's cocoon is 

 so contrived by the untaught caterpillar that 



1 Pacliypasa otus. 



