ORDER IV. MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES. 141 



The Silk-worm Moth (Bombyx mori). 



Of all the lepidopterous insects this is the most celebra- 

 ted and the most useful to man, and consequently deserves 

 as extended a notice as the limits of this work will allow. 

 It is generally known that most of the caterpillars, at the 

 period of their metamorphosis, envelop themselves with a 

 silky web, which forms the inner part of the cocoon. But 

 it is not, perhaps, so well known how this silk is obtained 

 from the caterpillar, nor to what extent this most valuable 

 of all the products of insects could be cultivated in this 

 country. 



It is true that mankind have lived, and could live, with- 

 out the use of silk, and the same might be said of almost all 

 our luxuries ; but whoever has witnessed the steady progress 

 of refinement in manners and customs which has attended 

 the increase of luxuries in society will be careful how he 

 speaks against the use of an article which gives employ- 

 ment to many thousands of people in its first production, 

 and furnishes many hundreds of thousands with food and 

 raiment by its final manufacture, and has already become 

 one of the most important sources of national wealth. Be- 

 sides, were it not for the use of silk and its costliness, it is 

 probable that our woolen, cotton, and linen stuffs would 

 be much dearer than they are, and much harder for poor 

 people to obtain. Silk stuffs are, moreover, an appendage 

 of rank and office, without which insignificant courts, igno- 

 rant embassadors, and many other brainless people, would 

 lose their whole splendor and influence. 



Silk has always been an expensive article, and has a cu- 

 rious history. It was once valued at its weight in gold at 

 Rome. The extravagant Julius Ca3sar covered the stage 

 of the theatre with a silken carpet ; but the Emperor Tibe- 

 rius prohibited gentlemen from wearing silk dresses, because 

 he considered it effeminate. The emperors Caligula and 



