ORDER IV. MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES. 145 



mins and other sects, and would be highly useful to the in- 

 habitants of many parts of America and the south of Eu- 

 rope, where a light and cool, and at the same time a cheap 

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

 ed. The durabiHty of this silk is really astonishing, as aft- 

 er constant use for nine or ten years it does not show the 

 least appearance of wear or decay. The insects 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 night from the bats. The second, 

 the Arindy Silk-worm {Phalana Cynthia, Drury), feeds sole- 

 ly on the leaves of the Palma Christi, and produces remark- 

 ably soft cocoons, the silk of which is so delicate and flossy 

 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 dura- 

 bility than the other, the lifetime of one person being sel- 

 dom sufficient to wear out a garment made of it. It is 

 used not only for clothing, but for j)acking 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. 



The silk which is the most extensively manufactured in 

 China, Japan, France, Italy, and some other countries, is, 

 as already mentioned, the product of the common silk-worm 

 moth, which is of medium size, and of a white, yellowish 

 color. A single female produces from three to five hun- 

 dred eggs, which are oval, bright yellow, and which may 

 be preserved in a cool room during a whole winter. In the 

 month of May their color becomes lighter or paler, and 

 little white and transparent caterpillars may be seen issu- 

 ing from them. These little creatures require to be fed im- 

 mediately with tender leaves of the white mulberry. They 

 will also eat the leaves of maple, pear, and oak trees, as 



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