ORDER IV. MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES. 147 



tain the chrysalis, which, if aliowed to remain undisturbed 

 for two or three weeks, will be metamorphosed into a moth. 

 But the moth, in escaping from its silky prison, breaks the 

 threads of* silk which encompass it, and of course renders 

 the cocoon useless to man. Hence, in order to prevent 

 this, the cocoons must be put into a Avarm oven, where the 

 chrysalis will be suffocated, and then the cocoons may bo 

 preserved for any length of time, and their silk reeled off 

 at pleasure. 



So easy and amusing is this process, it is surprising that 

 young people living in our country villages, especially where 

 there are white mulberry-trees (and they may be cultivated 

 in almost any of our States), do not more often engage in 

 it. Nothing would be easier than to raise silk enough 

 every year for domestic use, and also enough for sale, from 

 the proceeds of which each individual might realize a hand- 

 some salary. But to say nothing of pecuniary advantage, 

 the ennobling nature of the employment — tracing in the 

 natural history of these little animals man's own destiny, 

 and reading so plainly the invariable order of nature which 

 is the foundation of his hopes for the future — one would 

 think, ought to be ample compensation for all the care their 

 culture requires, certainly a sufficient remuneration for so 

 many otherwise idle or misspent hours. To see the suc- 

 cessive transformations of these little caterpillars — to watch 

 their development from the tiny egg to their full growth, 

 and then, instead of gradually decaying into death and cor- 

 ruption, as human beings do, to see them in full maturity 

 climbing off the earth, weaving joyously their silken shroud, 

 and calmly folding themselves up, not to die, but only to 

 exchange a crawling body for a winged and ethereal form — 

 what scene in nature more elevating, more consoling, more 

 full of promise to man, the most miserable of all animal 

 creations, and yet the most capable of the highest happiness ! 



In hopes of encouraging the young to engage in this 



