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 firsteproduction, 
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 aé its weight in gold at 
Rome. The extravagant Julius Cesar 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 
