94 On the Treatment of the Silk-PForm. 



tain restlessness, as by their turning of a bright yellow- 

 greenish colour, it is necessary to fix on their ends, 

 against the wall, small bundles of twigs of rough bark. 

 These should be placed on the tables where the insects 

 are, immediately contiguous to them, and the worm 

 will, in general, find its way to them. They may, how- 

 ever, be put with the fingers, -with one or two leaves (to 

 ascertain whether or no they have done feeding) among 

 the little branches of the twigs. These bundles are 

 made of a kind of brush, resembling the branches of the 

 pine, but devoid of smell, small and tender, but, at the 

 same time, of a rough outside, so that the insect can ad- 

 here to them, and, at the same time, force its way through 

 them without injury. It wraps itself entirely up in its 

 Aveb, forming a ball of the shape of an egg, and is usu- 

 ally six to nine days in completing its spinning. TJiis 

 v.ill be perceived by the hardness of the ball. 



At the end of this time, those which are designed for 

 seed must be separated from those for use, and a thread 

 passed through some of the outer filaments of the balls, 

 taking care not to injure the inside. The Italians pre- 

 tend to distinguish between the male and female, and 

 chuse an equal number of each to furnish the seed ; but 

 the only external difference is in the size ; the former, 

 they say, being larger, the latter smaller. The balls 

 thus strung together should be suspended horizontally 

 along the wall, and coarse linen fiistened, hanging down 

 the wall, immediately under them. 



In three or four days, the butterfly, already formed, 

 cuts its way through the bottom of the ball, and, creep- 



