On the Treatme?it of the Silk-TForm, 95 



ing among the cloth, until it finds another of the insects, 

 they copulate, and remain joined together two days, 

 when they separate, \^'aste the whole substance of their 

 bodies in the eggs which they fix to the cloth, and, as 

 soon as this seemingly inevitable law of their nature is 

 accomplished, they drop dead. 



OF THE SILK DESIGNED FOR USE. 



The balls designed for use, some say, should be taket 

 from the bosco (the name the Italians give the bundles 

 where the worm spins) in six days ; others, in nine. All 

 the insects do not go to the bosco the same day. It 

 must, therefore, be an impossible matter to ascertain the 

 different days which they have been spinning. I am 

 inclined to think, that it is ascertained by the ball be- 

 coming firm, and of a colour which shows that the web 

 has acquired the proper thickness. It will, before, be 

 soft and thin. Practice and experience in this, as in 

 every other case, must be the best guide. It must only 

 be observed, that the balls designed for use must be 

 exposed to a hot sun, or even in an oven, to kill the 

 worm, before the butterfly begins to form, as this in- 

 stantly begins to eat its way out, and, of course, destroys 

 the thread of the web. 



Of the drawing or spinning out the thread of the web, 

 which is considered, by the Italians, as the most diflicult 

 process of obtaining tlie silk, I sliall attempt to give a 

 description. 



