107 



fanners could only gaze with folded arms on the tiny persecutors, as 

 they hung suspended from their boughs in silken bags, many of 

 which were more than three feet long and nearly as wide. Not 

 unfrequently, too, the trunks themselves were enveloped in the 

 thick silky tissue woven by these never-tiring grubs. That the 

 British Ermine can work as heartily as his French relative is clear, 

 from the fact, that webs of this species were exhibited at a 

 meeting of the Entomological Society in February, 1871, which 

 measured " over a yard long." 



With such wonderful silk-producing power constantly in view, 

 it is scarcely a matter of surprise, that persons have endeavoured 

 to take advantage of the little animal's instinct, and turn it to some 

 practical purpose. With this object, frames or models have been 

 constructed, upon which the caterpillars were compelled to work. 

 So long ago as 1815, a certain Lieutenant Hebenstreit, living in the 

 vicinity of Miinich, produced in this way a number of bags of 

 remarkably fine tissue. And the French zoologist Auton Desmarest 

 states that a material has been obtained by the labour of the com-^ 

 mon ermine (Hyponomeuta pcidella) so strong and light as to have 

 been actually worn as a lady's neckerchief. However, the manu- 

 facture was more curious than useful, and the experiments have 

 ceased to be carried on. 



From time to time attempts have been made to supplement the 

 produce of the silkworm by that of other insects. Some persons 

 were sanguine enough to hope, that something might be done with 

 the spider's web, more especially that of the common house spider 

 of Europe (Tegenaria domestica). Stockings and gloves have in 

 consequence been manufactured from the silken bags, within which 

 the female spider encloses its ova. But the difficulty of collecting 

 these egg-bags, and the still greater difiiculty, or rather impossi- 

 bility, of inducing the fierce little spinners to live together in har- 

 mony, soon put a stop to all efibrts in that direction. 



Attention has also been turned to the thread (technically termed 

 Byssus), by which many of the Molhisca, or shellfish, moor them- 

 selves to the rocks. This is especially the habit of the family 

 Heteromya, to which the mussels belong. Two of these (Pinna 

 squamosa and Pinna nobilis), inhabiting the Mediterranean Sea, 

 develope threads from 9 inches to a foot long, and from these 

 threads purses, gloves, and such things have long been woven. 



About the middle of the last century, ' ' A pair of gloves of this 

 silk was presented to the then Pope, Benedict XIV. ""^ A pair of 

 gloves of the same material is also deposited in the Oxford 

 Museum. 



Until lately there was a regular manufactory at Naples, where 

 the Byssus was worked up into articles of dress and ornament, 

 which were presented on state occasions by the King of the 

 two Sicilies to those whom His Majesty desired to honour. I 

 believe, however, that the manufactory has come to an end since 

 the expulsion of the Bourbons. 



Indeed, in spite of all attempts in other directions, the silk- 

 worm interest has shown itself to be too strong to be materially 



* Gibbon Decline, etc. , 4. 



