TEXTILE MANUFACTURES. 



another, it adheres, until the contents of the 

 sericteria are exhausted ; and the animal is, in its 

 now shrunken condition, entombed in a silken 

 and nearly close-fitting case of a white or golden 

 colour, called a cocoon. But the material is not 

 uniform throughout : at first, that which formed 

 the outside of the cocoon was coarser, less 

 lustrous, and in a less distinct thread than that 

 which formed the next layer, in which the thread 

 is clear and distinct, and has a beautiful glossi- 

 ness ; after this, again, the innermost layer is 

 confused, and so closely gummed by the saliva 

 that it has the appearance of a kind of paper. In 

 consequence of these characteristics, only the 

 middle layer can be unwound as a thread and 

 used for weaving ; and formerly, the outer and 

 inner layers were regarded as waste, and were 

 thrown aside as useless ; they are now, however, 

 utilised. Before proceeding to describe the pro- 

 cesses required to fit either kind of silk for the 

 purposes of the weaver, it will be well to mention 

 the names of the insects which yield silk of 

 commercial value ; there are many, besides, which 

 have not been found of further use than that 

 which nature designed for them. The first in 

 importance, and the one which is, par excellence, 

 called the silkworm, is the Bombyx mart, or Mul- 

 berry Bombyx, from its feeding upon the leaves of 

 the white mulberry-tree when in a state of nature. 

 It will, however, in captivity feed upon some other 

 plants, such as the lettuce, mallow, and some 

 other plants which have milky juices, from which 

 it is supposed to secrete the silk. The following 

 species of Bombyx are also feeders upon the 

 white mulberry-tree namely, B. crossa, B. textor, 

 B. sincnsis, B. Hut tout, B. Horsfieldi, all natives 

 of India or China ; and they yield silk which has 

 been used, arid the animals have some of them 

 been beneficially crossed with the common silk- 

 worm. Besides these species of the genus Bombyx, 

 there are species of other genera which yield use- 

 ful silk, and foremost amongst them is Antheraa 

 Paphia of Linnaeus, the Tusseh moth, yielding the 

 greater part of the silk called ' Tusseh ' or ' Tussur ' 

 silk, a coarse kind much used in India in weaving 

 a coarse fabric known in commerce as Tusseh silk, 

 which is now in frequent use in this country for 

 coat-linings and other purposes. The following 

 species of Antheraea are also said to yield a part 

 of the Tusseh silk used : A. Frithii, A. Larissa, 

 A. Helferi, A. Pernyi, A. Mezankooria, A. Janet, 

 A. Roylei, and A. Perottetti; whilst another species, 

 A. Assama, produces a silk used in India under 

 the name of Moonga, or Moogha, of which a 

 finer cloth is made than that from the Tusseh- 

 silk. 



The genus Attacus is next in importance to that 

 of Antheraea. Attacus Cynthia yields the Eria 

 silk, which is woven into useful and beautiful 

 fabrics in India, China, and Java. In India, it 

 is known as Eria or Arindy silk. Of much less 

 importance is A. Edwardsii, A. Guerini, A. atlas, 

 and A. Ricini. The last, from its choosing the 

 castor-oil plant as its natural food, was thought a 

 very promising subject for rearing in Southern 

 Europe ; its culture has, however, not advanced. 

 A cross-breed between A. atlas and A. Guerini 

 has been introduced into Europe, and great hopes 

 were felt that it would prove of great value, as it 

 is able to bear our climate even as far north as 

 Perthshire, and it feeds upon the leaves of the 



Ailanthus, an equally hardy tree ; but, like others, 

 it has not yet become practically useful. The 

 following are more or less used in India, China, 

 and Java as silk-producers : India Actias Selene, 

 Caligula Simla, C. Thibeta, Neon's Huttoni, and 

 Saturnia Grotei; China Saturnia pyretorum; 

 ]a.va.Criciila triferrestrata and Lcepa Katinka. 



It will surprise many that the silk used by man 

 is produced by so many insects, and we have been 

 thus particular in naming them, because it is too 

 common an error of books to lead to the conclu- 

 sion that one only, the Bombyx mori, is the sole 

 producer. It is true that it yields a very large 

 proportion of all that is woven in Europe, and 

 even in India and China ; but since the discovery 

 of the method of using waste silk, we receive such 

 mixtures from abroad, that it is impossible to say 

 that we do not use the silk of any or all of the 

 above-mentioned species. 



It is mentioned above, that the cocoon of the 

 common silkworm consists of three layers, all 

 differing in the quality of the silk. For textile 

 purposes, we can only separate them into two 

 namely, the middle one, called raw silk, capable 

 of being unwound or reeled off ; and the outer and 

 inner layers, which are called waste silk. The 

 greater number of the other species only yield the 

 latter kind, and as the art of using it is only of 

 recent discovery, they are comparatively little 

 known. 



The first process in the preparation of silk for 

 the weaver is to carefully sort the cocoons into 

 their different qualities and colours ; then they are 

 soaked in warm water, to soften the gummy matter 

 which cements the threads together, and the 

 worker carefully removes the outer layer with a 

 small instrument, usually a pointed bit of wood. 

 The waste is thrown aside for other operations, 

 and the layer of windable silk being exposed, is 

 ready for reeling. The great point in reeling is 

 to make the thread of as even a thickness as pos- 

 sible : perfect equality is scarcely attainable. An 

 experienced reeler, with the assistance of a girl 

 to turn the wheel, can with ease wind off a pound 

 of silk in a day. 



A number of cocoons are placed in a dish of 

 warm water, in order to dissolve the gummy fluid 

 already mentioned, and allow the thread to be 

 taken off. The reeler uses a whisk of fine twigs 

 to take up the loose points, which she passes in 

 sets of about five through the eyes of the machine. 

 These compound filaments, after being made to 

 cross and rub on each other so as to clean their 

 surfaces, are combined first two and two, and 

 finally all together into a single thread, which is 

 wound upon a reel or frame, and formed into 

 hanks and skeins. 



Raw silk, preparatory to weaving, must be made 

 to take one of three forms respectively termed 

 singles, tram, or organzine. Singles is merely the 

 raw silk twisted, in order to give more firmness to 

 its texture. All raw silk, for whatever manufac- 

 ture designed, must undergo this process. Tram 

 is formed by twisting together, not very closely, 

 two or more threads of raw silk, and this gener- 

 ally forms the weft, or transverse threads of the 

 web. Organzine, which is principally used for 

 warp, is produced by a very elaborate process, of 

 which it would be impossible to convey any correct 

 idea to the general reader without the aid of a 

 diagram. The principle of the process, however, 



