158 



NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 



Figure 34. 



Pilk of the Ccci-oyia. 



In the &quot; Philosoph 

 ical Transactions of 

 the Royal Society of 

 London,&quot; for the year 

 1759, vol. li., p. 54, 

 it is stated that the 

 Rev. Samuel Pullein 

 was among the first 

 to attempt to unwind 

 the cocoons of the Ce- 

 cropia Moth. &quot;Mr. 

 Pullein ascertained 

 that twenty threads 

 of this silk, twisted 

 together, would sus 

 tain nearly one ounce more in weight than the same num 

 ber of common silk. 



We find also, in the &quot;Transactions of the American Phil 

 osophical Society of Philadelphia,&quot; vol. i., p. 294, that Mo 

 ses Bartram, of Philadelphia, as early as the year 1767, 

 raised a number of caterpillars from the eggs of the Cccro- 

 pia, from which he obtained cocoons. 



&quot; About twenty years ago,&quot; says the Journal dcs Deficits, 

 Paris, Juillct, 184G, &quot;Mons. Auclouin received a box of co 

 coons of the Cecropia and its kindred moths from New Or 

 leans, and he succeeded perfectly in raising them, and after 

 ward witnessing their several metamorphoses.&quot; 



The Polyphonic, Luna, and Prcmcthca Moths also pro 

 duce large cocoons, and silk of the same quality; and our 

 lamented friend, Dr. Thaddeus Harris, of Cambridge, Mas 

 sachusetts, says, in his Treatise on Injurious Insects : &quot; The 

 following circumstances seem particularly to recommend 

 these indigenous Silk-worms to the attention of persons in 

 terested in the silk culture. Our native trees afford an 

 abundance of food for the caterpillars; their cocoons are 



