204 THE IDYL OF THE SPLIT-BAMBOO 



attachment resembles those of promethea. It pro- 

 duces a slightly longer and larger length of gut. 



As a fact, none of the American silkworms are 

 worth bothering with as gut-producers in comparison 

 with cecropia; although I have secured fairly good, 

 stout strands of gut, four or five feet long, from 

 polyphemus. But my experience has been that a 

 small cecropia caterpillar produces as much gut, and 

 of a better quality, than a large polyphemus; while 

 a big cecropia is unapproachable in this respect, yield- 

 ing a strand of gut from six to nine feet long, round, 

 smooth, of a suitable color, lusterless, and knotless. 

 Polyphemus is not worth raising if cecropia can be 

 obtained. 



By hunting, available material for the cultivation 

 of these worms may be obtained in the shape of 

 moths, cocoons, eggs, and caterpillars, the cocoon 

 state being on the whole the most satisfactory. In 

 length, the cecropia cocoons vary from somewhat 

 over an inch (very small) to three inches (very 

 large). Some are slender and compactly spun, 

 others are loosely spun and baggy. They vary in 

 color, when fresh, being brownish, and when weath- 

 ered, somewhat silvery. They are more pointed 

 at one end than at the other. Careful examination 

 of this pointed end shows that the threads were 

 broken and then puckered together in the process 

 of spinning. The cocoon usually is attached to the 

 side of the twig, branch, tree-trunk, or stalk on which 



