SILKWORMS. 151 



must be spread in beds of the thickness of a single cocoon, 

 and they must be preserved in a cool place. The butter- 

 flies will come out so very late that it will not be necessary 

 to hurry the reeling of the silk. 



HOANG-SING-TSENG, SAYS : 



The cocoons which are oblong, brilliant and white, yield 

 very fine silk. The cocoons, which are large, obscure, and 

 of a blue color, like the skin of an onion, furnish a coarse 

 silk. The floss must be removed which covers the silk. 

 The cocoons which are moistened in the inside, by the 

 humors of the silk worms, are called in-kien, that is to 

 say : dark cocoons. 



Those which are thin and mixed, yield a common and 

 coarse silk. The cocoons must not be left exposed for a 

 long time, to the rays of the sun ; otherwise, the silk will 

 be burnt, and it will be difficult to reel it. The same thing 

 happens when perfume is burnt in the room where the 

 cocoons are. 



The large cocoons are called tsou-kong, that is to say : 

 coarse work. 



HAN-CHI-TCHI-CHOUE, 



When the silk worms have spun their cocoons, those 

 which are firm, and whose surface has large stripes must be 

 chosen ; they can be quickly reeled. For that they must 

 be exposed to the steam of boiling water, and afterwards 

 reeled, by placing them in a basin filled with lukewarm 

 water. 



