MEMOIR ON 



WILD SILK WORMS, 



BY P. D'INCARVILLE.* 



The observations made by Pliny, the naturalist, upon the 

 caterpillars of the cypress, fir, ash, and oak trees, from 

 which the inhabitants of Cos obtained their silk, has start- 

 ed the idea of making some research into that subject. We 

 have found that in the third year of the reign of Ouen-ti, 

 (a hundred and fifty years before Christ,) the wild silk 

 worms multiplied in forests, and gave a large quantity of 

 silk; and, likewise, in the second year of Youen-ti, of the 

 same dynasty, (forty-four before Christ,) with the remark, 

 that the cocoons of these worms were as large as eggs 

 (ta-jou~tan). We have found the same fact related in the 

 Annals of the years 26, 231, 441, 449, 627, 638, &c., 

 anno domini, always with the remark, that these cocoons 

 were as large as eggs, except in 627, when it is said, they 

 were as large as apricots ; to which the annalist adds, that 

 six thousand five hundred and seventy measures have been 



* Extract from Volume II, (pages 579-601,) of Memoirs relating to the history, 

 sciences, arts, &c., of the Chinese, by the missionaries of Peking. Several pages 

 of remarks, foreign to this subject, have been suppressed* 



