WILD SILK WORMS. 183 



wild worms hatch, and that, generally, at the end of ten or 

 eleven days. 



The first idea which suggests itself relative to wild worms 

 that are raised upon trees, in the open air, makes us believe 

 at first that they scarcely require any care, and are much 

 easier to rear than the silk worms of the mulberry tree ; 

 but it is not so by a great deal. When the small silk worms 

 come out of their eggs there are some persons who suspend 

 the bundles of millet upon a branch of ihefagara tree, in 

 such a manner that they can climb from their cradle upon 

 the leaves of that tree ; others cut a branch, put it in a 

 vessel full of water, and attach there their millet, with all 

 its new inhabitants, the number of which augments mo- 

 mentarily until they nearly equal the number of eggs. The 

 reason of these different proceedings is the extreme delicacy 

 of the worms, their weakness, and their enemies. If the 

 tree where it is desired to establish them be at all accessible 

 to the ants, and other carniverous insects of the season, so 

 tender a game attracts them, and in a short lime they make 

 a dreadful havock ; which remark, en passant, explains suf- 

 ficiently well why it is that the wild silk worms so rarely 

 multiply and live in sufficiently large quantities to yield 

 many cocoons. The best way to protect them, in their 

 first infancy, is, after a great rain, to surround, with a small 

 ditch, full of water, thefagara or ash tree, which has been 

 chosen for their place of abode. But a branch put in a 

 vessel of water is much surer. The most intrepid ants 

 dare not swim to catch their game ; for, to judge of the 

 daintiness of these amazoiis by their avidity and eagerness, 

 these newly hatched worms are the most dainty fare of 

 their table. The flying insects of the season are yet more 

 thirsty for their blood than the ants ; it is much more diffi- 

 cult to defend them from their continual attacks. 



