WILD SILK WORMS. 1 89 



P. D'Incarville having neglected to put the cocoons in a 

 cool place, had some butterflies in twelve, others in fifteen 

 days, after the caterpillars were enclosed, that is to say : 

 eleven months too soon. Nevertheless, there are some 

 places where, though contrary to the institutions of nature, 

 in general made to be followed, the common custom is to 

 manage two crops of wild worms, one in the Spring, the 

 other at the end of Summer. 



We now come to the wild worms of the oak tree, with 

 leaves like the chestnut tree. They are made to hatch like 

 those of thefagara and ash trees ; but their earliest infancy 

 is more delicate. The wind is very injurious to them : care 

 must be taken to raise them upon branches of oak, placed 

 in vessels full of water, as was said above, and they must 

 be kept in an inhabited room, well closed, and with a south- 

 ern exposure : but attention must be paid to open the win- 

 dows when the weather is fine. Those who think it dan- 

 gerous not to accustom them at first to the open air, adopt 

 the method of planting their branches of oak upon the 

 edge of a river or brook, at the distance of a foot and a 

 half or two feet ; but, in order not to expose them to the 

 fatal effects of the wind, they protect them with a shelter of 

 strong mats on the side from whence it blows. 



We have nothing particular to add upon the life they lead, 

 and the care the worms of the oak tree require when they 

 are carried after their first moulting to the tree where they 

 are to finish their short career. They are exposed there to 

 the same perils as those of the fagara and ash trees : they 

 are defended in the same manner. Dryness appears to be 

 very injurious to them. P. D'Incarville seeing his worms 

 thirsty, presented them some water, on the end of a straw, 

 and he saw them suck a great number of drops, with- 

 out appearing to quench their thirst. Thus, the Chinese 



