OF SILK. 149 



frefh ; but which, by lying flat under the 

 worms, would not otherwife be eaten : it 

 would be beft therefore to do this before 

 you give them a frefli feeding, if much of 

 their former leaves remained unconfumcd. 

 If your worms lie on fhelves of boards, 

 or in any other way that their litter can- 

 not fall through, and, that it is neceflary 

 to clean away all their litter from under 

 them, you may do it by j-emoving the 

 worms when they come upon the frefh 

 leaves to one fide of the Ihelf which is 

 empty, and then making clean the part 

 from which they were taken, remove the 

 next neareft worms upon this, an^d fo on 

 until you have clean'd them all ; and you 

 need not at this age of the worms be af- 

 fraid of taking them up with your hands, 

 provided they are clean. But in remov- 

 ing the worms thus with your hands, do 

 not by any means pull away thofe fibres 

 which Oiail cling to their claws, but lay 

 them along with them : the tearing and 

 forcing them from thefe fibres, I take to 

 be a gi'eat caufe why many of them do 

 not care for mounting the branches where 

 they are afterwards to fpin j their clav/s 

 being fo blunted and ftrained, that they 

 L 3 caiinot 



