i;o THE CULTURE 



undergoes 5 but the curious texture of that 

 filken covering with which it furrounds 

 itfeif when it becomes a moth, and arrives 

 at the perfection of its animal hfe, vaftly 

 furpaffes what is made by other animals of 

 this clafs. All the caterpillar kind do in- 

 deed undergo changes like thofe of the filk- 

 worm, and the beauty of many of them in 

 their butterfly flate greatly exceeds it ; but 

 the covering which thev put on before this 

 change into a fiy is, poor a; d mian, when 

 compaicd to that golden tiffue in which 

 the filkworm wraps itielf. They indeed 

 come forth in variety of colours, their 

 wings bedropp'd with gold and fcarlet, yet 

 are they but the beings of a fummer's 

 day, both their life and beauty quickly va- 

 nifh, and they leave no remembrance after 

 them; but the filkworm leaves behind it 

 fuch beautiful, fach beneficial monuments, 

 as at once record both the wifdom of their 

 Creator, and his bounty to man. 



The matter out of which the filk is 

 formed is, while contained in the filkworm, 

 only a fine yellow tranfparent gum, con- 

 tained in two veffels as thick as a grofs 

 knitting needle, and, when unfolded, a- 

 bout ten inches lorg 5 tliefe open clofe to 



onq 



