724 



The Living Animals of the World 



Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] 



WHITE PLTJME-MOTH. 



[MilJ'ord-on-Sen. 



A very delicate insect. The wings are cleft almost to the base into separate 

 feathers, two on the fore wings and three on the hind wings. 



colours, in order to weave chequered sarcenets, 



comprising black and white, black and green, 



green and red, with red-and-white checks 



all of which was to be done according to 



the ancient rule, without the least variation ; 



the black, yellow, azure, and red tints were 



all to be correct and good, without the least 



fault, in order to provide dresses for the 



celestial and ancestorial sacrifices, and 



standards for distinguishing the high and low 



degrees. 



"In ancient times the emperor and his 



princes had a public mulberry garden and 



a silkworm establishment erected near some 



river. On the morning of the first day of 



the third month of spring, the sovereign, 



wearing a leather cap and a plain garment, 



ascertained by lot the chief of his three 



queens, with the most honourable amongst his 



concubines, and caused them to attend to the rearing of the silkworms in the above-named 



establishment. They then brought the eggs of the worms, and washed them in the river 



above alluded to, after which they picked the mulberry-leaves in the public garden, and aired 



and dried them, in order to feed the worms. 

 " When the season was over, the royal 

 concubines, having completed the business of 

 rearing the silkworms, brought the cocoons 

 to show them to the prince, when he pre- 

 sented the cocoons again to his consort, 

 whereupon his consort said, 'This is the 

 material of which your highness's robes are 

 to be formed.' Having said which, she 

 covered herself with her robe, and received 

 the cocoons. On this occasion the ladies of 

 the court were honoured with the present of 

 a sheep. This was the mode in which the 

 presentation of the cocoons was anciently 

 conducted." 



In the reign of Justinian eggs of the 

 Chinese mulberry-silkworm were smuggled 

 into Europe by two monks, and the culture 

 of silk rapidly spread through Southern 

 Europe, where it has continued to form 

 a staple industry ever since. In the Pelo- 

 ponnesus especially such large plantations of 

 mulberry-trees were grown for the purpose 

 of rearing silkworms as to give the peninsula 

 its modern name of Morea. Silk is obtained 

 in different parts of the world from the cocoons 

 of various other moths, chiefly belonging to 

 the group of Emper 6r-moths ; but these pro. 



INDIAN SWALLOW-TAILED MOTH. ducts are Qnly Qf ^ importance? and are not 



* fc ** likely to compete with the mulberry-silkworm. 



