34 



hung up until such time as the moths come out,* which 

 will he in one or two weeks, when the males and females 

 will couple ; they may be taken by the wings in pairs 

 without separating them and placed on large sheets of 

 paper, (old newspapers will do,) where they are to re- 

 main ; as many pairs of moths as can conveniently lie on 

 the papers may be placed there. The room in which 

 these are placed should be secure from mice and ants, 

 and the sun should not be permitted to shine on them in 

 any stage of their existence ; as soon as the moths on 

 one sheet have done laying their eggs, it should be folded 

 up and put down cellar, or in some cool, dry place until 

 wanted for use the next spring. 



The moths (see fig.) are in the form of a grayish 

 w r hite butterfly and generally begin to lay their eggs in 

 24 to 36 hours, after leaving the cocoon. Each female 

 moth will lay from three to four hundred eggs, general- 

 ly handsomely disposed and firmly attached to the paper 

 in a circular form. 



Should the eggs be permitted to remain exposed to 

 the warm weather, they will sometimes hatch the same 

 season, and unless another crop be desired, they will be 

 lost. The moths eat nothing after leaving the cocoons, 

 and die in a few days after depositing the eggs. 



DISEASES OF SILK WORMS. 



The foreign writers enumerate and describe a variety of 

 diseases to which silk worms are liable in their differen 

 ages, and particularly in the fifth, which all agree to be the 

 most critical. But to all these diseases they prescribe the 



* See the Fly, Fig. 8, Plate 1. 



