796 



A HISTORY OF 



and that the same caterpillar sometimes bred Jj tion it was discovered, that the ichneumon 

 an ichneumon, and sometimes a butterfly; tribe were not the caterpillar's ol 

 but it was not till after more careful inspec- jj but its murderers. 



CHAPTER CLXXXVHI. 



OF THE SILKWORM. 



HAVING mentioned, in the last chapter, 

 the damages inflicted by the caterpillar tribe, 

 we now come to an animal of this kind, that 

 alone compensates for all the mischief occa- 

 sioned by the rest. This little creature, 

 which only works for itself, has been made 

 of the utmost service toman; and furnishes 

 him with a covering more beautiful than any 

 other animal can supply. We may declaim 

 indeed against the luxuries of the times, when 

 silk is so generally worn ; but were such gar- 

 ments to fail, what other arts could supply 

 the deficiency ? 



Though s'llk was anciently brought in small 

 quantities to Rome, yet it was so scarce as 

 to be sold for its weight in gold ; and was 

 considered as such a luxurious refinement in 

 dress, that it was infamous for a man to ap- 

 pear in habits of which silk formed but half 

 the composition. It was most probably 

 brought among them from the remotest parts 

 of the East ; since it was, at the time of which 

 I am speaking, scarcely known even in 

 Persia. 



Nothing can be more remote from the 

 truth, than the manner in which their histo- 

 rians describe the animal by which silk is 

 produced. Pausanias informs us, that silk 

 came from the country of the Seres, a people 

 of Asiatic Scythia ; in which place an insect 

 as large as the beetle, but in every other re- 

 spect resembling a spider, was bred up for 

 that purpose. They take great care, as he 

 assures us, to feed and defend it from the 

 weather; as well during the summer's heat, 

 as the rigours of winter. This insect, he ob- 

 serves, makes its web with its feet, of which 

 it has eight in number. It is fed for the space 

 of four years upon a kind of paste, prepared 

 for it ; and at the beginning of the fifth, it is 



supplied with the leaves of the green willow, 

 of which it is particularly fond. It then feeds 

 till it bursts with fat ; after which they take 

 out its bowels, which are spun into the beau- 

 tiful manufacture so scarce and costly. 



The real history of this animal was un- 

 known among the Romans till the time of 

 Justinian; and it is supposed, that silkworms 

 were not brought into Europe till the be- 

 ginning of the twelfth century ; when Roger 

 of Sicily brought workmen in this manufac- 

 ture from Asia Minor, after his return from 

 his expedition to the Holy Land, and settled 

 them in Sicily and Calabria. From these the 

 other kingdoms of Europe learned this manu- 

 facture ; and it is now one of the most lucra- 

 tive carried on among the southern provinces 

 of Europe. 



The silkworm is now very well known 

 to be a large caterpillar, of a whitish 

 colour, with twelve feet, and producing a 

 butterfly of the moth kind. The cone on 

 which it spins, is formed for covering it while 

 it continues in the aurelia state; and several 

 of these, properly wound off, and united to- 

 gether, form those strong and beautiful threads, 

 which are woven into silk. The feeding 

 these worms, the gathering, the winding, the 

 twisting, and the weaving their silk, is one of 

 the principal manufactures of Europe; and, 

 as our luxuries increase, seems every day to 

 become more and more necessary to human 

 happiness. 



There are two methods of breeding silk- 

 worms; for they may be left to grow,. and to 

 remain at liberty upon the trees where they 

 are hatched ; or they may be kept in a place, 

 built for that purpose, and fed every day with 

 fresh leaves. The first method is used in 

 China, Tonquin, and other hot countries} 



