T H E S I L K W O R M. 301 



As they are laid in parts not mortal, the reptile ftill lives and feeds, 

 changes its (kin; and fometimes into an aurelia : ftill the fatal intruders 

 within fecretly devour its fubftance : foon after they burft through its 

 Ikin, and quit it to fpin themfelves a covering, previous to their own 

 transformation. It is aftonilhing fometimes to fee the number of worms, 

 the thus iflue from the body of a fingle caterpillar, but more that they 

 fhould devour its entrails, without deftroying its life : but they feed only 

 on the fatty fubftance within the caterpillar's body ; and not on its 

 vitals. 



THE SILKWORM. 



IT is fuppofed that filkworms were not brought into Europe till the 

 beginning of the twelfth century ; when Roger of Sicily brought 

 lome from Afia Minor, after his return from the Holy Land, and 

 fettled them in Sicily and Calabria. 



The filkworm is a large caterpillar, whitifh, with twelve feet, and pro- 

 ducing a moth. Its cone is formed for its covering while in the aurelia 

 ftate ; the threads of feveral of thefe, wound oft, and united, form ftrong 

 and beautiful filken threads. Feeding thefe worms, gathering, winding, 

 twifting, and weaving the filk, is a principal manufadturc of Europe, 



There are two methods of breeding filkworms : they may be left at li- 

 berty on the trees where they arc hatched ; or they may be kept in a place 

 built for that purpofe, and fed every day with frefh leaves. The firft 

 method is ufed in China, Tonquin, and other hot countries; the other 

 in places where the animal has been artificially propagated, and conti- 

 nues a ftranger. In the warm climates, the filkworm proceeds from an 

 egg, which has been glued by the parent moth on the mulberry-tree, and 

 which remains there during winter. LTnafi'cfled by the weather, frofts 

 that kill the tree, injure not the filkworm. The infers never quit the egg 

 till nature has provided a fupply in the budding leaves for their fupport; 

 then burfting from their eggs, they crawl on the leaves, and feed vora- 

 cioufly. After fome months feeding, they depofii: on every leaf fnall 

 cones of filk. 



But in European climates, the frequent changes of weather, and the hea- 



3 E 2 vy 



