COCOONS FOR PRODUCING EGGS. 83 



SECTION XXXI. 

 COCOONS FOR PRODUCING EGGS. 



SELECT for seed, the best cocoons ; those which are 

 of largest size, and feel firm, and are of a bright color; 

 an equal number of males and females. The male co- 

 coons are slender, depressed in the middle, and pointed 

 at both ends. The female cocoons are of larger size, 

 of a rounder form, and resemble in shape a hen's egg. 

 Some have recommended to reserve the dupions for 

 hatching. Having stripped the floss, they may be strung 

 together by threads, being careful not to pierce the co- 

 coon, and hung up to the wainscot in festoons ; or they 

 may be placed in a single layer, in open paper boxes, on 

 shelves or tables, in a darkened, retired, and warm, airy, 

 room or chamber. In from 10 to 18 days from the 

 time they complete spinning, according to the warmth 

 of the climate and season, the moth emerges from the 

 cocoon, a large butterfly of a grayish white color, with 

 four wings, two eyes, and two feathery plumes or horns. 

 The male usually appears first, and is known by his 

 smaller size and a continual flutter of its wings. The 

 female is of a larger size, of a whiter color, and seldom 

 moves. These are to be paired, and removed by their 

 wings to sheets of paper spread on tables or boards, 

 where they are to be left shut up in darkness. The 

 phalcBna being a night insect. The female usually com- 

 mences laying in about from twenty-four to thirty-six 

 hours after leaving the cocoon, and lays from three hun- 

 dred to four hundred eggs, disposed in a circular space 

 on the paper, to which they adhere. One sixteenth part 

 of the cocoons are sometimes reserved for this purpose 

 as a great allowance. One hundred pairs of cocoons, 

 which weigh a pound, will produce an ounce of eggs ; 

 and an ounce of eggs is computed to produce forty thou- 



