834 BOMBICID.E — SILK- WORM MOTHS. 



« 



hour it became pliirap ami livelv as if nothing had hap- 

 pened.^ 



The name Sphinx is applied to this genus of insects from 

 a fancied resemblance between the attitude assumed by the 

 larvie of several of the larger species, when disturbed, and 

 that of the Egyptian Sphinx. 



Bombicidae — Silk-worm Moths. 



The notices of the cultivation of the mulberrv and the 

 rearing of Silk-worms, found in Chinese works, have been 

 industriously collected and published by M. Julien. by or- 

 der of the French government. From his work it appears 

 that credible notices of the culture of the tree and the manu- 

 facture of silk are found as far back as b.c. ISO; and in 

 referring its invention to the Empress Siling, or Yuenti, 

 wife of the Emperor Hwangti, b.c. :2G02 (Du Halde says 

 269S), the Chinese have shown their belief of its still higher 

 antiquity. The Shi King contains this distich : 



The legitimate wife of Hwangti, named Siling Shi, began to rear 



Silk- worms: 

 At this period Hwangti invented the art of making clothing. 



Du Halde says this invention raised the Empress to the 

 rank of a divinity, under the title of Spirit of the Silk- 

 worm, and of the Mulberry-tree.- 



The Book of Kites contains a notice of the festival held 

 in honor of this art, which corresponds to that of plowing by 

 the emperor. ''In the last month of spring, the young em- 

 press purified herself and offered sacrifice to the goddess of 

 Silk-worms. She went into the eastern fields and collected 

 mulberry-leaves. She forbade noble dames and the ladies 

 of statesmen adorning themselves, and excused her attend- 

 ants from their sewing and embroidery, in order that they 

 might give all their care to the rearing of Silk-worms.''^ 



^ Bonnet, (Euvres, ii. 124. 



' China, p. 253. Astley's Col. of Toy. and Trai\, iv. 138. 



» WillianiB' Middle Kingdom, ii. 121-2. 



