THE MODERN HISTORY OF SILK. 179 



silk. All the eggs laid by the moths after their 

 transformation were carefully preserved, and, on the 

 12th of the succeeding May, she placed them in the 

 sun, when they hatched in incredible numbers ; and 

 although she did not count every caterpillar, she 

 supposed them to amount to more than ten thousand. 

 She fed them with lettuce leaves for the first week, 

 and then from three or four mulberry trees, which 

 grew in some adjacent gardens. However, as they 

 grew larger, they became so extremely voracious that 

 Miss Rhodes felt the utmost apprehensions lest a 

 famine should ensue. Her solicitude for the animals 

 increased her exertions, and she sought after mulberry 

 trees with devoted anxiety, and the acquisition of a 

 new one gave her great satisfaction. By perse- 

 verance her resources were augmented to the number 

 of twelve trees, although some of them were at the 

 distance of twelve miles from her residence. Such 

 was the quantity these creatures devoured, that a 

 bushel of leaves, crammed in as close as possible, 

 would frequently be insufficient to support them one 

 day. 



Miss Rhodes had high anticipations of success, 

 but a dreadful night of thunder in the latter end of 

 June, which spread general alarm throughout England, 

 deprived her of thousands of her insects. On visiting 

 her manufactory early next morning, she found that 

 the lightning had struck several of the pans ; at least 

 such was her belief, for she could not believe that 

 the sound of the thunder should occasion such appear- 

 ances. A large pan immediately opposite to the 



