200 THE MODERN HISTORY OF SILK. 



crept from their cocoons, and, in twenty-four different !; 

 places, eggs were deposited ; the moths laid their I 

 eggs thickly together in irregular forms, never upon : 

 the leaves, but upon the bark of the trunks or the it 

 branches. 



" From these trials, it appears that the climate 1? 

 does not of itself prevent the eggs from hatching, ]. 

 and that an ordinary rain, even of some duration, and jg 

 the coolness of the nights, are not injurious to the Itj 

 worms ; but it is certain, that the longer they are, and [ 

 the more heavy they become, the more helpless ;i 

 they appear ; and that, on account of the little power i 

 they possess of attaching themselves firmly to the 

 trees, when compared with other animals of a similar 

 kind, they are badly protected, and fall very frequently 

 to the ground. It will be seen, whether the insects, 

 procured from eggs laid in the open air, possess 

 greater power of holding themselves on the trees, 

 provided the eggs are not destroyed by the weather, 

 or by ants, before the spring arrives." 



Such is the disastrous history of this tender colony ; ; 

 and those which were established in the Walacho- 

 Illyrian frontier shared nearly the same fate. The 

 trials were repeated in 1812, and proved equally 

 unsuccessful. 



Austria has long been celebrated for its manu- ' 

 facture of silks. Of the richest silks, the museum of | 

 Vienna boasts a large variety ; but this manufacture, 

 once so flourishing, was almost totally destroyed by 

 the effects of war. Before the French Revolution, 

 it employed, at Vienna alone, six thousand looms. 

 1 



