140 CHINESE MODE OF REARING SILKWORMS. 



to be sometimes entirely without food. At the 

 end of a week, those which had been well fed had 

 acquired about a third more in bulk than them thai 

 were kept on short allowance. About the twelfth 

 day we had earned our starving system so far,, that 

 we had forgot to put leaves to them for nearly 

 twelve hours, after they had been completely ex- 

 hausted ; and next morning we found most of the 

 caterpillars adhering to the sides of the tumbler, by 

 very fine silky filaments. We were apprehensive, 

 that, having not been long enough fed, that they 

 might die in place of transforming into the chrysalis, 

 and loosened them all from the sides of the tumbler, 

 and gave them a fresh supply of leaves, which, in 

 a few minutes, they began to devour very greedily 

 Next day, while in the act of supplying them with 

 leaves, we found one of the larvae again adhering 

 by filaments to the piece of paper with which the 

 tumbler was covered, and determined to leave 

 undisturbed. It continued in this state for upwards 

 of a day ; and when we next examined it we founc 

 that it had changed into the chrysalis condition, bu 

 was of a very small size, and had a thin transparen 

 appearance. The caterpillars which had been pro- 

 perly supplied with food now refrained from eating^ 

 and prepared for transforming into chrysalides 

 Those which had been starved still continued 

 eat, and were much less in size a little more thaft 

 a fourth. When the full fed larvae had all changed 



