174 



vs hich are shaped like a club^ are purple. There 

 is another of the same size (papilio leucothea) 

 called by the children palama. This butterflj' is 

 entirely of a silvery white, except the antennae 

 and legs, which are black. 



In the vicinity of the sea, between the rivers 

 Ilapel and Metaquito, is a kind of caterpillar 

 said to resemble the silk-worm^ which forms 

 upon the forest trees small cocoons of a beautiful 

 silk, not inferior to the European. Nor can it 

 be doubted, that a climate so mild as that of 

 Chili should be peculiarly favourable to the pro- 

 pagation of the silk-worm, but as yet no attention 

 has been paid thereto, and all the silk used in 

 that country is imported from Europe. 



It would not readily be believed that the rosin, 

 which is collected in such quantities in the pro- 

 vince of CoquimbOj from a shrub called chilcay 

 a species of origanum, is not a real gum, and, 

 like others, an exudation of the sap through tlic 

 bark. But one of my countrymen, the Abbe 

 Panda, who has examined with much attention 

 the natural productions of that province, has 

 lately discovered that this supposed rosin is pro- 

 duced by a small smooth caterpillar, of a red co- 

 lour, and about half an inch in length.* These 



* I am convinced that this resinous substance is a produc- 

 tion ui' the tree itself, an*.! that the caterpillar niorely facili 

 tatcs its exiuialion, by biting the buds in tiic spring ; the same 

 circumstance occurs in many of the re.-iuous trees of Europe. 

 -Fr.. Trah!. 



