310 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Destructive to wool and furs. 



fatigue, and seems produced for no other pur- 

 pose than to transmit a future brood. The male 

 dies immediately, and the female only survives 

 him till she has laid her eggs, which are to be 

 hatched into worms in the ensuing spring. 



Silkworms, bred in Europe, must be kept in a 

 place built for that purpose, and fed every day 

 with fresh mulberry leaves ; great care, however, 

 is necessary while they continue in a worm state, 

 as they are extremely susceptible of cold. See 

 the plate containing the caterpillar, silkworm) and 

 butterfly. 



THE MOTH. 



WOOLLEN cloth and furs constitute the 

 chief support of the caterpillar, from whence the 

 clothes moth is produced, and therefore the pa- 

 rent is, by its natural instinct, directed to deposit 

 its eggs in them. The caterpillar, as soon as it 

 quits the egg, begins to form for itself a nest: 

 for this purpose, after having spun a fine coating 

 silk immediately around its body, it cuts the fila~ 

 raents of the wool or fur close by the thread of 

 the cloth, or by the skin, with its teeth, which 

 act in the manner of scissars, into convenient 

 lengths, and applies the bits, one by one, with 

 great dexterity to the outside of its silken case, 

 to which it fastens them by means of its silk. 



