80 ON THE CULTURE OF SILK. 



has two black convex eyes, placed on each side of the head, 

 rising above it rather more than a hemisphere. When examined 

 with a microscope, these eyes prove to be of the most wonderful 

 and admirable structure — each eye is composed of about three 

 thousand six sided lenses as clear as crystal. The female is 

 larger than the male, and is otherwise marked somewhat different 

 from the male. The male performs all the duties of its life 

 "within forty-eight hours after he escapes from the cocoon, and 

 dies a few days afterwards. The female lays from two to five 

 hundred eggs within forty-eight hours, and soon dies also. The 

 butterfly takes no food, but devotes its whole strength and life to 

 the propagation of its species. Wonderful insect ! Its six thou- 

 sand optic lenses sparkle with a transitory lustre, — its nerves, 

 most exquisitely strung, thrill with delight a few hours only, — it 

 dies ! but leaves the world a rich legacy. The care of this 

 legacy — the management of its eggs, now demands our attention. 



The Eggs. — The eggs are of a small size. When first laid 

 they are of a pale yellow color, but in three or four days turn to 

 .a dull, brownish, slate color. Those which remain yellow, have 

 not been fecundated and are worthless. The most proper place 

 for keeping the eggs until they are wanted for hatching, is a 

 cool, dry cellar — in a tight box to protect them from mice and 

 insects. The heat of the place in which eggs are kept must not 

 exceed 65 degrees, — a temperature above this hatches them. 

 Nor, it is said in books, must they be kept in a temperature 

 below 32 degrees, " for if they should freeze, the principle of life 

 would be destroyed." But can this be true ? "I saw," says 

 Cobb, " at Philadelphia, a few worms which were raised from 

 eggs laid on the outside of a brick wall, in a northern exposure, 

 which had stood all the severity of winter," 1831. 



Hatching, ^c. — The season for hatching the silk worm is 

 said by European authors to be as soon as the mulberry puts 

 forth its leaves. This is doubtless the best rule where the 

 worms are to be fed from full-grown standard trees. But 

 where the leaves are to be stript from young trees, standing 

 either in nurseries or plantations, it will be well to wait a few 

 weeks longer — until the more vigorous growth of these trees be- 



