SILK-PBODUCING INSECTS. 33 



pyriferum ovate nests of caterpillars eight inclies 

 long formed of grey silk, which the inhabitants of 

 Chilpancinga, Tixtala, etc., in America, manufacture 

 into stockings and handkerchiefs. Great numbers 

 of similar nests of a dense tissue were observed by 

 Humboldt in the provinces of Mechoacan and the 

 mountains of Santa Rosa, at a height of 10,500 

 feet above the level of the sea, upon the Arbutus 

 madrono, and other trees. The silk of these nests 

 is produced by the larvae of Bombyx madrona, who 

 live in society and spin together. It was an object of 

 commerce with the ancient Mexicans, who made it 

 into paper. Handkerchiefs are still manufactured 

 of it in Oaxaca. 



It is a doubtful question whether the breeding 

 of any European moths will ever become a source 

 of advantage. Experiments have already been made 

 on certain varieties of clothes-moths (Tinea). Mr. 

 Habenstreet, of Munich, experimented some years 

 ago upon a species called Tinea punctata, or Tinea 

 padilla (Fig. 2), closely allied 

 to T. Evonymella ; the larvee of 

 the former were made to spin 

 upon a paper model suspended F I<*. 2.-Tinea paaaia 



(Silk-spinning gnat). 



from the ceiling of a room. To 

 this model, any form or dimensions could be given 

 at will, the motions of the larvae being regulated by 

 means of oil applied to those parts of it which 



D 



