THE ARINDY SILKWORM. li 



a cheap, light, cool, durable dress, such as this 

 silk makes, is much wanted. Millions of cocoons 

 of the Tusseh silkworm are annually collected in 

 the jungle, and brought to the silk factories near 

 Calcutta. In other parts the people gather and 

 transplant them to the trees near their own dwel- 

 lings, that they may watch over the safety of the 

 caterpillars, which are very liable to be devoured 

 by crows during the day time, and by bats at night. 



The Arindy silkworm feeds only on the leaves of 

 the Palmi Christi; it produces so delicate and flossy 

 a silk that it cannot be wound from the cocoons ; 

 it is therefore spun like cotton, and the thread 

 woven into a coarse kind of white cloth, of a loose 

 texture, but so durable that a person can scarcely 

 in his lifetime wear out a garment made of it. 



Eleven different species of silkworm have been 

 enumerated as natives of India, which has thus the 

 internal means of providing the whole of Europe 

 with a material which would rival cotton and wool- 

 len cloth, and would often be preferred to both, 

 could it be obtained at a low price. The produce 

 of the Arindy silkworm, when sent to this country 

 was much admired, and some manufacturers to 



