CHAPTER II. 



MANUFACTURE OF SILK BY THE SILKWORM. 



WE now come to the most important of all silk- 

 spinning insects, the common silkworm, or cater- 

 pillar of the mulberry tree moth. The labours 

 of this insect were known and appreciated in other 

 parts of the world long before we had tidings of 

 its existence ; so that the peasantry of other lands 

 were clad in raiment which our kings would have 

 been proud to wear. " When silk was so scarce in 

 this country that James the First, while King 

 of Scotland, was forced to beg of the Earl of Mar 

 the loan of a pair of silk stockings to appear in 

 before the English ambassador, enforcing his 

 request with the cogent appeal, ' for ye would 

 not, sure, that your king should appear as a scrub 



