DOMESTICATED INSECTS 



259 



There unfortunately appear to be no means of ascertaining 

 how far British apiculture is profitable. Honey to the value of 

 ,30,349 was imported into this country in 1903. 



THE SILK- WORM MOTH (BOMBYX MORI, &c., fig. 1189). The 

 most important and best-known kind of Silk- Worm Moth is the one 

 (Bombyx mori} of which the caterpillar or "silk-w T orm " feeds upon 

 the leaves of the mulberry- 

 tree. The life -history is 

 sufficiently familiar. From 

 the egg a minute larva 

 hatches out which is full 

 grown in about five weeks, 

 during which time it casts its 

 skin several times. At the 

 end of this period the silk- 

 worm spins a cocoon, which 

 consists of two long threads, 

 the hardened secretion of 

 two large glands that open 

 on the under-lip. 



The material known as 

 " cat-gut" is made from the 

 secretion of the silk-glands, 

 which are removed from 

 the caterpillar and subjected 

 to suitable treatment. 



The culture of silk-worms 

 is generally supposed to 

 have been first practised in 

 China, the first allusion to 



it Ha finer hark tO 96/in ft r 



) 2040 B.C., 

 according to Chinese re- 



cords. Thence the industry spread through Korea into Japan, 

 and also into India, Persia, and Central Asia. Its introduction into 

 Europe is ascribed to the Emperor Justinian, who is said to have 

 induced a couple of Persian monks to undertake a journey to China 

 with the view of surreptitiously obtaining eggs. These worthies 

 are stated to have been successful in their mission, reaching Con- 

 stantinople with a supply of eggs (concealed in bamboos) in the 

 year 550 A.D. To this source the silk-industry of Southern Europe 



Fig> " 8 9--Silk- Worm Moth (Bombyx mori]. A, Caterpillar 



(silk _ 4 , worm ,, } . BI female motli . c> cocoon 



