162 THE CALIFORNIA 



the teeth, sharp, serrated, or indented like a saw, the 

 mouth is vertical and peculiar, and not horizontal, as in 

 most other beings. Two broad objects in its forehead, 

 which might be mistaken for eyes, are but boues of the 

 skull. The eyes are small, fourteen in number, seven on 

 each side of the head, and near the mouth ; the organs 

 of respiration are eighteen in number. Equidistant, 

 and situated along the body, are holes, or openings, nine 

 on each side, which serve for breathing. 



The substance of which the silk is composed is a 

 liquicl, transparent gum, of a fine yellow color, and is 

 contained in separate sacks of slender dimensions. Each 

 of these vessels is about ten inches in length, and wound 

 in the stomach in spiral folds. Near the jaws, two 

 ducts convey the silken fluid ; these, uniting in one, 

 serve to compose the silken thread, which is usually 

 from four hundred to twelve hundred feet in length. 



The eggs of the silkworms are of a dark lilac or slate 

 color. The silkworms are at first black, and extremely 

 small ; as they advance in age and size they cast off 

 their outer covering or skin, usually from three to four 

 times, at different periods, according to the variety. 

 These successive changes are called moulting*, and the 

 times intervening are termed ayes. 



In a colder temperature the duration of the several 

 periods is prolonged ; but in a warm climate, the period 

 or season of the first moulting, which terminates the first 

 age, usually occurs on the fifth or sixth day of its ex- 

 istence ; the second on the eighth or ninth day ; the 



