230 THE CALIFORNIA 



the wings of the male with one hand, and the wings of 

 the female with the other ; draw them apart gently, so 

 as not to hurt them ; place the males in a box, and the 

 females on the paper or cloth, on which you wish to 

 have them lay their eggs. 



Most of the females begin, to lay as soon as separ- 

 ated from the males ; but be careful to leave no male 

 among the females, that are placed to lay their eggs, 

 and if by mistake you have thrown a female among the 

 males, carefully place it with the others. 



After that operation is done, and the females com- 

 mence laying, you have nothing more to do with them ; 

 cover the box which contains the males, and keep it so 

 until the next morning : it is what is called the reserve. 

 The next morning, proceed the same way as I have 

 said above ; but it happens sometimes that you have 

 more females than males, in which case, after you have 

 all your males of the morning employed, you take the 

 quantity you need from your reserve, as you must re- 

 member that every female must be provided for produc- 

 ing good eggs. 



After you have been using the males you want from 

 your reserve, throw all the balance out, and the birds 

 will soon eat them. Do the same thing every day, 

 till all the moths have emerged from the cocoons. 



One hundred pairs of cocoons, which weigh a pound, 

 will produce, an ounce of eggs ; and an ounce of eggs 

 is considered to produce forty thousand silkworms. 



After your females have done laying their eggs, they 

 will all die, and then you can roll together carefully 



