152 MAKVELS OF THE ANIMAL WORLD 



into the chrysalis state, and that obtained from the 

 mulberry silk -worm (Bombyx won), a species which 

 is doubtless familiar to my readers, forms the 

 principal source of the world's silk supply. Accord- 

 ing to CasseWs Natural History : ' The silk -worm 

 was originally a native of China, and Chinese 

 historians attribute the discovery of the use of silk 

 to the Queen of the Emperor Hwang-te, who lived 

 about 2640 B.C., and the rearing of silk -worms 

 formed one of the principal duties of the queens 

 and ladies of the court for many centuries after- 

 wards. . . . The silk -worm was first introduced 

 into Europe in the reign of Justinian by some 

 missionaries, who smuggled the eggs to Constan- 

 tinople concealed hi canes.' 



In former days, the byssus or silky filaments 

 by means of which certain species of the pinna (a 

 kind of oyster) attach themselves to objects used 

 to be woven and made into gloves, stockings, etc., 

 but the material proved too expensive for general 

 use, and too warm for ordinary wear. In the 

 Natural History Museum at South Kensington, 

 some of this molluscan silk can be seen in both the 

 natural and manufactured conditions. 



Pearls, as we all know, are obtained from certain 

 oysters and a species of water mussel (Mytilus 

 cygnus), but the ancients believed that they were 

 formed from dew-drops which had been subjected 

 to some remarkable influence proceeding from 

 sunbeams. They are an abnormal rather than a 

 normal production, inasmuch as they are only 

 formed by the molluscs in order to cover up some 



