ON SERICICULTURE. 99 



belong^ing to the class of cocoons termed " ouvertSj^ in 

 opposition to the closed cocoons {fermes)^ of which tliat of 

 B. Mori is the type. 



These two classes of cocoons require perfectly different 

 treatment in reeling: the closed ones are simply placed in hot 

 water, and, floating readily at the surface, twist round and 

 round therein with a minimum of friction as the thread 

 reels off. The open cocoons so treated would fill with 

 water, and becoming heavy would break the thread. This 

 difficulty has been overcome by French ingenuity. Madme. 

 la Comtesse Corneillan, Dr. Forgemol and others have 

 taken out patents for reeling all kinds of open cocoons— even 

 those of B. Mori— after the escape of the moth. These 

 modes have not however yet come into general use. 



The silken fibres -of the Ailanthus cocoon are matted 

 together with a tough gum, which requires the use of an 

 alkali to dissolve it: the fibre is fine and strono;, deficient in 

 gloss, but very smooth and soft. Eight hundred yards are 

 said to have been reeled off in one unbroken thread by the 

 French machines alluded to. Our Australian cousins speak 

 of it thus : 



" The Ailant silkworm* is of a very different nature to 

 the well-known Mulberry silkworm ; in fact the two have 

 little in common but that part of their names which im- 

 plies that both produce a commodity, which everyone recog- 

 nizes as silk by its appearance. The two products are quite 

 distinct articles, are grown in different modes, and prepared 

 by different processes, are manufactured for such various 

 purposes that the two materials may be contrasted as having 

 some such relation to each other as linen has to cotton ; and 

 there are especial qualities in Ailantine (the produce of the 



* Vide the Ailant Silkworm, by Charles Brady, Sydney, 1 868. 



h2 



