HISTORY OF INSECTS. 



CHAPTER II. 



HISTORY OF THE SILKWORM. 



Class Lepidoptera. i Genus Bombyx. 



Order Bombycites. j Species Mori. 



14. SILK has been a valuable article of commerce, 

 and a favourite one for dress from time immemorial ; 

 the archives of China are said to speak of its 

 existence five thousand years ago, but the period 

 at which it was first appropriated to the uses of 

 man cannot be traced. 



15. The manufacture of silk, in this country 

 alone, is supposed to find constant employment 

 and means of support for about five hundred 

 thousand human beings ; in France, Germany, 

 Italy, Turkey, and the continent of Asia, it is 

 also an article of great commercial importance. 



16. Silk is a native production of China and 

 India; it was introduced into Europe A.D. 550, 

 by two monks, who brought the eggs of the 

 silk-worm, in hollow canes, to Constantinople, 



