THE SILKWORM. 333 



and thereby render the coccoon useless. To prevent 

 this the coccoons are put into long shallow baskets, 

 covered up, and baked, for about an hour, in an heat 

 equal to that of an oven from which the bread is 

 just drawn after being baked. 



After the baking they are disposed in a proper 

 manner on ozier shelves, distributed into stories, two 

 or three feet distant from each other. 



The whole thread, if measured, will be found 

 about three hundred yards long ; and it is so very- 

 fine that eight or ten threads are generally rolled off 

 into one by the manufacturers. For this purpose the 

 coccoons are put into small coppers or basons of 

 water, each over a small fire. The ends of the 

 threads are found by brushing them over gently 

 with a whisk made for the purpose ; and in wind- 

 ing they are each passed through a hole, in an hori- 

 zontal bar of iron placed at the edge of the bason, 

 which prevents them from becoming entangled. 



It is generally a fortnight or three weeks before 

 the insect within the coccoon is changed into a 

 moth ; but, no sooner is it completely formed than, 

 having divested itself of its aurelia skin, it prepares 

 to burst through its prison. For this purpose it ex- 

 tends its head towards the point of the coccoon, 

 and gnaws a passage through its cell, small at first, 

 but enlarging as the animal increases its efforts for 

 emancipation. The tattered remnants of its aurelia 

 skin are left in confusion within the coccoon, like a 

 little bundle of dirty linen. 



The animal, thus set free, appears exhausted with 

 fatigue, and seems produced for no other pur] 



