10 



bodies of caterpillars. After the caterpillars have made their 

 cocoons and passed into the chrysalide state, the tiny ichneumen 

 eggs hatch and their larvae surround themselves with a silken 

 thread 6 or 8 times finer than the Bombyx fibre, until a small 

 cocoon results in considerable numbers not larger than rice grains, 

 and occupying the interior of the large cocoon to the destruction of 

 the chrysalis. : [In day time these ichneumen flies emerge from their 

 little silken shrouds, and eat their way through the silken prison of 

 the larger cocoon. 



Another class of insects, the Coccidae much studied by Mr. 

 Newstead of Chester, also make tiny cocoons which very much 

 resemble silk, under the microscope, but the fibres, which dissolve 

 in turpentine, prove them to be of a waxy and not a silken nature. 

 There is a small collection on the table. These Coccids are found 

 on grass and on the bark of trees. 



And now I will as briefly as I can, touch upon their uses to man. 

 First comes the little Bombyx Mori, whose caterpillars yield us the 

 ordinary silk of commerce, from which the finest fabrics are made ; 

 whose ancestors found such favour with the wives and daughters ol 

 Chinese Emperors thousands of years ago, that they delighted 

 themselves in unwinding the silk from the cocoons and in making 

 it into threads for embroidery and for textile work, also in dyeing 

 it, and afterwards in weaving it into patterned fabrics. For cen- 

 turies in ancient times, it was the pleasure and pride of high-born 

 ladies to broider and weave. Thus in the 3rd lUiad : — 



" Meantime to beauteous Helen from the skies, 

 The various goddess of the rainbow flies. 

 Here in the palace at her loom she found, 

 The golden web her own sad story crown 'd ; 

 The Trojan wars she weav'd, herself the prize, 

 And the dire triumph of her fatal eyes." 



I have here two very small pieces of silk, both found in Egypt 

 in ancient Christian Coptic graves by my friend Mr. Flinders 

 Petrie, the renowed Egyptian explorer. One is of the 4th century, 

 found at Achmim, and is ornamented all over with Maltese-shaped 

 crosses. I have had it reproduced in Germany. The other is of 

 the 6th century, found at Fayum ; it is a very interesting specimen 

 of weaving in'^stripes It is, too, remarkable for the beauty and 

 permanence of the dyes to which it owes its colour. I have brought 

 a reproduction of it, recently woven in Scotland, the herring-bone 

 texture of weaving is copied, also the stripes and the dyes and 

 colours are exactly reproduced. That the colours should have stood 



