THE SILKWORM. 



THE Caterpillar, or Silkworm, is at 

 first of a dark color, but soon be- 

 comes light, and in its tints much 

 resembles the perfect insect — a 

 circumstance common in Caterpillars. 

 Its proper food is the Mulberry, though 

 it will likewise eat the Lettuce, and som.e 

 few other plants, on which, however, it 

 does not thrive equally well, and the 

 silk yielded is of a poor quality. 



The Silkworm is about eight weeks 

 in arriving at maturity, during which 

 period it changes its skin four or five 

 times. When about to cast its skin it 

 ceases to eat, raises the forepart of the 

 body slightly, and remains in perfect 

 repose. In this state it necessarily 

 continues for a time, in order that the 

 new skin, which is at this time forming, 

 may become sufficiently mature to en- 

 able the Caterpillar to burst through 

 the old one. This operation is per- 

 formed thus : The forepart of the old 

 skin is burst ; the Silkworm then, by con- 

 tinually writhing its body, contrives to 

 thrust the skin back to the tail and dis- 

 engage itself; this is difficult, however, 

 since it is no uncommon occurrence for 

 them to die from not being able to free 

 themselves. 



When full grown the Silkworm com- 

 mences spinning its web in some con- 

 venient spot, and as it does not change 

 the position of the hinder portions of 

 its body much, but continues drawing- 

 its thread from various points, and at- 

 taching it to others, it follows that after 

 a time its body becomes, in a great 

 measure, enclosed by the thread. The 

 work is then continued from one thread 

 to another, the Silkworm moving its 

 head and spinning in a zig-zag way, 

 bending the forepart of the body back to 

 spin in all directions within reach, and 

 shifting the body only to cover with 

 silk the part which was beneath it. In 

 this way it encloses itself in a cocoon 

 much shorter than its own body. Dur- 

 ing the time of spinning the cocoon the 

 Silkworm decreases in length consider- 

 ably, and after the work is done it is not 

 half its original length. At this time it 

 becomes quite torpid, soon changes its 

 skin, and appears in the form of a chrys- 



alis. In this state the animal remains 

 about three weeks ; it then bursts its case 

 and comes forth in the imago state, the 

 moth having previously dissolved a por- 

 tion of the cocoon by means of a fluid 

 which it ejects. The moth is short 

 lived ; the female in many instances dies 

 almost immediately after she has laid 

 her eggs; the male survives her but a 

 short time. 



China was the first country in which 

 the labors of the Silkworm were availed 

 of, and Aristotle was the first Greek au- 

 thor who mentions it. It was not until 

 the fifteenth century that the manufac- 

 ture of silk was established in England, 

 The raising of Silkworms in ths United 

 States has been attempted with success 

 in the Southern States, and especially m 

 California. As the Silkworms in Eu- 

 rope are affected by disease, immense 

 quantities of eggs are sent from this 

 country. 



Reeling from the cocoons is only per- 

 formed in countries where the silk is 

 produced. In plain silk-weaving the 

 process is much the same as in weaving 

 wool or linen, but the weaver is assisted 

 by a machine for the even distribution of 

 the warp, which frequently consists of 

 eight thousand separate threads in a 

 breadth of twenty inches. The Jacquard 

 loom, invented by a weaver of Lyons, has 

 been the means of faciliating and cheap- 

 ening the production of fancy or figured 

 silks to an extraordinary extent. 



The Pan-American delegates during 

 their tour through this country were 

 presented with silk flags by the Wom- 

 an's Silk-Culture Association of Phil- 

 adelphia. The flags were made from 

 material produced in the United States. 



The eggs from which our photo- 

 graph was taken are "live eggs," and if 

 properly handled will batch out ni Ine 

 spring. In order to bring about this 

 result care must be taken that they do 

 not become too warm; freezing will not 

 liurt them, but heat or dampness will 

 cause them to hatch or spoil. 



Forty thousand eggs weigh ^ about 

 one ounce, and when hatched will pro- 

 duce about one hundred pounds of fresh 

 cocoons. 



170 



