172 Tussa and Atlas silkworms. Chapt. xm. 



The process of manufacture is simple enough apparently, 

 for, if what one reads be true, you have only to take the 

 worm, when, from a piece of silk hanging from his nose, 

 you see he meditates spinning, and put him into a closed 

 jar of vinegar, and let him pickle therein, for some six 

 hours in a tropical climate, more in a colder; then break 

 him open, and taking one of the two guts, stretch it bet- 

 ween finger and thumb, and keep it stretched across a 

 plank, by hitching the ends into niches, and put it into 

 the sun to dry. 



The advantages which I suppose these worms to possess 

 over the ordinary silkworm are, that they are larger and 

 will probably yield much larger guts, also that they are 

 indigenous to the country, and do not require to be fed 

 on mulberry leaves, or other choice food, but on the wild 

 tree leaves, on which they are found. 



More or less objection is taken by silk spinners to both 

 these worms, on the ground that the silk is difficult to reel, 

 by reason of its being stuck together by such a strong 

 gummy substance, that diluted sulphuric acid is recom- 

 mended for mixing with the water in which the cocoon of 

 the tussa silkworm is boiled; and of the Attacus Atlas it is 

 said "the silk is difficult to reel, though it yields partially 

 "if boiled in vinegar." But this very objection becomes a 

 decided recommendation from a fisherman's point of view, 

 for the stronger the gluten the less likely the gut is to 

 fray in water, as ordinary silkworm gut will when worn. 



To aid recognition by those who do not know the tussa 

 silkmoth, I cannot do better than quote an extract from 



