THE AILANTHUS SILKWORM AND THE AILANTHUS TREE. 339 



colour, of very close tissue, 1|- to If inches long, and about f broad. They 

 vary much in size and weight according to the conditions in which they 

 were obtained. 



These cocoons naturally open like those of the Mulberry Silkworm after 

 the exit of the moth, but up to the present time they cannot be spun off in 

 a continuous thread ; therefore, they have as yet only yielded floss, and, 

 consequently, the fibre is more or less short, so that they have only been 

 spun like wool or cotton. The difficulty does not arise because the thread 

 is cut at the opening made for the exit of the moth, as some people have 

 imagined, because the threads are not cut but only laid one over another. 

 It residts only from the circumstance that the cocoon being open at one 

 end, fills with water (when placed in the basin) ; and being so heavy 

 breaks the thread ; but we have no doubt a remedy for this will soon be 

 found. 



There certainly does seem some manner of manufacturing the silk in 

 skeins, because amongst the many fabrics made from the Ailanthus silk 

 and sent over by Father Fantoni from China, there were some made 

 with silk in one continuous thread, and which had preserved the grey 

 colour of the Ailanthus cocoons. In the meantime, whilst this is being 

 discovered, these cocoons are treated like the Mulberry cocoons. They are 

 carded, and then the material is obtained, analogous to what is obtained 

 from the Mulberry Silkworm. This material of a brownish-grey colour 

 carded, yields filoselle or floss silk, " only more glossy," which is manufac- 

 tured in France under the name of galette or fantaisie, and of which there 

 is an immense consumption. Mixing it with thread and wool, it is largely 

 employed in manufacturing fancy stuffs. This is manufactured in great 

 quantities at Roubaix, Nismes, and Lyons, and such an immense quantity 

 of this substance is consumed in France, that every year 1,200,000 kilo- 

 grammes are exported from abroad. 



The qualities of this new textile fabric have been studied and appre- 

 ciated by people well calculated to know its worth. Amongst others, by 

 Messrs. Henry Schlumberger and Charles de Jongh, great manufacturers, 

 A. Guebuiller and Dr. Sacc, the eminent Professor of Chemistry at Wesser- 

 ling. As there have not yet been enough Ailanthus cocoons to permit an 

 industrial trial, these gentlemen tried their machines with the cocoons of 

 the Castor Oil worm ; but they admit, that if there is any difference 

 between the two it is all in favour of the Ailanthus silk, because they have 

 ascertained it will bleach well. 



Thus Dr. Sacc, in speaking of the Castor Oil silk, says : — " One fact 

 which diminishes the value of this silk is its brownish colour, which pre- 

 vents its being used for clear colours. The fact disappears completely with 

 the silk of the Ailanthus worm, with which I will engage myself to produce 

 white silk. That clever chemist and weaver, Monsieur de Jongh, finds that 

 the gloss of the Ailanthus silk far surpasses any of the other known kinds 

 of Bourre de soi." 



The late Monsieur Geoffrey de Saint Hilaire, President of the Imperial 



