Nov. 1, 1864.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



RESTORATION OP THE SILKWORM. 179 



fectly healthy domesticated stock of silkworms, the colour proving, 

 beyond all doubt, that the constitution has been utterly destroyed, and 

 the wonder rather is, that the worms have continued to live so long, and 

 to yield such good returns under such a constant struggle against adverse 

 circumstances ; for it seems quite evident, since naturalists have never 

 recorded the colours of the caterpillar to be otherwise than ashy or 

 creamy white, that even so long ago as the time of the Emperor 

 Justinian, the true colour of the worm had already been obliterated by 

 the centuries of mismanagement to which the Chinese had subjected the. 

 insect. It is true that the occasional occurrence of dark-coloured worms 

 among the general brood has been observed, yet these occurrences are 

 always spoken of as exceptional cases indicating variety arising from 

 domestication, rather than as denoting, what in reality is the fact, an 

 attempted return, on the part of Nature, to the original colours and 

 characteristics of the species. 



Under no other supposition than this does it appear possible to 

 account for the error committed by the older naturalists ; and, conse- 

 quently, I again assert, with the greatest confidence, and shall presently 

 prove, that the whiteness of the worm is to be regarded solely as a 

 positive indication of the loss of constitution, aud that the species, in its 

 natural colours, has yet to be described. 



I shall probably be told that learned and experienced men have 

 occasionally been sent from Italy and France, in order to collect fresh 

 seed (as it is termed) for the purpose of renovating the sickly stock of 

 Europe by the re-infusion of a healthier and more vigorous constitution 

 from the worms of India and of China. Such an assertion, to a certain 

 extent, would, no doubt, be true, since it cannot be denied, that a search 

 for healthier stock has often been made, though never with success, from 

 the simple fact, that whether in Europe, Persia, India, or China, the 

 worms are all equally degenerated, or if indeed there be a difference yet 

 perceptible, it is altogether in favour of the European race. We can all 

 " call spirits from the vasty deep — but will they come when we do 

 call ?" Had a search been instituted in China for the wild worm in its 

 original state of freedom, great benefit would no doubt have ensued from 

 its discovery ; but if we reflect that the worm, even in its native country, 

 has, like that of Europe, been immemorially of a pale colour, a Chinese 

 cultivator on being asked for the original wild stock would at once 

 acknowledge that he knew the worm under no other aspect, and in no 

 other condition, than that in which for so many centuries it had been 

 cultivated by his forefathers, and the idea of its having possibly changed 

 or lost its colour under domestication would in all probability never 

 enter into the head either of the Chinaman or of his interrogator. 

 Seeing then, as I shall presently show, that the Eastern is infinitely 

 inferior to the European stock, the crossing with seed selected either in. 

 India or in China would only be adding to the disease which already 

 threatens the West with such disastrous consequences. 



