Nov. 1, 1864.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



RESTORATION OF THE SILKWORM. 181 



proceeded towards maturity, various phases of disease became apparent; 

 and I can only account for the denial of" its existence by Mr. Cope and 

 some cultivators in Bengal, by siipposing that they do not know a disease 

 even when they see it. The worst form attacked the worms just previous 

 to their spinning the cocoons, and gave them the appearance of having 

 been sprinkled with ink from a pen. This is, I believe, what the French 

 term being " peppered," or " vers poivres " — a most expressive and 

 appropriate term. 



Nevertheless, the cocoons were formed, though, as might be expected, 

 they were thin, papery, and greatly deficient in silk; as cocoons, indeed, 

 they were perfect trash; but, as I had a point to ascertain in respect to 

 the silk, I dispatched them to Mr. Turnbull, of Ganthal, an experienced 

 and skilful superintendent of silk filatures, ever willing to oblige, and 

 who had likewise reeled for Mr. Cope, of Umritsir, and Colonel Clark, 

 of Oudh. The result was, that my worthless cocoons yielded a silk not 

 one whit inferior in quality to that produced by the inordinately-belauded 

 cocoons of the above-mentioned gentleman ; and, indeed, although in 

 epistold Mr. Cope pronounced Colonel Clark's cocoons to be " the finest 

 he had seen in India," it was declared by Mr. Turnbull, who reeled them, 

 that they had deteriorated fifty-six per cent, below the Cashmere 

 standard furnished by Mr. Cope himself, and as that standard is itself 

 about fifty per cent, below that of France and Italy, we may safely put 

 down the best Indian cocoons of the true Bombyx mori as being seventy- 

 five per cent, worse than they ought to be ; and yet, in spite of common 

 sense and twenty-five years' experience, I am modestly required to 

 believe that the worm is not diseased. What then, in such case, is the 

 meaning of the panic in France and Italy? 



It is to be remembered, however, that all my sickly worms were of 

 the white variety, and that the few dark worms picked out from them 

 escaped disease altogether, although reared in the same manner, in the 

 same room, in the same temperature, on the same quality of food, and 

 in close contiguity to the others. These dark ones in due time spun 

 cocoons and produced moths, which, coupling inter se, deposited a fair 

 stock of eggs, with which the experiment was again carried on in the 

 spring of 1863. 



I may here observe that it is a well-known fact, that the more 

 numerous are these dark-coloured worms in any brood, the healthier is 

 it considered to be, and vice versa. 



Now, the eggs furnished by Mr. Cope in the spring of 1862 produced 

 very few dark worms, while the eggs from dark worms descended from 

 them produced in 1863 an undue number of Avhite worms, which had 

 to be weeded out, and proving at the same time the extreme weakness 

 of constitution of the stock upon which I was experimenting. 



Again, another proof of disease is found in the fact that, in the 

 spring of 1862, the eggs received from Umritsir were all loose and 

 detached : this is characteristic of the species whether in India or in 



