86 THE AMERICAN SILK WORM. 
When fully grown, the worm which has been devouring 
the leaves so voraciously, becomes restless and crawls 
about the branches in search of a suitable place to build 
up its cocoon; before this it is motionless for some time, 
holding on to the twig with its front legs, while the two 
hind pair are detached; in this position it remains for 
some time, evacuating the contents of the alimentary canal 
until finally a gelatinous, transparent, very caustic fluid, 
looking like albumen, or the white of an egg, is ejected ; 
this is a preparation for the long catalepsy that the worm 
is about to fall into. It now feels with its head in all 
directions, to discover any leaves to which to attach the 
fibres that are to give form to the cocoon. If it finds the 
place suitable, it begins to wind a layer of silk around a 
twig, then a fibre is attached to a leaf near by, and by 
many times: doubling this fibre and making it shorter 
every time, the leaf is made to approach the twig at the 
ce necessary to build the cocoon; two or three 
leaves are disposed like this one, and then fibres are 
spread between them in all directions, and soon the ovoid 
form of the cocoon distinctly appears. This seems to be 
the most difficult feat for the worm to accomplish, as after 
this the work is simply mechanical, the cocoon being 
made of regular layers of silk united by a gummy sub- 
stance. The silk is distributed in zig-zag lines of about 
one-eighth of an inch long. When the cocoon is made, the 
worm will have moved his head to and fro, in order to 
ute Da a about two hundred and — aap 
