100 THE BUTTERFLY VIVARIUM. 



known in Europe since the thirteenth century. In 

 proof of the extremely early manufacture of silk in 

 the East, it may he stated that at the time in 

 which the earliest kind of Chinese writing was in 

 use, which was a pictorial hieroglyphic character 

 very similar to that of Egypt, silk was expressed by 

 a sign in the shape of a twisted hank of that sub- 

 stance, in the very form in which it is manu- 

 factured in China at the present day. And as the 

 earliest class of this writing did not remain in use 

 later than about 3000 b. c, it proves that manu- 

 factured silk was a well known product at that 

 early epoch. The cocoon of the Silk-worm, how- 

 ever, though of great interest, is too well known 

 to require description here; it will suffice to re- 

 mark that many cocoons of very similar character 

 are produced by the larvae of other Moths, which 

 have at different times been thought capable of 

 yielding an equally valuable silk, although the expe- 

 riments upon them for that purpose have hitherto 

 always failed. 



The large silk-like cocoon of the handsome Moth 

 Satumia Spini is of an entirely different nature, not 

 being formed of spun silk, but of the silky hairs 

 from the body of the larva, which are woven, or 

 rather felted together, instead of forming a con- 



