Xii PREFACE. 
anxious to become acquainted with the extraor- 
dinary process by which so singular a production 
is transformed into an animal of such beauty ? 
There are few who have not, at one period 
of their’ lives, suffered in some way from the 
consuming powers of the caterpillars of various 
tiny Moths, who find ways of insinuating them- 
selves into the inmost recesses of the most 
sacred repositories, and, if undisturbed, quickly 
destroy the finest cloths and most valuable furs. 
The means by which they effect this, forms not 
the least interesting part of their history. 
Part of our inquiry will embrace the instincts 
and economy of an animal which has, for nearly 
two thousand years, contributed to our comfort, 
the elegance of our attire, and our commercial 
and mercantile prosperity,—namely, the Silk- 
worm Moth. Of the millions who wear, in one 
form or another, the beautiful and durable 
fabrics manufactured from the cocoon of this 
little creature, how few, comparatively, know 
any thing of the habits of the animal by which 
it is produced! On this division of the subject 
